Speech sound difficulties is a term used to describe difficulties with the way a child produces and uses speech sounds. These difficulties can affect how clearly a child speaks and how easily other people understand what they are saying.

Children with a speech sound difficulties may have difficulty producing particular sounds, using sounds in the correct places within words, or following the sound patterns and rules of their language. These difficulties can involve articulation, phonological patterns, or a combination of both.

Articulation difficulties relate to the physical production of individual speech sounds. For example, a child might find it difficult to coordinate the movements of their tongue, lips or jaw to produce a particular sound accurately.

Phonological difficulties relate to the way a child understands and organises the sound system of their language. A child may use predictable patterns when speaking, such as replacing one sound with another, leaving sounds out of words or simplifying more complex sound combinations. These patterns can sometimes affect several sounds across their speech.

Speech sound development is a natural process, and it is expected that younger children will make certain sound errors as their speech develops. However, when these difficulties persist beyond the age at which particular sounds or patterns would typically be expected to develop, or when they significantly affect a child's intelligibility, confidence or ability to communicate, further assessment may be helpful.

Speech sound difficulties can look very different from one child to another. Some children may have difficulty with just one or two sounds, while others may experience more widespread difficulties that make their speech harder to understand.

How can we help?

Our therapists are experienced in assessing and treating a wide range of speech sound difficulties. We undertake assessment to determine the type of difficulty your child is experiencing in order to develop a highly individualised therapy plan.

A thorough speech and language therapy assessment helps us understand the nature of a child's speech difficulties, identify the sounds or patterns they are finding challenging and establish an appropriate plan of support.

We are experienced in supporting:-

Speech Sound Delay

Speech Sound Disorder

Phonological Disorder

Motor Speech Disorders including Apraxia of Speech

Lisps

And more