Speech AND Language
Understanding both speech and language is important.
Parents come to The Speech Room, usually, with concerns for their child’s communication. They’ve noticed that they’re not using the same number of words in a sentence as the other children at preschool, or they’re finding that they don’t understand what their child is saying as much as they’d like to, and sometimes they’re noticing that other people don’t seem to follow the things their child is saying.
Speech AND language therapist… Have you ever wondered why an SLT is called this? Aren’t speech and language the same thing?! Surprisingly, no! In the world of speech language therapy, there is an important distinction between ‘speech’ and ‘language’. Knowing the difference can help your Speech Language Therapist (SLT) understand the concerns you have about your child’s communication better and help you with understanding what your SLT is referring to when they’re talking about the goals you have set for your child, and why.
What is speech?
Speech is how we say sounds and words. It includes:
Articulation: we use our mouth, lips and tongue to make sounds. We need to be able to make the /k/ sound to say ‘cat’ instead of ‘tat’.
Voice: we use our vocal folds and breath to make sounds. Sometimes these sounds are too loud, or too quiet. Using our voice incorrectly (talking too much, yelling or coughing lots) can hurt it.
Fluency: This is the flow of our speech. Sometimes we repeat sounds or words, or pause when we talk. If this happens regularly, we may say someone has a stutter.
Speech is a verbal way of communicating and requires muscles and control of these muscles. Individual sounds are joined together seamlessly to make words- it’s quite hard work for your brain and muscles!! You might have noticed that your child swaps one sound for another e.g. says ‘tat’ for ‘cat’, or leaves sounds out of words like ‘lide’ for ‘slide’, or ‘da’ for ‘dog’. These are examples of children who might be having difficulties with speech.
What is language?
Language is the words we use, and how we use them to share ideas and get our wants to be understood. It includes:
The meaning of words: knowing what a word means, and how context can change its meaning.
Making new words: we can use different beginnings and endings on words to make new words e.g. we can say friend, friendly or unfriendly
Putting words together: There are rules in language about how we put words in a sentence for it to make sense. For example we say “I need chocolate and wine” not “wine need and chocolate I”.
The way we say things, and how we say them: we will say different things to different people and in different situations. These rules are unwritten. For example, to our boss we will say “Good Afternoon, how are you?” and to a friend we say “oh hey mate, how’s things?”
There are lots of rules and milestones relating to language. Reading and writing are language skills too. Generally, if your child has difficulty expressing their thoughts, ideas and feelings, they may have an expressive language disorder. For example, a child who is 2, who is not yet using single words, has a delay. If your child has difficulty understanding what others say they may have a receptive language disorder. For example, they may be unable to follow instructions, and may seem to have forgotten what you have said. A child can have difficulty with expressive and receptive language at the same time. They may also have difficulties with speech and language. Watch for a coming blog post which will explore receptive and expressive language more!
So now that you’re equipped with some definitions, you can impress your SLT by casually dropping them into the conversation appropriately!
