Definition - A communication disorder is an impairment in the ability to receive, send, process,

and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems. A communication
disorder may be evident in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech.

Speech or language impairment: A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired

articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child's
educational performance.

Characteristics - Distortions - A speech sound is distorted when it sounds more like the intended
phoneme than another speech sound but is conspicuously wrong. The /s/ sound, for example, is
relatively difficult to produce; children may produce the word sleep as schleep, zleep, or
thleep. Some speakers have a lisp; others a whistling /s/. Distortions can cause
misunderstanding, although parents and teachers often become accustomed to them.
Substitutions - Children sometimes substitute one sound for another, as in saying
train for crane or doze for those. Children with this problem are often certain they have
said the correct word and may resist correction. Substitution of sounds can cause considerable
confusion for the listener.
Omissions - Children may omit certain sounds, as in saying cool for school.
They may drop consonants from the ends of words, as in pos for post. Most of us leave out
sounds at times, but an extensive omission problem can make speech unintelligible.
Additions - The addition of extra sounds makes comprehension difficult. For
example, a child might say buhrown for brown or hamber for hammer.

Classifications - There are several different types of communication disorders, including the
following:

Language disorders:

Mixed receptive-expressive language disorder. Mixed receptive-expressive

language disorder identifies developmental delays and difficulties in the ability to
understand spoken language and produce speech.

Expressive language disorder. Expressive language disorder identifies

developmental delays and difficulties in the ability to produce speech.

Speech-sound disorders (also known as phonological disorder). This disorder happens when a
child continues to have difficulty expressing words clearly past a certain age.

Childhood-onset fluency disorder (also known as stuttering). This disorder begins in

childhood and can last throughout life.

Social (pragmatic) communication disorder. A person with this disorder will have difficulty
with verbal and nonverbal communication that is not explained by low cognitive ability.
Causes - Many disorders can affect our ability to speak and communicate. They range from saying
sounds incorrectly to being completely unable to speak or understand speech. Causes include

Hearing disorders and deafness

Voice problems, such as dysphonia or those caused by cleft lip or palate
Speech problems like stuttering
Developmental disabilities
Learning disorders
Autism spectrum disorder
Brain injury
Stroke
Some speech and communication problems may be genetic. Often, no one knows the causes. By
first grade, about 5 percent of children have noticeable speech disorders

http://www.cesa7.org/sped/issues-eligibility/eligindex.htm

Organization - The Cherab Foundation