speech

Speech is the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds. It is the spoken expression of ideas. It is also defined as our ability to speak or the power of expressing or communicating thoughts by speaking. We often use speech to interact with other people.
Social Interaction is the means and ability of two or more social beings to come into contact, communicate or acknowledge one another while each being is aware of the others. This is the way people talk and act with each other. Through speech we are able to convey information and get in touch with other people especially to our family, friends and the likes. But speech is sometimes accompanied by some problems, speech disorders, as it is called.
Speech disorders affects the language and mechanics, the contents of speech, or the function of language in communication. Because speech problems affect teens’ ability to communicate effectively, every aspect of the teenager’s life can be affected, for example, their ability to make friends or to participate in activities at school is being ineffective.
Speech impediments are far reaching disorders that can be derived from various abnormalities in a person’s development. Having a speech impediments can increase stress and anxiety levels in social situations for the speakers. Hugh-Jones and Smith (1999) found that a majority of self-stuttering students reported encountering bullying at school, as well as difficulty in making friendships. Blood, Tellis & Gabel (2003) report that the stigmatization associated with speech disorders often experience depression, social isolation and poorer performance on academics and standardized tests.

Here are the forms of speech impediments:

• Stuttering
Stuttering also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds.
Stuttering may have a significant negative cognitive and affective impact on the person who stutters. Joseph Sheehan, a prominent researcher in the field, has described stuttering in terms of the well-known analogy to an iceberg, with the immediately visible and audible symptoms of stuttering above the waterline and a broader set of symptoms such as negative emotions hidden below the surface. Feelings of embarrassment, shame, frustration, fear, anger, and guilt are frequent in people who stutter, and may actually increase tension and effort, leading to increased stuttering. With time, continued exposure to difficult speaking experiences may crystallize into a negative self-concept and self-image. A person who stutters may project his or her attitudes onto others, believing that they think he or she is nervous or stupid.
• Cluttering
Cluttering is another problem that makes a person's speech difficult to understand. Like stuttering, cluttering affects the fluency, or flow, of a person's speech. However, the difference is that cluttering is a language disorder, while stuttering is a speech disorder. A person who stutters has trouble getting out what they want to say, and a person who clutters says what they are thinking, but it becomes disorganized while actually speaking. Because of this disorganization, someone who clutters may speak in bursts or pause in unexpected places. The rhythm of cluttered speech may sound jerky, rather than smooth, and the speaker is often unaware of the problem. Cluttering is also characterized by slurred speech , especially dropped or distorted /r/ and /l/ sounds; and monotone speech that starts loud and trails off into a murmur. Articulation disorders encompass a wide range of errors people can make when talking. Substituting a "w" for an "r" ("wabbit" for "rabbit"), omitting sounds ("cool" for "school"), or adding sounds to words ("pinanio" for "piano") are examples of articulation errors.

• Lisping
A lisp is a functional speech disorder that involves the inability to correctly pronounce one or more sibilant consonant sounds, usually s or z .A person who lisps replaces those sounds with "th." As a functional speech disorder, lisping has no clear known cause. It is often referred to as a speech delay of unknown origin. Structural irregularities of the tongue, palate, or teeth (including abnormalities in the number or position of the teeth) may be implicated in lisping, but they generally are not the main causes.

• Dysprosody is the rarest neurological speech disorder. It is characterized by alterations in intensity, in the timing of utterance segments, and in rhythm, cadence, and intonation of words. The changes to the duration, the fundamental frequency, and the intensity of tonic and atonic syllables of the sentences spoken, deprive an individual's particular speech of its characteristics. The cause of dysprosody is usually associated with neurological pathologies such as brain vascular accidents, cranioencephalic traumatisms, and brain tumors.

• Muteness
Those who are physically mute may have problems with the parts of the human body required for human speech (the throat, vocal cords, lungs, mouth, or tongue , etc.). Being mute is often associated with deafness as people who have been unable to hear from birth may not be able to articulate words correctly (see deaf-mute ), but muteness describes people who can hear but cannot talk. Other causes include intellectual disability and autism .

• Speech sound disorders involve difficulty in producing specific speech sounds (most often certain consonants, such as /s/ or /r/), and are subdivided into articulation disorders (also called phonetic disorders) and phonemic disorders.

• Articulation disorders are characterized by difficulty learning to produce sounds physically. Phonemic disorders are characterized by difficulty in learning the sound distinctions of a language, so that one sound may be used in place of many. However, it is not uncommon for a single person to have a mixed speech sound disorder with both phonemic and phonetic components.

• Dysarthria is a weakness or paralysis of speech muscles caused by damage to the nerves and/or brain. Dysarthria is often caused by strokes, parkinsons disease, ALS, head or neck injuries, surgical accident, or cerebral palsy.

• Apraxia of speech may result from stroke or be developmental, and involves inconsistent production of speech sounds and rearranging of sounds in a word ("potato" may become "topato" and next "totapo"). Production of words becomes more difficult with effort, but common phrases may sometimes be spoken spontaneously without effort.

Speech impediments can take place because of genetic influences, physical insufficiencies and dysfunctional neurons. Regardless of its origin, most impediments become noticeable in the teenager’s early childhood and continues to affect the speaker as years pass. One result of a speech impediment is the obstruction of clear speech. This disruption in communication can often lead to social isolation and bullying for the speaker. (Hugh-Jones & Smith,1999). These social implications are so powerful that they have the strength to influence self-esteem, depression levels and academic success (Blood,Tellis,& Gabel,2003). The consequences of speech disorders are multifaceted and go beyond the quality and clarity of the individual’s speech.