Defective speech or speech disorder refers to the speech behaviour that is sufficiently deviant from normal or accepted speaking patterns that it attracts attention, interferes with communication and adversely affects communication for either the speaker or the listener.

Here the focus is on behaviour deviations that clearly exceed the normal range of variations. Speech disorder could refer to delayed speech, elective mutism, articulation and stuttering that are discussed below:

Delayed speech

As we listen to adults and children, we note considerable variation in speaking ability or performance. Some people are quite skilled and articulate (silver tongued); others are less facile (tongue tied). Maturation may serve as a natural cure for speech problems. Most children make certain errors in their speech that do not typically persist.

For example, they may delete final consonant (buy for bike) or unstressed syllables (nana for banana) and or substitute certain sounds for others e.g. (tit for sit, dup for soup). These behaviours may inadvertently promote speech disorders. There seems to be a relationship between parental communication speech patterns and those of their children.

Elective mutism

The child who is electively mute may be defined "as a child who does not speak but who has no speech or language disorders, no physical defect of the speech mechanism, not aphasic nor of sufficiently deficient general intelligence so as to be able to formulate speech and language." Elective mute children have speaking abilities but choose not to utilize them.

These children do speak in particular situations and to certain individuals but these circumstances are limited. A child may choose to remain silent in order to a) control or manipulate others and b) when he feels that it is not reinforcing to speak or speaking may even be punishing or anxiety producing. Such children are often described as being shy, socially withdrawn and anxious.

Articulation disorders

Articulation problems represent the largest category of all speech disorders. It is basically a disturbance in speech-sound production. In certain cases articulation difficulties follow a developmental path. As the child grows older articulation errors often diminish or are eliminated (by the age of 9 or 10). However if the problem persists therapy intervention may be necessary. Like other speech disorders, defective articulation may be caused by the following factors:

*brain damage or nerve injury *physical deformity such as malfunctioned mouth, jaw or teeth structures. *heredity learned behaviours and finally *defective learning (functional disorders)

Stuttering

Stuttering represents a disturbance in fluency and rhythm of speech with intermittent blocking, repitition or prolongation of sounds, syllables, words or phrases. Stuttering is a function of poor coordination among voice control, articulation and respiration processes. Nearly all children stutter as they develop their speaking abilities. Theses are non-fluencies that go away as the child grows older and progresses in speech development. However, with some it may persist even in adulthood.

Treatment of speech disorders varies greatly depending upon the type and often the characteristics of the individual case. Learning based treatments have met with particular success in the treatment of selected speech disorders.

Watch out for symptoms related to speech disorders. At the same time do not panic because certain speech disorders disappear with age and maturity. However, if they persist after the age of 10-12 you may need therapist's intervention.