Speech Therapy: Language and Voice Disorders

Intervention in Language Problems

This relates to patients with difficulties in language acquisition, verbal expression, pronunciation, reading, and writing. The speech therapist's role is to teach effective communication strategies and provide systems that enable individuals to express themselves through spoken, written, or gestural means.

Speech Therapy

Speech therapy is a discipline encompassing the study, prevention, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of language pathologies.

Speech Articulation Disorders

• Dyslalia: Difficulty articulating phonemes (vowels and consonants) correctly.
  • Evolutionary: Language immaturity.
  • Audiogenic: Hearing impairment.
  • Functional: Difficulty controlling speech organs.
  • Organic: Organ impairment.
• Diglossia: Changes in articulation caused by injury or malformation of speech organs.
• Dyspraxia: Lack of movement organization affecting phoneme articulation.
• Rhinolalia: Changes in articulation due to nasal resonance issues.

Language Disorders

• Simple Language Retardation: Language comprehension and verbal expression below age level without obvious pathological cause.
• Dysphasia (Moderate Retardation): Global expression disorder with limited vocabulary.
• Aphasia (Severe Delay): Loss of language due to brain injury or tumor, affecting articulation, vocabulary, and syntax.
  • Congenital: Absence of language development.
  • Acquired: Loss of previously acquired language.
  • Motor: Lesion in Broca's area (difficulty expressing language).
  • Sensory: Lesion in Wernicke's area (difficulty understanding language).
  • Mixed: Affects both motor and sensory areas.
• Mutism: Inability to speak due to shock or trauma.

Pathology Components

• Etiology: The cause of the disorder.
• Pathophysiology: How the disorder develops.
• Symptoms: Observable signs and symptoms.

Health and Normality

• Health: A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.
• Normality: Determined by intellectual, social, emotional, and personal functioning.

Linguistic System Involvement

Language impairment can affect various levels, including language, voice, and speech.

Levels of Language Impairment

• Phonological: Incorrect sound production.
• Expressive: Limited vocabulary and errors in expression.
• Receptive: Difficulty understanding language.

Types of Language Disorders

• Primary: Language impairment is the main issue (e.g., aphasia).
• Secondary: Language impairment results from another condition.

Affected Areas

Disorders can affect input (e.g., auditory processing) or output (e.g., dyslalia).

Causes of Language Disorders

• Organic: Hereditary, perinatal, congenital, postnatal factors.
• Functional: Malfunction of speech organs.
• Organic-Functional: Combined organic and functional factors.
• Endocrine: Hormonal imbalances.
• Environmental: Contextual factors affecting development.
• Psychosomatic: Psychological factors affecting speech and thinking.

Phonation Pathologies

• Functional Dysphonia: Voice alteration due to injury of phonation organs.
• Non-organic Dysphonia: Voice alteration without anatomical injury (vocal misuse).
• Aphonia: Total loss of voice.

Verbal Fluency Disorders

• Stuttering: Disruption in speech rhythm with repetitions or blocks.
  • Clonic: Syllable repetitions.
  • Tonic: Blocks in speech flow.
  • Mixed: Combination of clonic and tonic stuttering.