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SPEECH THERAPY GLOSSARY

  • Aphasia (or dysphasia) â€“ indicates a person’s ability to use or understand language is affected; aphasia is usually caused by stroke, traumatic brain injury, or diseases of the brain

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  • Apraxia of speech â€“ a specific speech disorder characterized by an inability to control and coordinate the movements needed to make speech sounds (despite normal muscle functioning); the ability to say words or make speech sounds is inconsistent. Apraxia is sometimes called verbal apraxia, developmental apraxia of speech, or verbal dyspraxia.

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  • Articulation Disorder â€“ difficulty correctly producing speech sounds (phonemes) because of problems with the articulators (lips, teeth, tongue, jaw, soft palate)

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  • Alternative/Augmentative Communication (AAC) â€“ a substitute or supplemental tool used for communication by individuals with absent or limited speech. AAC may include communication boards with photos or symbols or electronic devices.

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  • Auditory Processing Disorder â€“ difficulty in how the central nervous system (CNS) uses auditory information; a problem with how the brain recognizes and interprets sounds, most notably the sounds composing speech

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  • Backing â€“ when sounds that should be made at the front of the mouth (such as ‘t’) are made at the back instead; an example would be saying ‘key’ for ‘tea.’

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  • Bilateral hearing loss â€“ a loss of hearing in both ears

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  • Cluster Reduction â€“ when two consonants at the beginning of a word are reduced to just one (e.g., saying ‘sand’ instead of ‘stand’)

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  • Conductive Hearing Impairment â€“ hearing loss caused by dysfunction of the outer or middle ear

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  • Dysarthria â€“ when facial muscle weakness affects speech production, leaving it sounding slurred, flat, nasal or jerky in rhythm. Dysarthria occurs as a result of brain or nerve damage.

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  • Dysfluency (or stuttering) â€“ When the smooth flow of speech is interrupted.

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  • Dysfluency may occur by repetition of whole words, repetition of a single sound, prolonging of sounds, or blocking, where the mouth is open but no sound comes out. Facial tension may be present and occasionally extra body movements may occur.

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  • Dysphagia â€“ difficulty swallowing

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  • Expressive Language â€“ The area of language skills related to communicating information verbally.

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  • Fronting â€“ When sounds that should be made at the back of the mouth are made at the front (e.g. ‘tea’ instead of ‘key’ or â€˜tar’ instead of ‘car’)

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  • Myofunctional Therapy â€“ a specific therapy program utilized to correct forward tongue placement/tongue thrusting, correct deviant swallowing patterns, eliminate thumb sucking habits, and maintain orthodontic retention

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  • Oral Motor/Oral Placement Therapy â€“ movement techniques used in therapy to facilitate muscle memory and increase range of motion, strength, and coordination for specific speech sound execution

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  • Phonological Difficulties â€“ difficulty selecting and using the correct sounds necessary for speech; difficulties can be characterized dependent on where or how the sound is made. See backing, fronting, stopping, and cluster reduction for more information.

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  • Pragmatic Language â€“ The area of language skills related to social use of language/communication

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  • Receptive Language â€“ The area of language skills related to processing and understanding information

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  • Stopping  â€“ When long sounds come out as short ones (e.g., ‘sand’ comes out as ‘dand’ or ‘socks’ come out as ‘docks’)

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  • Syntax/Morphology â€“ the area of language skills related to grammatical use of words

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  • Vocal Nodule â€“ a callous-like growth that is noncancerous and grows on the inner part of the vocal cords, caused by vocal misuse or abuse

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