What are the developmental milestones for speech sounds?
Are you wondering if your child is on track with developing their speech sounds? This article includes more information about what speech sounds to be looking for as your child grows and develops!
What are speech sounds?
Speech sounds refer to the sounds we use to form words when speaking. These sounds vary from language to language. In English, speech sounds include both consonants (e.g., g, r, f, s, l, p) and vowels (e.g., “ah,” “ee,” “eye,” “ooo”). When children are younger, they often substitute one sound for another (e.g., “w” for “r” such as “wing” for “ring”). As they get older, children typically acquire more speech sounds and use fewer substitutions.
What are the speech sound developmental milestones?
As a speech language pathologist (SLP), I use the Crowe & McLeod (2020) speech sound developmental norms in my evaluation and treatment. These are the most up to date norms on speech sound developmental milestones. In their study on speech sound development, Crowe & McLeod (2020) looked at 15 studies that included 18,907 English-speaking children within the United States. They found that most children develop speech sounds at the following ages:
Speech Sound Developmental Milestones
What does this mean for evaluation and treatment?
During an evaluation, I look at all of the sounds a child produces, and what percentage of the time a child produces them correctly. Then, I compare the sounds they are producing correctly to Crowe & McLeod (2020) speech sound milestones. Based on these milestones, if a child has not developed a sound by a certain age (e.g., they are 5 but are not correctly producing their “r” sound), they would likely be a good candidate for speech therapy.
Why do you treat speech sounds so early?
When researching speech therapy for your child, you may have found that many speech language pathologists do not treat sounds like “l,” “r,” and “th” until the child is older (e.g., 8 years old). Often, these SLPs are basing their decision on older speech sound norms (i.e., the Nebraska-Iowa Articulation Norms Project, 1990). In my experience as an SLP, I’ve found that the longer you wait to work on a speech sound, the more difficult it is to correct it. While progress can absolutely be made on speech sounds at older ages, I’ve found it to be a quicker, easier process when I begin treating speech sounds based on the Crowe & McLeod (2020) norms. This is usually because the younger a child is, the less time they’ve had to normalize using the “wrong” speech sound (e.g., “w” for “r”).
How can I learn more?
Sincere Speech Therapy, LLC offers free 15-minute phone consultations to parents and families. My clinic is located in Lenexa, KS, and I also provide teletherapy services to the residents of Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. If you have questions about these speech sound milestones, or are wondering if your child would be a good candidate for speech therapy, please reach out anytime! My phone number is 913-210-0578 and my email is ellen@sincerespeech.com. You can also get in touch by using the Contact Me button below.
