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PEDIATRIC CARE

Unclear Speech / Misarticulations

Some children develop age appropriate language and talk as much as other children of their age but the clarity of their speech is poor. This makes it difficult for others to understand what the child is trying to communicate. At times, children with unclear speech are subjected to teasing at school which makes talking a difficult affair for the child. Misarticulations are also known to hamper a child's reading, writing and spellings.

Common questions about misarticulations

1. Will my child need professional help for correcting his/her unclear speech? Or will it improve on its own?

If your child is above 3 years of age and has difficulty producing clear speech, a visit to an audiologist-speech language pathologist is warranted. Following an individual assessment, the audiologist-speech language pathologist will guide you whether the child needs intervention or will he/she outgrow it on his/her own.

2. What is Articulation Therapy?

The process of therapy begins by teaching the error sound in isolation- in terms of placement in the mouth and movement of the articulators. Once production of the sound is mastered, a hierarchy of more complex targets are set in order to generalize the sound to words, phrases, sentences, and, eventually, conversational speech.