Speech Sound Development
Children learn to accurately produce all the sounds of English as they get older.
A recent review published in 2018 of 64 research studies from 31 countries and using 27 languages has provided the most up to date information for Speech Therapists on children's speech sound development across different languages.
The chart to the right shows the age by which 90-100% of children have mastered how to say consonant sounds in English. The vast majority of sounds in English have been fully mastered by typically developing children by the age of 4.
Signs your child may be having difficulty producing clear speech:
- They have trouble pronouncing certain sounds in words that other children their age have mastered (see chart)
- People struggle to understand what they are saying, even close family members.
- They become frustrated if you don't understand what they are trying to say.
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