Stuttering, one of the most widely recognized speech disorders, affects more than one million people in the U.S., half of whom are children. The rate of speech impairments reported in health interviews is higher for males than for females. An articulation disorder is an impairment in the child's ability to produce speech sounds correctly. Articulation is the most common communication disorder among school aged children.
Some children misarticulate sounds when they are in the process of developing speech.
Although many children outgrow their problems, some continue to misproduce sounds. Most speech sounds are developed by age eight. Language is a code that we learn to use in order to communicate thoughts and ideas. Reading, writing, gesturing, and speaking are all forms of language. Expressive language relates meaning and usage of language forms.