Essay On Articulation Disorder

There comes a time in our life when we know what we want to say, but it does not come out the way we thought it would. Such as being worried about reading out loud in class, going up to an employee in a fast food restaurant to order a simple meal, or making a presentation in class can be terrifying for most individuals with an articulation disorder. An articulation disorder consist of having difficulties producing sounds, substituting sounds, leaving out letters in a word, or adding or changing letters in a word. In most cases when individuals have trouble articulating words he/she might have problems with the main articulators which include: the jaw, lips, teeth, tongue, velum, alveolar ridge, and hard/soft palate. These articulators play

a crucial role when producing speech. If a child is missing their two front teeth it is nearly impossible for them to produce the /f/ in words this does not mean they have an articulation disorder. This means without their two front teeth the air escapes from the gaps that child might have. The purpose of this reflection is to engage in our community to see for our own eyes what it would be like to have an articulation disorder.

Having an articulation disorder can make it difficult for people to understand you.

An individual that suffers from an articulation disorder can delete sounds, add sounds, have distorted sounds and substitute sounds. Articulation is considered to be the process of the movement of muscles in your mouth. The most important articulators include: jaw, lips, teeth, tongue, velum, alveolar ridge, and hard/soft palate. These articulators are used when producing a sound or when having a conversation. An articulation disorder can be caused by illness, developmental disorders such as autism, neurological disorders, hearing loss, and genetic syndromes such as Down

syndrome.
My partner and I went out to the community to experience for ourselves what it would be like to have an articulation disorder for a day. My partner Erika decided to see how the employee from Chick-fil-a would handle her articulation disorder. Erika asked for a “shicken sandwich” and “two tooties”. The male employee became nervous and would repeat everything Erika said. When Erika asked for the two cookies the employee said, “excuse me?” Erika was embarrassed that she had to repeat herself again because he did not understand her the first time. While we were waiting for the order we noticed that the employee kept staring at Erika.
After we received the order I asked Erika how she felt and her response was, “I felt dumb.” I also noticed that she did not want to make eye contact with anyone, not even with me. She mentioned that when she was ordering her meal she felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. Erika thought that the people around her might think she is unintelligible because she cannot properly place a simple meal. Erika and I decided to dine in and have our meal at Chick-fil-a to see how the employee that took our order would react. The employee that took Erika’s order brought her meal to the table and when he approached us he did not make any eye contact. Instead he asked me if I needed something else, he was too nervous to ask her if she needed anything else. In my perspective I believe Erika’s experience was not bad. The employee tried his best to get her order correct. I believe that he kept repeating her order word by word to make sure it was what she wanted.
Now it’s my turn, I went to two location Starbucks and Dairy Queen by San Bernardo. I attempted to order a “Passion Ice Tea”. I drove up to the drive thru and ordered a “Passion id T” the employee did not understand what I was trying to say; I had to repeat myself twice. During this experience I did not feel uncomfortable because I was not standing face to face with the employee. I drove forward to pay for my tea as soon as I got to the window the employee reached for my credit card and closed the window behind her. She took less than a minute to give me my tea and my credit card; she said, “Thank you” and immediately closed the window once again without giving me eye contact.
My second experience was at Dairy Queen it was a Wednesday night and the restaurant was packed. I walked in and noticed there was a long line to order and every table in the restaurant was taken. My palms began to sweat and my heart was beating fast I was ready to run out the door. I told myself “you can do this just stay calm” as I got closer to the register I began to feel anxious. The female employee greeted me with a smile and said, “que tal buenas noches. Bienvenida a sus ordenes.” As soon as I opened my mouth to place my order she looked at me with the most disgruntled look I have ever seen. She looked at me and rolled her eye and looked at one of her male coworker.
The female employee asked her coworker to take my order because she did not understand what I was saying. The male employee asked me what I wanted so I repeated my order once again. My original order was ice cream with cookies on top. Since both employees did not understand what I was staying they began shouting banana split!? Ice cream cone!? shake!? ice cream!? I was so embarrassed I felt my face turn red. I finally nodded yes when he said ice cream, but he quick changed his mind said “oh you want shake” I was so frustrated with myself I just said, yes! I did not care if they got my order wrong I just wanted to get the shake and leave. The female employee give me my total amount, but never gave me eye contact when she returned my credit card she did not say thank you she just handed me my card and moved on to the next customer.
During this experience I felt terrible, aggravated and relieved that it was over.

The fact that the female employee did not even try to assist me or provide the appropriate customer services angered me. I felt judged and neglected when she rolled her eyes and made me feel less as a person. The key to preventing articulation disorders is early intervention. According to ASHA “Articulation treatment may involve demonstrating how to produce the sound correctly, learning to recognize which sounds are correct and incorrect, and practicing sounds in different words.” An individual with a speech disorder can be embarrassed or shameful to go to therapy, but it is crucial to have early diagnoses to prevent the disorder to worsen. ASHA gives us a great explanation of treatments that are available for people with speech sound

disorders.
These experiences have allowed me to look at individuals differently in a more positive manner. I believe as future clinicians it is our responsible to educate the public about what individuals with speech impairment go through on a daily base. We should make them more aware and be more considerate towards them. It is extremely important that we always show empathy to every client we treat and put our best effort regardless of the speech disorder the client may have. Because at the end of the day we will never know how they feel we can only imagine.