A child with a speech sound disorder is unable to say all of the speech sounds in words. This can make the child’s speech hard to understand. People may not understand the child in everyday situations. For most children, the cause of the speech sound disorder is unknown. Other speech sound disorders can be linked to things such as a cleft palate, problems with the teeth, hearing loss, or difficulty controlling the movements of the mouth.
Strengths
Enjoys being with friends is popular
Enjoy physical activities, good gross and fine motor skills
Enjoys playing with Lego and blocks
Has lots to say
Mother helps to interpret his vocal expression – due to familiarity and his good annotations
Age appropriate receptive vocabulary (Developmental milestones)
Areas of Need
Completely unintelligent to unfamiliar listener
May be unaware of his degree of difficulty
Limited phonic awareness
Impact of Learning
Unable to express himself appropriately to his peers and class teachers
Reduced excess to basic literacy skills
Limited ability to prove his understanding of the task
All areas of the task affected
Indirect Interventions
Don’t pretend to understand but encourage him to express himself using gesture
Help your understanding by having a context/home school diary
Value his strengths to maintain his self- esteem
Direct Interventions
Check that his hearing is within normal limits
Refer to speech and language therapy
Working on listening skills i.e. Letters and sounds – to increase auditory awareness and discrimination