This means that the child swallows incorrectly. Instead of being pressed upwards against the palate (as normal when swallowing physiologically), the tongue presses forward against the teeth. This can be caused by a weak musculature of the mouth and tongue or a by an incorrectly acquired swallowing pattern.
When children show problems in their speech development, their language acquisition is delayed and/or not age-appropriate. This usually affects one or more than one of the following areas: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and language comprehension. Problems in a child’s language development can usually be detected very early, even at the age of two. Children who have problems with their communicative development usually also show peculiarities in their playing behaviour.
When a child is having difficulties with pronunciation, he or she pronounces one or more phonemes incorrectly, replaces them with others or drops them altogether. This is also called articulation disorder, phonetic or phonological disorder or dyslalia.
Children who show an auditory processing disorder can hear perfectly but cannot process what they hear in an age-appropriate way. For example they cannot differentiate between similar sounding phonemes or they have problems remembering the information they have heard.
Voice disorders are usually caused when children use their voice incorrectly, i.e. when speaking too loudly or screaming, which can lead to physical changes on the vocal cords (nodules of the vocal cords) Ultimately the voice sounds rough, hoarse, pressed or croaky.
Twanging, which is defined by a nasal tone in the sound of the voice and pronunciation, is caused by physical changes in the nasopharynx (for example because of a cheilognathouranoschisis or by a malfunction of the velum palatinum.
These can occur when the voice is used incorrectly (functional voice disorders) or they can have a physiological cause (such as a larynx operation or changes at the larynx, i.e. because of a tumor). The voice can sound rough, hoarse, pressed, quiet, croaky or creaky. The urge to cough often or the voice tiring very quickly can be other symptoms.
Adults who show an articulation disorder pronounce one or more phonemes incorrectly. This can be a result of an incorrectly acquired moving pattern of the tongue (i.e. lisping) or of physiological changes of the oral cravity (i.e. because of a cheilognathouranoschisis).
Phonemes, syllables or words are repeated involuntarily, phonemes might be lengthened and/or words might be blocked when being pronounced. The degree of the stuttering often depends on the situation one is exposed to and as a result of the stammering the people who are affected suffer noticeably.
People who clutter speak very fast and very hastily, which often leads to inarticulate pronunciation and makes it difficult for others to understand them. Syllables are left out frequently or drawn together. They also tend to repeat certain words or syllables like people who stammer. However, they are usually not aware of their problem.