Articulation and

Phonology Disorders

2

Ta n ner, D. C.

Case Studies in Communication Sciences and Disorders,

Second Edition (pp. 23-43).

(^) © 2017 SLACK Incorporated.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child,
I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.
—1 Corinthians 13:11
This chapter addresses the human ability to make speech sounds and the disorders that can
occur. Articulatory structures, anatomy and physiology, phonetics, and phonology are reviewed.
Children’s acquisition of speech sounds is discussed, as are dialect and accent. Articulation and
phonology disorders are reviewed in terms of their etiology, diagnosis, and treatment. Case studies
are presented involving lisping, /w/ for /r/ substitution, multiple articulation errors, group therapy,
and appropriate use of augmentative and alternative communication devices.
When used in speech sound production, the word articulate means to combine the movements
of two or more oral structures into speech sounds. Articulation involves shaping compressed air
from the lungs into individual speech sounds; the vocal tract structures are moved so that speech
sounds are produced. There are two ways of viewing these speech disorders. In the traditional
approach, articulation disorders are considered structural and functional deficits involving the
articulators and impairments in learning the sensory, motor, and perceptual features associated
with speech sound production. Phonology is the rule- governed way humans produce the sounds of
language. In the phonological approach, speech sound production disorders are viewed as delayed
acquisition of the phonological rules of the language. To treat the communication disorder, the