What does an articulation disorder primarily affect?

An articulation disorder primarily affects the production of individual speech sounds. This type of disorder is characterized by difficulties in the physical ability to articulate phonemes correctly. Individuals with articulation disorders may substitute, omit, distort, or add sounds in words, which can lead to challenges in the clarity of their speech. For example, a child might say "wabbit" instead of "rabbit," which demonstrates an issue with the production of the initial consonant sound.

Understanding speech, fluency, and the use of language are aspects related to other speech-language disorders. An articulation disorder specifically focuses on the mechanical aspect of speech sound production rather than the cognitive understanding of language or the overall fluidity of speech. Therefore, the emphasis of an articulation disorder is solely on how individual sounds are articulated, which makes this answer the most appropriate choice.