Articulation Disorder- The atypical production of speech sounds characterized by substitutions, omissions, additions, or distortions that may interfere with intelligibility.

Augmentative/Alternative Communication- Systems attempt to compensate and facilitate, temporarily or permanently, for the impairment and disability patterns of individuals with severe expressive and/or language comprehension disorders. Augmentative/alternative communication may be required for individuals demonstrating impairments in gestural, spoken, and/or written modalities.

Communication Difference/Dialect- A variation of a symbol system used by a group of individuals that reflects and is determined by shared regional, social, or cultural/ethnic factors. A regional, social, or cultural/ethnic variation of a symbol system should not be considered a disorder of speech or language.

Expressive Language- How an individual uses language, builds sentences, uses vocabulary, grammatical structures and expresses meaning.

Deaf- A hearing disorder that limits an individual's aural/oral communication performance to the extent that the primary sensory input for communication my be other than the auditory channel.

Fluency- The smoothness, speed, and rhyme of speech.

Fluency Disorder- An interruption in the flow of speaking characterized by atypical rate, rhythm, and repetitions in sounds, syllables, words, and phrases. This may be accompanied by excessive tension, struggle behavior, and secondary mannerisms.

Hard of Hearing- A hearing disorder, whether fluctuating or permanent, which adversely affects an individual's ability to communicate. The hard-of-hearing individual relies on the auditory channel as the primary sensory input for communication.

Language Disorder- Impaired comprehension and/or use of spoken, written and/or other symbol systems. The disorder may involve (1) the form of language (phonology, morphology, syntax), (2) the content of language (semantics), and/or (3) the function of language in communication (pragmatics) in any combination.

Morphology- The system that governs the structure of words and the construction of word forms.

Oral Apraxia- Indicates that the child has difficulty with volitional movement. For instance, perhaps the child will have difficulty sticking out his tongue when requested to do so. Or the child my have difficulty with the command, "Show me how you kiss, now smile, now blow." The child has difficulty with volitional movement for the production of the level of sounds, syllables, words, or even phrases.

Oral Motor- The muscular movements of the mouth during speech and feeding.

Phonology- The sound system of a language and the rules that govern the sound combinations.

Pragmatics- The system that combines the above language components in functional and socially appropriate communication.

Receptive Language- The understanding of speech sounds, sentences, grammatical structures, and implications of what someone says.

Speech or Articulation- The clarity with which a person speaks.

Social Language- How an individual uses the language they have socially in their relationships with their peers, family, and aquaintances.

Semantics- The system that governs the meanings of words and sentences.

Syntax- The system governing the order and combination of words to form sentences, and the relationships among the elements within a sentence.

Voice- The quality of the voicing while a person speaks.

Voice Disorder- Characterized by the abnormal production and/or absences of vocal quality, pitch, loudness, resonance, and/or duration, which is inappropriate for an individual's age and/or sex.