As a guide:
- A 1 year old child should be 25% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
- A 2 year old child should be 50% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
- A 3 year old child should be 75% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
- A 4 year old child should be 100% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners
Your child may benefit from Speech Pathology Intervention if he or she demonstrates any of the following:
- Is hard to understand
- Has a history of feeding difficulties
- Finds it difficult to coordinate his or her mouth for sounds
- Was slower in beginning to talk
- Is not babbling or making speech sounds
- Dribbles a lot
- Makes sound errors
- Finds it difficult to imitate sounds
- Making speech sounds seems effortful
- Mumbles
- Is getting frustrated when trying to speak
- Is not using words to communicate
- Has hearing difficulties or history of frequent ear infections
- Has been diagnosed with Dyspraxia
Parents are always wondering at what age children should be saying certain sounds. Here is a quick guide to speech sound acquisition:
2 years olds
Sounds at the beginning of words: /b/, /p/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /d/
Sounds in the middle of words: /b/, /m/, /n/
Sounds at the end of words: /m/, /p/
3 years olds
Sounds at the beginning of words: /t/, /f/, /w/, /g/, /k/
Sounds in the middle of words: /t/, /f/, /p/, /k/, /g/, ‘ng’
Sounds at the end of words: /b/, /t/, /d/, /n/, /k/, /g/
4 year olds
Sounds at beginning of words: /kw/, /l/
Sounds in the middle of words: /d/
Sounds at the end of words: /f/
5 year olds
Sounds at the beginning of words: /r/, /s/, /bl/, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘j’, ‘y’
Sounds in the middle of words: /s/, /l/, /z/, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘j’
Sounds at the end of words: /l/, /s/, /v/, /z/, ‘ng’, ‘ch’, ‘sh’, ‘j’
6 year olds
Sounds at beginning of words: ‘l blends’, ‘r blends’
7 year olds
Sounds at beginning of words: ‘th’
If you have any concerns regarding your child’s speech, please contact Kimberley Archer to discuss further. Each child is different and Kimberley will be able to talk to you to find out your child’s strengths and areas that may need support.