What are the potential causes of speech disabilities?

We must be aware of the causes of developmental delays among children, if only to understand the implications of these in mental, physical and emotional growth. Enabling our children to catch up quickly is a matter of detecting delays and providing early treatment.

Image source: minddisorders.com

One of the most common types and manifestations of developmental issues is speech delay. This refers to a noticeable lag in verbal expression, in the formation of words. It must be noted that language is a broader system for giving and receiving information and is therefore different from speech, as the former includes gestures.


There are many possible causes of both speech and language delays, which could be rooted in the emotional, mental, and physical. A cause could be an inherent learning disability. It could also be that the child has autism spectrum disorders, which refer to various neurological issues impairing both communication and cognitive skills, as well as the ability for social interaction.

Image source: spectrumspeech.ie

Speech disability may be due to a disorder called dysarthria, in which the child has problems with the muscles controlling his or her speech. This is a concern that should be detected by a language speech pathologist. More situational causes of the delay include early exposure to more than one language, hearing loss after an unchecked ear infection, and the trauma from child neglect or child abuse.

Dr. Curtis Cripe heads research and development at the NTL Group. He has published two peer-reviewed papers and written two book chapters on neurotherapy and neuroengineering. Follow this Twitter page for more posts and updates related to neurology.