Articulation vs phonological disorder

Kylie Sandlin, CF-SLP

Phonological and Articulation Disorders, or types of speech sound disorders, can impact your child’s ability to be understood. But what’s the difference? And does that change how a speech therapist provides treatment for my child? Let’s explore Articulation vs Phonological Disorders and how they impact speech.

Articulation vs Phonological Disorder:

It’s important to know the difference between the two functional speech sound disorders because treatment differs for each. Both phonological disorders and articulation disorders are considered functional disorders because they have no known cause. According to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, a Phonological Disorder focuses on predictable, rule-based errors that affect more than one sound. It involves a pattern of errors that are used to simplify speech sound production. Common errors in children with phonological disorders include substituting the “k” and “g” sounds for “t” and “d” (i.e., “tat” for “cat”) or deleting the final consonant of words (i.e., “ba” for “bat”). It should be noted, however, that many phonological processes are common and appropriate but at a certain age, they are no longer expected. 

Articulation Disorders refer to difficulty producing certain age-expected sounds. The errors are caused by incorrect motor movements that are required for a certain sound, such as producing “thoo” for “sue.” Children with an articulation disorder often only have difficulty producing a few sounds. Again, it should be noted that many children make errors with individual speech sounds but at a certain age, it is expected that the child is able to say it correctly.

Speech Therapy for Articulation Disorder:

Speech therapy for children with an articulation disorder focuses on the motor movement required to correctly produce the speech sound. For example, the SLP may use cues such as “bite your lip and blow on it” to facilitate the production of “f” in isolation, then words, then sentences, and then in conversation. 

Speech Therapy for Phonological Disorder:

Treatment for a phonological disorder will typically target a group of sounds with similar error patterns. Your SLP may decide to use the Cycles Approach which targets one or more phonological patterns during the cycle, and continues to cycle through all error patterns, until the targeted patterns are present in the child’s spontaneous speech. 

If you believe your child has an articulation or phonological disorder, contact our clinic today to receive a free speech therapy consultation by one of our licensed speech therapists!