• Home

Home > Medical Reference > Encyclopedia (English)

Toggle: English / Spanish

Speech disorders

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Definition:

Speech disorders refer to several conditions in which a person has difficulty communicating by mouth.

See also: Speech impairment

Alternative Names:

Articulation deficiency; Voice disorders; Disfluency

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Speech is one of the primary ways we communicate with those around us. It is an effective way to monitor normal growth and development as well as to identify potential problems.

Disfluencies are rhythm disorders that are usually characterized by the repetition of a sound, word, or phrase. Stuttering is perhaps the most serious disfluency.

Articulation deficiencies involve sounds made incorrectly or inappropriately.

Voice disorders involve abnormalities in the quality, pitch, and loudness of the sound.

There are many potential causes of speech impairment. The most common cause is mental retardation . Other causes may include:

• Attention deficit disorder (ADD)
• Autism
• Cerebral palsy
• Cleft palate
• Cri-du-chat syndrome
• Disorders of the palate
• Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
• Hearing impairment
• Learning disability
• Schizophrenia
• Vocal cord injury

Delayed speech development is one of the common symptoms of developmentally delayed children. It occurs in 5-10% of all children. Boys are three to four times as likely to have speech disorders as girls.

• Review Date: 2/19/2007
• Reviewed By: Alden J. Pearl, M.D., Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Otolaryngology, State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org). URAC's accreditation program is the first of its kind, requiring compliance with 53 standards of quality and accountability, verified by independent audit. A.D.A.M. is among the first to achieve this important distinction for online health information and services. Learn more about A.D.A.M.'s editorial process . A.D.A.M. is also a founding member of Hi-Ethics (www.hiethics.com) and subscribes to the principles of the Health on the Net Foundation (www.hon.ch).

The information provided herein should not be used during any medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Call 911 for all medical emergencies. Links to other sites are provided for information only -- they do not constitute endorsements of those other sites. Copyright 1997-2007 A.D.A.M., Inc. Any duplication or distribution of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited.