Good question! And you're not alone if you're unsure. I think I can clear that up a bit for you in just a few minutes!
Sarah is 5 years old and very hard to understand. She gets frustrated because people are always asking her to repeat herself... and even then, they don't always know what she's saying!
Josh is 13. He has difficulty answering questions in class and it's really hard for him to follow along when his friends are talking and goofing around. He doesn't always pick up on the meaning of jokes and often laughs along with his friends as a cover up.
Sarah and Josh both have a communication delay, but each is very different.
SPEECH: the way we say sounds and words.
Things like.....
Articulation: We use our lips, tongue, and mouth to make specific speech sounds, both consonants and vowels. If we can't say the "s" sound then we might say "tay" for "say".
Voice: Our vocal folds work together with our breath to make sounds. We can use our voice the wrong way and damage our vocal folds.
Fluency: This is the rhythm and flow of our speech. This rhythm is disrupted with repetition of sounds or whole words which might be a sign of stuttering.
LANGUAGE: the words we use and how we use them together to communicate thoughts and ideas.
Receptive Language: how we understand language.
Expressive Language: how we share thoughts, ideas, and feelings
There you go! Now you know the basics of the difference in speech and language! Pretty easy, right? Now go back to Sarah and Josh up at the top... do you know who has a Speech delay and who has a Language delay?
If you have any concerns about your own child's speech or language development, it's always a good idea to reach out to a speech-language pathologist to identify a delay in development. If there is a delay, an SLP can guide you to the next steps to help your child become a successful communicator!
(*if you said Sarah has a speech delay, you're correct! And if you said Josh has a language delay, you're correct again! Good work!!)