Articulation Therapy (Phonetic Intervention)

This entry describes interventions that Speech–Language pathologists (SLPs) in the United States and Speech–Language therapists (SLTs) in the United Kingdom employ in working with people with a speech sound disorder (SSD). In articulation development, also called phonetic development, children steadily gain the ability to produce the speech sounds or “phones” of their language or languages, through a process that combines maturation and [Page 169]learning. Phonetic development happens in concert with phonological development (phonemic development), which is also part learned, part innate, and gradual. Phonological development involves the organization, by children, of an adultlike speech system of phonemes (speech sounds) that contrast with one another. This phonemic organization level is fundamental because its system of distinctive features allows speakers to convey meaning.

As well as being distinctive ...