48 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
Speech sound disorder. Speech sound disorder is an umbrella
term relating to difficulties with the perception, articulation,
and/or phonological representation of speech sounds and
segments. The errors include phoneme (speech sound)
additions, omissions, distortions, or substitutions (American
Psychiatric Association 2013). These misarticulations interfere
with the intelligibility of children’s speech and the listener’s
ability to understand their verbal messages. Speech sound
disorders are often diagnosed when speech sound production
is below expectations for age and developmental level. By age
four, children’s speech should be fully intelligible (Coplan
and Gleason 1988; Flipsen 2006). Speech sound disorders
can be motor-based as in apraxia and dysarthria, structurally
based as in cleft palate and other craniofacial anomalies,
syndrome/condition-related as in Down syndrome and
metabolic conditions (e.g. galactosemia), and sensory-based
as in hearing impairment. The most widely cited summary
of speech sound disorder prevalence is based on a systematic
review conducted by Law et al. (2000), who reported that
2 percent to 25 percent of children aged five to seven years
have this challenge. More recent prevalence data suggests that
8 percent to 9 percent of children have speech sound disorders
(National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders 2010).
Intellectual disability. Intellectual disability is characterized
by clinically significant impairments in two areas, namely
intellectual ability and adaptive functioning. Manifestations
of intellectual impairment include challenges in reasoning,
problem solving, abstract thinking, judgment, and experiential
learning. Adaptive functioning refers to the level of personal
independence and social responsibility that is expected for
an individual’s age and cultural group. Adaptive behaviors