| It is always exciting when your child begins to | | | | time in a child's speech. |
| communicate using words. Naturally the words are | | | | 3 years: h, j, w, m, n, ng, p, k, t, b, g, d , z |
| initially unclear and an approximation of the real | | | | 3 years 6 months: f |
| word. For instance 'do' might be 'go' and 'doddy' | | | | 4 years: l, sh, ch |
| might be 'doggy'. As children acquire more words | | | | 4 years 6 months: dg, s, z |
| and begin to put words together to formulate | | | | 5 years: r |
| little sentences, usually occurring from 18months, | | | | 6 years: v |
| parent often wonder what is the approximate | | | | 7 years 6 months: th soft |
| age that sounds develop. What is normal speech | | | | 8 years: th hard |
| development for children? | | | | Another indicator of if a child's speech is |
| The earliest sounds that children produce | | | | developing normally is to determine how clearly |
| accurately are the sounds we typically associate | | | | the child is understood by their parents. By |
| with babbling. These sounds include 'm, p, b, w, n, | | | | 18months of age a child's speech is intelligible 25% |
| t, d'. These sounds are easily made by the child | | | | of the time, by 24 months a child's speech is |
| putting their lips together and putting their tongue | | | | intelligible 50 - 75 % of the time and then by 3 |
| behind their teeth. The lip sounds are often the | | | | years of age a child's speech should be |
| first to develop as your baby can see you | | | | understood 75-100% of the time. By 3years a |
| produce those sounds and imitates your mouth | | | | child should also be easily understood by an |
| movements. | | | | unfamiliar adult most of the time. Not all sounds |
| Typically certain sounds develop before others. | | | | are said correctly, but the child can be understood. |
| The following is the average age at which the | | | | Their speech is child-like not adult-like. |
| speech sound listed below is accurate 75% of the | | | | |