Dyslalia: characteristics, types and treatment

Dyslalia is associated with inadequate language development in childhood and has to do with difficulty articulating in children over four years old, which cannot be explained by an anomaly in the nervous system. But what are their characteristics, types and possible treatments that we can resort to? Here we talk to you about the topic.

In this context, we talk about language acquisition as a fundamental part of the development of higher psychological activities.. That is, those skills that characterize us as a species and that in the future will help us solve complex problems, do mental calculations, organize our daily activities, exchange ideas between human beings and many other skills.

The language

Throughout history, language has been necessary to develop complex, abstract and precise communication. It has allowed us to communicate in very different registers, from culture to culture and from generation to generation. Therefore, A language disorder in many cases represents an obstacle when it comes to sharing information, learning from it and evolving..

One of the most common ways of transmitting knowledge and expressing language is through speech, and one of the most common problems in its development is dyslalia.

Characteristics

The term dyslalia comes from the Greek diswhich means ‘difficulty or anomaly’, and laliawhich means ‘speech’. Dyslalia is a disorder that affects speech ability and is characterized by inadequate articulation of phonemes.. Currently, in the classification of DSM 5the name has been changed to Speech sound disorder.

That is, it perceive clear difficulties in the pronunciation of “the minimum phonological unit (…) of the language: in Spanish, /b/ and /l/ are two different phonemes because there are pairs of words, like “coat” and “can“, in which when changing one for another, the meaning of the word changes.”

Guys

The speech therapist Raul Agudo mentions four reasons or types associated with its origin. Of course, language is an activity in which several systems intervene to be manipulated and, therefore, interpreted. These systems must be taken into account to generate a classification of the types of dyslalia.

Developmental dyslalia

Developmental dyslalia cannot yet be considered a pathology as such, since, as its name indicates, language ability, for common parameters, is still evolving. Therefore, some errors are acceptable. However, they can serve as a starting point to prevent future language disorders.

For this type of dyslalia, therapists such as Alba Jiménez and Alma Acuña agree that has a period that extends from zero to three/four years of age. Since, in this case we still expect to see changes in the central nervous system, for this reason, There are authors like Raúl Aguado who resist talking about a language disorder itself at this stage..

Audiogenic dyslalia

As its name indicates, and returning to the principle that language is a multisystem skill, the second type of dyslalia refers to one of them, the Auditive System. It focuses on the correct functioning of the organs that make up said system; Therefore, it is essential to resort to specialized tests to confirm or rule out their malfunction.

Now, if a person does not listen properly, they will have problems when reproducing phonemes correctly, and this is already classified as dyslalia, so Your attention should be focused on solving hearing problems.

Organic Dyslalia

The third type of dyslalia is associated with the organs that intervene in the correct pronunciation of phonemes.. It is no longer part of development or a hearing problem, it is now a consequence of a defect or malformation of some organ that participates in speech.

The most frequently affected areas are: the lip, palate, tongue and teeth.. The four zones that enable the point and mode of phonemic articulation. The most common examples are: cleft lip and/or palate, lingual frenulum and dental deformation.

Functional dyslalia

Unlike the previous category, in which an organic malformation is involved, this one is characterized by a inadequate functioning of the organs involved in the speech process.

That is, the organs are in an appropriate state and, therefore, their performance is expected to be normal. However, imperfections and difficulties related to the use of phonemes are detected, making it the fourth type of dyslalia.

Intervention

The intervention depends on the type of dyslalia that occurs. Regarding the first three types described here, the information has already been provided to go to the areas of specialization. The area of ​​psychology is more concerned with functional dyslalia; despite In the other types we can intervene as supportthe main obstacle is not in our area.

Unfortunately, in many cases the intervention that the specialist prescribes will depend on the approach or current to which he or she subscribes, regardless of whether it is the best or not. On the other hand, intervention resources are various, they can range from the muscular exercises of the speech apparatus to the training of the specific psychological zone.

You might be interested…