What is a speech disorder?
A speech disorder is a disorder of language, whether it is processing and getting it out, or not being able to articulate even though you know what you want to say. Speech disorders develop oftentimes because of delayed developmental issues, which sometimes children will catch up on their own. Often they will not catch up on their own and then have to be therapized and diagnosed to be able to get the treatment for a speech disorder, though parents at home can do what they need to do to get their child practicing. But they usually pan out well if they are diagnosed early. There has not been any real research that shows a genetic connection or a connection to any trauma that has happened. Mostly if it’s emotional trauma because of a witnessed incident, that dissipates once that treatment is instituted for the trauma.
– Although some children are precocious in the acquisition of speech and may be able to produce understandable speech by the time they are 30 months of age, in some children, it is not uncommon for one or two speech sounds to remain “unlearned” until 72 months of age. By the time a child is 48 months old, however, she should be speaking well enough to be understood all of the time.
