ABSTRACT
Speech and language impairment is an area that is particularly difficult to categorize. There is a close and obvious relationship between mental retardation and speaking proficiency. Those who have lower intelligence levels also tend to have a lesser ability to acquire language. The speech impaired will lack fluency, have articulatory difficulties, and have difficulty in comprehending or verbalizing symbols. Speech impairment refers to disorders of articulation and fluency. Language impairments refer to disorders in comprehending or expressing the rules and symbols of the language itself. Language disorders relate to a lack of comprehension or expression. Phonemes are sounds within a language. Morpheme is a minimum set of units, unified in a group or structure for meaningful language. Speech disorders are present in the mentally retarded, the hearing impaired, the learning disabled, children with a cleft palate, and normal children. The mentally retarded exhibit the most intensive language and speech difficulties.
