Speech disorder

Speech disorders, impairments, or impediments, are a type of communication disorder in which normal speech is disrupted. This can mean fluency disorders like stuttering and cluttering. Someone who is unable to speak due to a speech disorder is considered mute. Speech skills are vital to social relationships and learning, and delays or disorders in developing these skills can impact individuals' function. For many children and adolescents, this can present as issues with academics. Speech disorders affect roughly 11.5% of the US population, and 5% of the primary school population. Speech is a complex process that requires precise timing, nerve and muscle control, and as a result is susceptible to impairments. A person who has a stroke, an accident or birth defect may have speech and language problems.

Common speech disorders include articulation disorders, which involves difficulty producing specific sounds correctly; phonological disorders, which is the inability to use all of the speech sounds to form words; disfluency, such as stuttering, which disrupts the natural flow of words such as elongating words, repeating sounds etc.