Misarticulation is a disorder or a habit of mispronouncing certain words. You may produce sounds, syllables, or words incorrectly so that the listeners cannot understand your speech. This disrupts the effective communication flow, one of the most important aspects of our lives. Articulation is a process wherein the organs like the tongue, lips, and palate interact when air comes from the vocal cords to produce sounds in a correct manner. When this is not perfect, the sound is produced with improper placement, pressure, coordination, and timing. The combination of techniques and processes used to correct this misarticulation is called misarticulation speech therapy.
Let us know more about misarticulation, its causes, the signs and symptoms, and how it can be treated through misarticulation therapy. This knowledge will help you know about the occurrence of this disorder at an early stage to be treated well in time.
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Misarticulation speech therapy focuses on proper pronunciation and speech, supporting and improving words and sound formation. Through different techniques, it involves practicing the coordination in moving various articulators like lips, jaw, tongue, cheeks, and palate, thus enhancing your ability to speak correctly. Misarticulation treatment comprises various treatment modalities to improve sounds, words and sentences produced so that others can well interpret them. It includes several tools and techniques like:
Other simple home misarticulation treatment methods include:
These will help to minimize errors and thus improve the misarticulation speech.
Articulation issues can be due to some disorders related to the organs responsible for speech or maybe without any cause. Some of the reasons can be:
Being aware of some of the early signs and symptoms of misarticulation will help in early detection. A few misarticulation examples are:
When children use misarticulation speech, they may show frustration due to continuous difficulty in explaining their point and feel depressed and low in self-esteem due to bullying, teasing, and exclusion. Therefore, early detection and timely treatment are very important to avoid long-term psychological effects due to misarticulation.
Before the therapy, a proper diagnosis is made to find out the root cause of the issue through detailed assessment and various tests to know how the articulation is being affected and their pattern of variations. The percentage of severity is also calculated. Accordingly, a therapeutic plan is prepared, which is different for every individual, and then the therapy begins.
Visit Tarang Speech and Hearing Clinic for complete diagnostic and treatment solutions for speech and hearing issues. Homed by the best speech therapists in Delhi and equipped with the latest state-of-art diagnostic and therapeutic speech, language, and hearing facilities, Tarang clinic is one of the best speech therapy centres in Delhi.
When you notice any signs and symptoms of misarticulation, it is always advisable to consult a speech therapist so that they can assess and guide you accordingly.
Although the exact origin of misarticulation is unknown, it has a strong genetic impact. But if detected at an early stage, it can be completely treated.
Baby talks are sound errors by children because of their inability to properly coordinate their articulators, which may occur for initial 7 years. In comparison, misarticulation has sound errors until later in a life, characterized by addition, omissions, distortion, etc., which deteriorates the quality and clarity of speech.