First, let’s talk about the difference between speech and language. It gets confusing for some people, because the two words are often lumped together (i.e., “speech language pathologist,” “speech language impairment,” “speech language evaluation”), but they really do refer to two different things.

Speech

or articulation, refers to the way we say sounds. It’s normal for children to have some errors in their speech, and these errors can be classified as developmental or non-developmental errors. Developmental errors are errors that are appropriate based on the child’s age (i.e. a four year old saying, “wun” for “run”) and frequently resolve as the child gets older, however non-developmental errors need to be addressed via speech therapy. Below is a chart of typical speech sound acquisition, based on norms from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). There are two ages listed below for each group of sounds; the first age shows the median age a child will acquire a sound and the second age shows when 90% of children have acquired a sound. For example, around 1.5 is when half of all children begin producing the sounds p, b, m, h, n, w and 90% of children are producing these sounds by age 3.

1.5 to 3 years old : p, b, m, h, n, w

2 to 4 years old: k, g, d

2.5 to 4 years old: f, y

2 to 6 years old: t, ng (as in “ring”)

3 to 6 years old: r, l

3 to 8 years old: s

3.5 to 7.5 years old: ch, sh

3.5 to 8 years old: z

4 to 7 years old: j

4 to 8 years old: v

4.5 to 7 years old: th (as in “think”)

5 to 8 years old: th (as in “this”)

6 to 8 years old: zh (as in “treasure”)

As a general rule, by 3 years old, a child should be producing m, n, h, w, p, b, t, d, k, g, f in words and those familiar with the child should be able to understand his/her speech. By 4 years old, a child should be producing the sounds listed above, as well as y, v in words. A 4 year old may still make mistakes on s, sh, ch, j, ng, th, z, l, r sounds, but most people should be able to understand his/her speech. By 8 years old, most children have mastered all speech sounds.

If you have concerns about your child’s speech, there are many ways you can get a speech language evaluation, but your pediatrician is a great place to start. Your child’s pediatrician can refer you to an SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) to complete a comprehensive evaluation. If your child is younger than 3 years old, you can ask your state’s ECI (early childhood intervention) program and request to have your child evaluated to find out if he/she is eligible for speech services. This is a state funded program and free of cost. If your child is older than 3 years old, you can contact your public school district to request an evaluation.

As I said in Do’s and Don’ts of Speech Language Development, do not wait to see if your child will “outgrow it” or if it will “just go away.” A parent’s intuition is strong, and if you sense that your child may not be developing as anticipated, make sure to bring up your concerns to your pediatrician or your local ECI program. I can’t stress the importance of early intervention enough! According to the CDC, intervention is likely to be more effective when it is provided earlier in life rather than later and families benefit from early intervention by being able to better meet their children’s needs from an early age and throughout their lives.

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at hello@macygilson.com or leave a comment below! You can also check out Early Warning Signs of a Speech Delay for Infants and Early Warning Signs of a Language Delay!

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