omissions/deletions—where specific sounds are omitted or deleted (e.g., "ba" for "bat" and "ook" for "book")

substitutions—one or more sounds are substituted, this may result in loss of phonemic contrast that helps us understand (e.g., "thing" for "sing" and "took” for "book")

additions—one or more extra sounds are added into a word (e.g., "buguk” for "book")

distortions—sounds are altered or changed (e.g., an ‘s’ sound that sticks out or is lateral, or a ‘t’ sound that is distorted/hard to hear as a ‘t’).

syllable-level errors—weak syllables are deleted or inconsistently said. (e.g., "tephone" for "telephone")

Absolutely! This is why a Speech-Language Therapist is vital in healthcare and education, not just early childhood development. Language is both written and spoken. We may not understand or remember it when we listen. Speech errors may or may not follow predictable patterns.

An SLT is the most qualified healthcare provider to accurately assess, identify, and treat language and speech-related difficulties. This is why our work is both active and direct, not just consultative.

In most developed countries, an SLT is a required member on multidisciplinary teams to ensure best-practice in diagnosis and planning (such as Autism, FASD).

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a specific speech error pattern that requires additional training and experience to accurately assess, identify, and treat in therapy. It may also be called verbal dyspraxia.

CAS involves difficulty with motor planning and the sequencing of speech sounds. This means a child may know how to make a sound, then try to make the sound, but still struggle to make the sound successfully with their tongue, teeth, lips, or voice. More information can be found HERE.

Though some Specialists or Doctors may suspect CAS, a trained SLT is always required to rule out CAS from other speech disorders and provide an accurate diagnosis for effective treatment planning.

As a Speech-Language Therapist, we all receive expertise and training within our scope of practice, which includes: speech, language and cognition, swallowing, and voice. It also includes social communication, and forms of alternative & augmentative communication. A nice bullet-point reference can be found HERE.

Teams and Providers we often work with, independently or collaboratively, includes:
- audiologists
- physicians
- nurses
- educators
- dietitians
- occupational therapists
- physiotherapists
- psychologists
- child care staff and social workers
- communication health assistants

Phonological Disorder relates to speech sound pattern or patterns that are not age appropriate or severely impacting further communication skills, like writing. For example, saying “chanks” instead of “thanks”, or saying and writing “wok” instead of “rock”. Some patterns are more common in therapy than others. As we get older, our patterns and sound errors should reduce and our accurate, intended speech sounds should be heard in everyday words and sentences.