Articulation & Phonological Disorders
My child isn’t talking…
What is normal? Who should I talk to? How can I help them at home?
Your questions—answered.
Childhood articulation disorders are some of the most common reasons I get calls as a speech-language pathologist. It is very common—about 8-9% of young children have speech sound disorders, and about 5% of all children age 3-17. Typically boys are more likely to have communication disorders than girls. (see this and more info from the National Institute of Health)
Parents will often ask “Is this normal for his age?” “How long will it take for her to graduate speech therapy?” and “What can I do at home to help?”
Let’s start with typical ages when we expect kids to know certain sounds. We sometimes group them in groups of 8—early, middle and late developing sounds:
Early 8 sounds
/m/, /b/, /n,/ /w/, /d/, /p/, /h/, and , /j/ or ‘y’ as in ‘yo-yo,’ .
Middle 8 sounds
/t/, /k/, /ɡ/, /f/, /v/, /ŋ/ as in ‘sing’, /ʧ/ or ‘ch’ as in church, and /ʤ/ or ‘j’ as in ‘judge’
Late 8 sounds
/s/, /z/, /ʃ/ or ‘sh’, /l, /ɹ/ or the strong American Rr, /ʒ/ as in ‘pleasure,’ and /θ/ & /ð/ or ‘th’
These sounds are generally developed with this general trajectory, but it depends on the child. Some kids may only have difficulty with 1-2 sounds, and some kids need help learning most of them, one at a time. The chart below shows the typical age when kids should be able to say each of these sounds.
Age of acquisition for English phonemes, by Bilinguistics.com. Check out Bilinguistics for another table for acquisition of Spanish speech sounds.
How much can you understand?
Intelligibility is sometimes difficult to measure, but important in determining how severe a child’s speech is understood by parents and others. A study done in 1980 by Lynch, Brookshire & Fox, found that around 25% of a child's speech is intelligible to parents at 18 months, increasing to 50-75% by age 2 and 75-100% by age 3. For unfamiliar adult listeners (teachers, neighbors, grandparents, etc.), we expect them to only understand 50% at 30-36 months, over 75% at 4 years old, and over 90% at 7 years old. (Hustad et all, 2021)
Intelligibility- Parents
18 months: 25%
24 months: 50%
36 months: 75-100%
Intelligibility—Other adults
30+ months: 50%
4 years: 75%
7 years: 100%
What are phonological processes?
Phonological processes are changes that children use to make talking simpler, while they are learning to talk. It is not uncommon for a young child to say ‘wabbit’ instead of ‘rabbit’, because the /r/ sound takes tongue strength and agility that develops at a later age. Using a /w/ or ‘y’ sound instead of an /l/ or /r/ is common phonological process called gliding.
Some other common phonological processes are listed below, along with the typical age that children should stop using them:
final consonant deletion (eg. buh for bus) -3 years
vowelization (eg. spido for spider)
fronting (eg. tup for cup) –3.5 years
deaffrication (eg. diraffe for giraffe) –4 years
stopping (eg. dat for that)--5 years
cluster reduction (eg. fider for spider)-- 5 years
(See ASHA for more information)
If your child still makes some of these errors past the appropriate age, especially after you’ve tried to correct them at home, it may be time to chat with an SLP!
What about ‘Late Talkers?’
Children around 12 months of age should say their first ‘true word,’ meaning that they use it consistently use it for the same meaning. By age 24- months, children should know and and be able to produce about 200 different words, and start stringing them together in 2-word utterances. (see 200 by Two, California Speech-Language Hearing Association, retrieved from: https://www.csha.org/200-by-two/)
Here are some super useful Developmental Milestones put together by the CDC, based on age, to check and see if your child is delayed in any areas (physical, emotional, communication, etc.).
There are many reasons that a child may be behind in talking. The expertise of a speech pathologist will help you wade through multiple possibilities, including chronic ear infections and hearing loss, Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Dysarthria, a Myofunctional Disorder or other structural problem (eg. high narrow palate arch, cleft lip/palate, etc.), or a Phonological/Articulation Disorder.
This graph from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association helps to make differentiating a little more clear:
Retrieved from ASHA, 1/25/2025 https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/articulation-and-phonology/
What can I do at home?
Consistent, daily home practice for 5-10 minutes is the secret ingredient in your child’s speech therapy progress! Parents are invaluable partners in setting aside time and patience while practicing the sounds your child is learning at the time. You are their best cheerleader and model… and you have access to all the good treats in the pantry! No, I’m not above bribing kids for working hard one something that can be very frustrating. That said, sometimes the best reward is personal 1-on-1 time with YOU! But throwing in some oreos at the end of practice or a small container of dollar store slime is often times what it takes to keep your kid coming back and feeling positive about their speech and time spent working on it.
Here are couple of places where you can find words to practice with your kiddo at home:
For kids who have Apraxia or lots of sounds to learn, it may be worth the investment in one of these two apps:
Make it fun!!
Lastly, when working with your kiddo at home, don’t forget to make it fun!! Pull out their favorite board game and practice words in between each turn. Cut up the words and jump on them while you practice across the room toward the popsicles. Use a flashlight to find the words around the room like you’re on safari! The more fun that you have, the more you’ll remember what you learn!
A quick Google search will yield lots of ideas for making speech practice fun, but here are some that I like! Teaching Talking, Anna Dee SLP, Speech Musings
Citations:
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Various Practice Portal pages. Retrieved January 2025.
Bilinguistics. Articulation Norms for Spanish and English (Retrieved 1/25/25 at https://bilinguistics.com/articulation-norms-for-spanish-and-english/)
California Speech-Language Hearing Association. 200 by Two, retrieved from: https://www.csha.org/200-by-two/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CDC’s Developmental Milestones. (Retrieved 1/28/25 from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html )
Hustad, K. C., Mahr, T., Natzke, P., & Rathouz, P. J. (2021). Speech development between 30 and 119 months in typical children i: intelligibility growth curves for single-word and multiword productions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(10), 3707-3719. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00142
Lynch, J.I., Brookshire, B.L, and Fox, D.R. (1980). A Parent-Child Cleft Palate Curriculum: Developing Speech and Language. CC Publications, Oregon. Page 102.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. Quick Statistics About Voice, Speech, Language (Retrieved 1/25/25 at https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/quick-statistics-voice-speech-language)