Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a speech label in which the planning and/or programming of the movements to produce speech is inefficient. This means that although a child with CAS may know what they want to say, their mouth may not move the way it needs to in order to say words clearly. The most qualified professional to diagnose CAS is a speech-language pathologist with post graduate training and understanding of differential diagnosis of speech sound disorders. CAS can range from mild to severe.

Phonological disorders occur when a child has difficulty understanding the sound system and speech rules of our language. Errors in a child with phonological disorder's speech typically follow consistent patterns. For example, they may leave off ending sounds (ex. bow/boat), reduce syllables (ex. e-phant/elephant), or even substitute a specific sound for an entire class of sounds (ex. using the /t/ and /d/ sounds for all /k/ and /g/ sounds (ex. tea/key, do/go). Children who have phonological disorders need special approaches for learning to produce these sounds correctly. Phonological disorders can range from mild (1-2 processes active in speech) to severe (>4-5 processes active in speech).

Articulation disorders are typically considered more mild types of speech sound disorders as they typically manifest in errors on only a few sounds which only slightly impact intelligibility. Children with articulation disorders may present with the following:

-Frontal lisp or lateral lisp on /s, z, sh, ch, zh, j/ 

-Difficulty producing the R sound resulting in distortions (ex. caw/car, guwl/girl, weally/really)

-Difficulty producing the /th/  sound (ex. tooth, those)

Dysarthria is a speech sound disorder caused by muscle weakness due to brain damage which can range from mild to severe. Children with dysarthria may produce speech too slowly or too fast, too quietly, they may produce slurred speech, have difficulty moving their articulators well, and may have co-occurring voice difficulties such as a hoarse/breathy quality.

Analytic language development and gestalt language development are two ways to process and develop language. Many people think of analytic language development as the “standard" method of developing language, using words first as the building blocks to produce sentences. Children

who use gestalt language development process language in whole chunks instead of processing single words... at first. Both analytic language development and gestalt language development are normal and natural! However, the approach used to help analytic vs. gestalt language processors is different, so it's important to find a therapist with additional training in gestalt language processing.

A late talker is defined as a child who has a delay in language onset with no other diagnosed disabilities or developmental delays in other cognitive or motor domains. Children grow and develop at their own rate. However, if your child is having difficulty communicating, speech therapy can help. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, the earlier you seek help, the better