All children make speech errors as they learn to talk like adults. Pronunciation errors, called phonological processes, are very common and are a predictable part of sound development. As children begin to organize their speech sounds and speech patterns to match those of adults, phonological processes gradually give way to adult speech.
The tables below indicate the child’s phonological developmet.
2 Years
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- Speech may not be clear
- Range of sounds emerging p, b, t, m, n, w
- Omission of end sounds
- "cat" becomes "ca"
- "dog" becomes "do"
- Omission of initial sounds
- Many other substitutions
- "car" becomes "tar"
- "sun" becomes "tun"
- "face" becomes "pace"
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3 Years
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- Speech becoming clearer
- Range of sounds emerging f, s, k, g, h, y as in ‘yes’
- Despite new sounds emerging, it is likely that speech substitutions may still occur, for example:
- "jam" becomes "dam"
- "red" becomes "wed" or "led"
- "fish" becomes "fis"
- "chair" becomes "tear"
- "snake" becomes "nake"
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4 Years
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- Speech largely intelligible
- Most sounds are in use, mew sounds emerging ch, j, sh, v, l as in lamp, z
- Long complicated words may still prove difficult (i.e hospital, elephant, butterfly)
- Minor speech substitutions still evident:
- "thumb" becomes "fum"
- "floor" becomes "four"
- "bread" becomes "bed"
- "red" becomes "wed" or "led"
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Many children will replace ‘s’ with a ‘th’ sound so that e.g. ‘sun’ becomes ‘thun’. In addition some children make a ‘s’ sound with the air escaping from the side of the mouth rather than from the front. In these instances it is advisable to wait until the child’s adult teeth are in place before referring for therapy.