Language and speech disorders refer to problems with one or both of a person's abilities to understand and express what is being said. Speech and language are two different concepts that are often confused in daily life. Language and speech-related disorders are also different. A person's difficulty in understanding other people and sharing their thoughts in understandable, structurally well-established sentences indicates a language disorder. The fact that a person cannot pronounce the sounds, has problems with articulation, has a problem with the sound level, or has factors that make their speech non-fluent, such as stuttering, suggests the possibility of speech disorder.

Speech and language disorders generally occur in the following categories:

Delayed Language and Speech: It is defined as the individual's language skills not developing at the level expected from their age in terms of understanding and expressing.
Articulation and Phonological Disorders: The sounds, syllables, and words of the individual are seen to speak in a remarkably different and difficult-to-understand way than normal.
Fluency Problems (Stuttering): It is a situation in which the fluency, speed, and rhythm of the individual's speech are problematic.
Voice Disorders: Cases where the sound differs negatively from the normal due to certain reasons such as pitch, severity, or quality.
Aphasia (Acquired Language Disorders): Language and speech disorders of neurological origin, most often as a result of damage to the brain.
Swallowing Disorders: It usually occurs as a result of a neurological cause and manifests itself with difficulties at different stages of swallowing action.
Motor Speech Disorders: It occurs when speech is negatively affected as a result of weakness, damage, and coordination disorder in muscle groups involved in speech for a neurological reason.

Speech and language disorders can have a variety of causes, as seen above. In addition to physical reasons such as disorders in the structures involved in speech, cleft palate, dental problems, neurological problems, and hearing loss, developmental and genetic disorders such as cerebral palsy, mental disability, autism spectrum disorders, and Down syndrome can also lead to language and speech disorders.

This content was prepared by Yeditepe University Hospitals Medical Editorial Board.

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