Speech-Language Glossary

The field of Speech-Language Pathology, like many specialties, has it's own specialized vocabulary. This list of terms will be helpful for families and other professionals when reading speech language articles, research, or even this website. We hope that the following no-nonsense basic terms help you to navigate the speech-language world.

Aphasia- Loss of language abilities due to brain damage, usually on the left side of the brain where most people have their “language centers”. We often see aphasia as the result of an adult who has had a stroke and has trouble naming items, remembering words, categorizing, and conversing. Children can also have aphasia as a result of brain damage.

Apraxia- A speech disorder in which the child or adult has trouble coordinating voluntary movements. SLPs refer to this as a motor planning disorder, where the child may know what he wants to say, but has trouble making his mouth/tongue/lips/teeth move in the right order to produce clear speech. Also called apraxia of speech, developmental apraxia or childhood apraxia (there is also a limb apraxia).

Articulation- Speech sounds produced from the use of “articulators” (lips, tongue, teeth), or a general term to describe speech.  Children that have an articulation disorder may have sound substitutions, distortions or sound deletions.

Audiogram- A graph which shows a person's hearing acuity (level) at different pitches and loudness levels. Normal hearing is considered to be around 10-30 dB (decibels, a measure of loudness).

Autism- A disorder which is under the category of “Pervasive Developmental Disorders”. Children with autism typically have delayed language, tend to be “literal” or “concrete”, and have difficulty interacting with others and figuring out social situations. Specialists may say they suspect that a child is on the “spectrum”, which means the child may show one or more symptoms of a PDD disorder (Autism, Asperger's, ADD, ADHD...).

Cerebral Palsy- A condition that a child is usually born with, that is associated with brain damage, particularly with loss of oxygen to the brain. The child does not have typical muscle tone, many have difficulty with moving around and use a wheelchair or other aid. Usually speech is affected due to the changes in tone.

Distinctive Features- Characteristics of a sound that make it unique and different from all the other speech sounds in our language. For example, the sound /b/ is made in the front of your mouth, with your “voice on” and your lips popping apart. Also, the name of a treatment approach for Phonological Disorders (see below)

Distortion- Errors in speech in which the sounds are not produced clearly, they may be slurred or imprecise.

Dysarthria- A speech disorder associated with muscle weakness, which could be from paralysis of certain muscle groups or paresis (weakness due to brain damage). A disorder associated with nervous system damage. In children it is most often seen with those that have cerebral palsy.

Dysfluency- The “smoothness” of speech, dysfluent speech may be referred to as stuttering (see below). This is measured by sound/word/phrase repetitions, sound elongations, interruption of airflow and other measures.

Dyslexia- A general term used to describe reading disorders/difficulties. There are specific types of dyslexias, however generally children have trouble with phonological awareness (see below) and sequencing to read, write and spell words.  While very specific testing is done to determine the type of dyslexia, this may not be necessary for every child.. Speech-Language Pathologists who are trained in reading are able to evaluate children's different areas of reading and develop a good treatment plan without an official diagnosis related to dyslexia.

Dysphagia- A swallowing disorder due to any difficulty in any of the stages of swallowing. Children and adults with swallowing difficulties often receive a swallow study or test from a hospital, and may undergo swallowing therapy to learn strategies for making swallowing safer.  Some people with dysphagia are NPO, which means they should not take any food by mouth.

Echolalia- an imitation of words or phrases in a way that is usually not meaningful and can interfere with communication; often seen in children with autism. Echolalia can be immediate or delayed.

Jargon- vocalizations of young children that consist of several strings of consonants and vowels and may sound like speech, even though they are not true words. Real words may be mixed in with a child's jargon. This is a developmental stage.

Language- use of a system of symbols to convey meaning. This includes receptive language (what we understand, how we categorize, vocabulary...) and expressive language (what we say and how we say it). Reading is included in receptive language and writing is included in the definition of expressive language.  Children that have difficulty learning to read despite typical intelligence have weaknesses in specific language areas.

Language Sample- A collection of utterances (words, sentences) that can be in the form of a personal story, sequencing events, describing, explaining or others. SLPs often use language samples during assessments, they are an excellent way to get a good picture of a child's functional language abilities.

Mean Length of Utterance- The average sentence length, usually taken from a language sample (see above). This is a little tricky because it is not just the number of words, but the number of morphemes (see below). Ex: A child that says “playing” is using a more complex form than one who says “play”. The “ing” has it's own meaning (present tense- I am doing it now) and counts as an extra morpheme.

Morpheme- Words or parts of words that have meaning. This includes regular words such as house, cat, tree, etc., and “bound morphemes” such as “s” (plural, possessive), “ing”, “est”, “er”, etc.

Perseveration- Repetition of the same word behavior or thought, especially when it is interfering with functionality. May be seen with PDD or aphasia.

Phonological Disorder- A speech disorder in which the child's speech has a pattern of errors.  The child is using rules to put sounds together to develop words, however they are not the traditional rules of the language.  Children with phonological disorders are usually very difficult to understand.  Many of them have good success with speech therapy.

Phonological Awareness- The awareness of sounds in words both when listening and reading.  Phonological awareness has been shown to be a very strong indicator in the success of a child learning to read.  Reading programs for children with dyslexia or reading difficulties address this as one component of instructions.  There are several components of phonological awareness which can be taught in the classroom, at home, and in speech/language therapy.  Some of these components include rhyming, counting sounds/syllables in words, and initial sound awareness.

Pragmatics- Social language, the rules for how we use language in different contexts (ex: you speak differently to your boss than your best friend). Also related to social interactions. Many children with language delays or PDD have weaknesses in the area pragmatics.

Sensory- May refer to a type of deficit, where a child is hyper or hypo sensitive to touch, noises, light, or smell. May also refer to hyper or hypo sensation in and around the mouth that could contribute to speech and eating problems. LindaMood and Bell refer to sensory awareness as a child's awareness of how his or her mouth moves and feels when making specific speech sounds or sequences of sounds.

Speech- characteristics of the way we talk. SLPs listen not only for speech sound errors, but are also listening for a pattern of errors that give clues as to the underlying cause and best treatment approach for the child.

Contact Us

Rachel Betzen M.A. CCC/SLP

• •      Dallas Reading and Language Services
  •      Http://www.DallasReading.com
  •      Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  •      214-274-7455

Communication and Language are powerful. 

Children with speech and language delays or disorders face an uphill climb due to the challenges these present.  Speech-Language therapy and reading services have changed the lives of our clients in lasting ways.  Whether calming a toddler's tantrums as he begins to express his wants, or watching a school-age child flourish in their home and school life for the first time, we are reminded of the power that communication holds.

The therapy and reading programs provided at Dallas Reading and Language Services are unique in that goals are addressed within the context of literacy.  This is important for children aged pre-school through adolescents as they expand into another functional context with their burgeoning speech and language skills.  The national governing organization for speech-language pathologists and audiologists, ASHA encourages SLPs to use literacy rich activities within speech-language therapy.  The American Speech-Language Association also recognizes the importance of reading and writing as language skills, and places them within the scope of practice for a speech-language therapist to address with clients.  

How are Speech Language Pathologists related to reading?

Reading is essentially language, and we can think of this as part of a hierarchy. At the base we have our experiences and knowledge which children use to build their basic vocabulary and language skills. As they become more skilled and receive formal instruction, they are able to place the abstract sounds of our language and the letters that represent them together to create meaning, or written words. Language is a system of symbols, and reading is another symbol system imposed on top of our language.  If there is a weakness anywhere in this hierarchy, difficulty with higher level skills, such as reading and writing, will result.  This is why children who have speech or language difficulties as pre-schoolers are at a higher risk of having learning problems in school, particularly when learning to read.

Please visit our other pages to learn about how we can help your child.  We are adding to our Links pages, which is a good place to start to find information about other programs and services in Texas.  Our Glossary above is filled with terms about reading, language and speech.  As you learn more about how reading works and how speech-language pathologists are trained in this area, this list of terms will be helpful.

Dallas Reading and Language Services provides traditional speech-language pathology services to children and adolescents from toddlers to high-school age.  We occasionally will provide services to adults on a case by case basis only, if we feel that we can help that person meet their desired objectives, whether for speech, language or reading decoding/comprehension. 

About the Speech-Language Pathologist

Rachel Betzen is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist (currently inactive), or speech therapist, that owns the private practice Dallas Reading and Language Services. She is currectly recovering from chronic illness and plans to reopen her practice in 2012.

The good news: she is walking again, slowly healing, and is deeply grateful for her returning strength and the many blessings in her life. She preparing to  re-open her private practice part-time in 2012 as health continues to improves, again providing speech-language therapy and reading programs, with a focus on children that have significant reading as well as speech or language difficulties.

Rachel Betzen can be contacted by e-mail at:   rbetzen (at) dallasreading.com