Signs of an articulation disorder:

An articulation disorder involves problems making sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added or changed. These errors may make it hard for people to understand you.

• Making a "w" sound for an "r" sound (e.g., "wabbit" for "rabbit") or
• May leave sounds out of words, such as "nana" for "banana."

Signs of a phonological disorder:

A phonological process disorder involves patterns of sound errors.

• Substituting all sounds made in the back of the mouth like "k" and "g" for those in the front of the mouth like "t" and "d" (e.g., saying "tup" for "cup" or "das" for "gas").
• Another rule of speech is that some words start with two consonants, such as broken or spoon. When children don't follow this rule and say only one of the sounds ("boken" for broken or "poon" for spoon), it is more difficult for the listener to understand the child.

While it is common for young children learning speech to leave one of the sounds out of the word, it is not expected as a child gets older. If a child continues to demonstrate such cluster reduction, he or she may have a phonological process disorder.

If your child has been diagnosed with Speech Sound Disorders or has some of the signs listed above please go to our HOW TO GET STARTED page to see how we can help you.