What is speech and language?

Speech is the verbal means of communicating. Speech consists of the following:

• Articulation- How speech sounds are made (e.g., children must learn how to produce the "r" sound in order to say "rabbit" instead of "wabbit").
• Voice- Use of the vocal folds and breathing to produce sound (e.g., the voice can be abused from overuse or misuse and can lead to hoarseness or loss of voice).
• Fluency- The rhythm of speech (e.g., hesitations or stuttering can affect fluency).

Language is made up of socially shared rules that include the following:

• Word meaning (e.g., "star" can refer to a bright object in the night sky or a celebrity)
• Making new words (e.g., friend, friendly, unfriendly)
• Putting words together (e.g., "Peg walked to the new store" rather than "Peg walk store new")
• Using appropriate word combinations ("Would you mind moving your foot?" could quickly change to "Get off my foot, please!" if the first request did not produce results)
• Using verbal/nonverbal language during social interactions (e.g., eye contact, greeting, conversational turn-taking, staying on topic, etc) 

When a person has trouble understanding others (receptive language); sharing thoughts, ideas, and feelings completely (expressive language); and/or using language appropriately in social situations, then he or she may have a language disorder.

When a person is unable to produce speech sounds correctly or fluently, or has problems with his or her voice, then he or she may have a speech disorder.

A speech-language pathologist provides services to address speech and language needs. To best meet each student's needs, services can be provided:

*individually

*in a small group

*in the classroom (push-in)

*in a therapy room (pull-out)

Source: asha.org