FYI: Here are some common communication problems and their definitions, as well as information about the role of the speech therapist in the public school:

Section 1

Articulation Disorder: What is It? An Articulation Disorder is a disorder which is characterized by difficulties in forming speech sounds. The sounds, syllables and words are produced incorrectly, making it hard for the listener to understand what is being said. These can be divided into substitution errors (wing for ring), omission errors ( ha for hat), and distortion errors (thip for sip-frontal lisp). An articulation disorder refers to the omission, distortion or substitution of sounds in speech. In a typical substitution error, for example, a child may say "w" for "r" as in "wabbit" for "rabbit" or "th" for "s" as in "thun" for "sun". The child may only misarticulate a couple of sounds, but he/she does so in all words that contain that sound. Thus, the child's speech may be understandable, or it may be virtually unintelligible depending on the frequency of those error sounds when the child is talking. Making the sounds of speech involves precise coordination of many muscles, including those of breathing, the vocal cords, tongue, and soft palate. The structures themselves, such as size and shape of teeth, tongue, and hard and soft palates are equally important. If any one of these elements is impaired, an articulation disorder may result.

 When Should My Child Be Able To Make All His Speech Sounds? Children display many individual differences. The age at which a child masters all sounds may vary by as much as two to three years. Children acquire certain groups of sounds before others, beginning with vowels. Then consonants emerge, the last of which tend to be /r/ and /s/. As a rule, however, all sounds have been acquired by 75% of American children by the time they are four and one-half years old.

Section 2

Language disorder: A language disorder is an impairment in the ability to understand and/or use words in context, both verbally and nonverbally. Some characteristics of language disorders include improper use of words and their meanings, inability to express ideas, inappropriate grammatical patterns, reduced vocabulary, and inability to follow directions. One or a combination of these characteristics may occur in children who are affected by language learning disabilities or a developmental language delay. Children may hear or see a word but not be able to understand its meaning. They may have trouble getting others to understand what they are trying to communicate.

Other Language Problems:

• The child with dyslexia has trouble almost exclusively with the written (or printed) word. The child who has dyslexia as part of a larger language learning disability has trouble with both the spoken and the written word. These problems may include the coherent expression of ideas, as if the words needed are on the tip of the tongue but "won't come out". Consequently, utterances can be vague and difficult to understand (e.g., using unspecific vocabulary, such as "thing" or "stuff" to replace words that cannot be remembered). Filler words like "um" may be used to take up time while a word is being retrieved from memory
•  Learning new vocabulary that the child hears (e.g., taught in lectures/lessons) and/or sees (e.g., in books)
• Understanding questions and following directions that are heard and/or read
• Recalling numbers in sequence, e.g., telephone numbers and addresses
• Understanding and retaining the details of a story's plot or a classroom lecture
• Slow reading and reduced comprehension of the material
• Learning words to songs and rhymes
• Telling left from right, making it hard to read and write since both skills require this directionality
•  Letters and numbers
• Learning the alphabet
• Identifying the sounds that correspond to letters, making learning to read a formidable task
• Mixing up the order of letters in words while reading or writing
• Mixing up the order of numbers that are a part of math calculations
• Poor spelling
• Memorizing the times tables
• Telling time 

Try a plurals practice page.

Section 3

Stuttering: Stuttering is a disorder of speech fluency that interrupts the forward flow of speech. All individuals are disfluent at times, but what differentiates the person who stutters from someone with normal speech disfluencies is the kind and amount of the disfluencies.

Section 4

Voice: What is a "problem voice?" Voice is a problem when the pitch, loudness, or quality calls attention to itself rather than to what the speaker is saying. It is also a problem if the speaker experiences pain or discomfort when speaking or singing.

What causes a voice problem? There are a variety of causes of voice problems. One can become hoarse temporarily by cheering at a baseball game, or one can sustain an injury that causes a paralysis of the vocal folds. Misuse of the voice, such as talking too loudly or using a pitch level that is too high or too low, results in a voice problem. So can an improper breathing pattern or excessive smoking. The most common voice problems from vocal abuse are vocal fold nodules and polyps.

Section 5

Speech-Language Therapist/Pathologist/Clinician: As part of a collaborative team consisting of the parents and educational professionals (i.e., teacher(s), special educators, psychologist), the speech-language pathologist has several responsibilities. He or she may:

• inform teachers and other school professionals as to how to identify children who are at risk for developing problems before they experience failure in the classroom.
• work with professionals to help prevent problems before they occur by promoting opportunities for success with spoken and written language at home and school.
• perform assessments of spoken language (speaking and listening) for children who have been identified by their teachers and parents as having difficulty
• provides treatment for those children who have language problems that contribute to difficulties with reading and writing.
•  consult with both educators and parents to teach and model language activities that promote success
•  explain the importance of joint book reading and provide demonstration lessons. For example, the speech-language pathologist/therapist may illustrate how to improve students vocabulary skills by having children name items in story pictures and describe the action(s) in these pictures. He/she may model how to sharpen comprehension skills by asking questions related to a story plot. The child may then predict what may happen next in the story
•  have the child retell a story in their own words, or act out the story.
• teach how to increase the child's awareness of print in their environment (e.g., recognition of frequently encountered signs, survival words, and logos) and the conventions of print (e.g., how to hold a book, or show how reading and writing are done from left to right)
• demonstrate strategies to teach letters and their corresponding sounds
• show ways that teachers and parents can model literacy activities (e.g., by reading newspapers and magazines, by writing notes and letters, by making writing materials available for everybody' s use).
• provide a Speech and Language Assessment. The clinician begins by interviewing the parents and teacher(s) regarding academic concerns and the child's performance in the classroom. The speech-language pathologist observes the child during classroom activities. He or she evaluates the child's ability to understand verbal and written directions, and to attend to written information on the blackboard, daily plans, etc. The speech-language pathologist assesses the student's phonological awareness skills (ability to hear and "play with" the sounds in words). When evaluating an older student, the speech-language pathologist may have him or her put together syllables and sounds to make a word. He or she may have the child break up a word into its syllables and/or sounds (e.g., "cat" has one syllable but three sounds c-a-t). The speech-language pathologist assesses the older child's phonological memory by having him or her repeat strings of words, numbers, letters, and sounds of increasing length. Spelling, writing, and reading are assessed with older students. In some settings, the speech-language pathologist completes these assessments as part of a team. In other settings, he or she helps the educational team interpret the results of reading and writing assessments completed by other evaluators. The reading evaluation focuses on the student's ability to decode (sound out) words, read irregular spelling patterns, read fluently, comprehend texts that differ in length and complexity, and comprehend different types of material (e.g., stories versus non-fiction texts).

The speech-language pathologist completes a formal evaluation of speech and language skills. Speech articulation (pronunciation and clarity of speech) is assessed. Understanding and use of grammar ( syntax, morphology ), understanding and use of vocabulary ( semantics), and the client's ability to provide an extended narrative (language sample ) are evaluated. Can the child explain something or retell a story, centering on a topic and chaining a sequence of events together? Does the narrative make sense or is it difficult to follow? Can the child describe the "plot" in an action picture?

Intervention with spoken language (speaking and listening) can also be designed to support the development of written language. For example, after listening to a story, the student may be asked to state and write answers to questions. He or she may be asked to give a verbal and then a written summary of the story.

 Articulation (pronunciation) needs are also treated in a way that supports written language. For example, if the child is practicing correct articulation of words to improve a certain sound, he or she may be asked to read these words from a printed list. The speech-language pathologist consults and collaborates with teachers to develop the use of strategies and techniques in the classroom. For example, he or she may help the teacher modify how new material is presented in lessons to accommodate the child's comprehension needs. He or she may also demonstrate what planning strategies the student uses to organize and focus on when completing written work.