From the time
your child begins to babble the beginning of speech sounds occur. When an infant begins "talking" it's music to our ears! The most
common sounds heard in early babbling are /b, m, “y”, w/. Around the age of 9 months
your child should start repeating syllables like “mama” and “dada”. By 12 months, your child should
produce 1-6 words. Then, by 18 months, your child should produce 15 words and uses
the following consonants /t, d, n, h/.
During the beginning years of speech,
errors in speech include omissions/deletions and substitutions. At the age of 2 a child
should be understood 50% of the time, 75% at the age of 3, and 100% at the age
of 4. By Kindergarten no phonological processes (speech error patterns) should
persist.
There are 24 consonants in the English language. They are broken down
into the BEGINNING 8, MIDDLE 8, and LATE 8. The sounds are as followed:
Beginning
8 (ages 1-3):
/m, b, “y”,
n, w, d, p, h/
Middle 8
(ages 3-6 ½):
/t, k, g,
“ng”, f, v, “ch”, “dg”/
Late 8
(5-7 ½):
/”sh”, s, z,
r, l, “zh”, voiced and voiceless “th”/
All sounds
should be mastered by the approximate age of seven, or by the first grade.
The
following definition was taken from the American Speech and Hearing Association
(ASHA). An articulation disorder is a problem with the production or making of
sounds (e.g. substitutions, omissions). Not all substitutions or omissions are
speech errors; they could be a result of a dialect or accent.
Some common
causes for speech sound disorders include: hearing loss, developmental delay,
genetic disorders (e.g. Down syndrome), etc. Hearing loss could result from
multiple ear infections when a child is young. There are many speech sound
disorders that have no known cause. Some children spontaneously recover and
with time, will produce speech sounds correcltly. Other children will need the
help from a professional. The duration and frequency of services would be
determined at the time of the evaluation.A
If you are
concerned with your child’s speech intelligibility (percentage of time you can
understand your child), consult your physician or a speech-language pathologist
(SLP). A SLP would listen to your child and use informal or formal assessment
meansures to record speech productions. An oral motor examination is also done
to determine if the muscles of the face move correctly (e.g. muscle tone and
strength, range of motion, speed and coordination).
What can we do as parents do to help? Emerge your child in games that includes sounds you are
targeting. A parent can do this through stories, providing a model, getting
down at their child’s eye level to watch their lips, mouth, and jaw movement.
Parents can play a naming game (e.g. tell me three thngs that are red that have
your speech sound). Have your child tell a joke, give a compliment, make a
phone call, etc. using their good speech sounds. Always remember that 'play' is a child's 'work'!
Resources:
(L.
Twomey) Adapted from Shriberg’s Order of Speech-Sound Acquisition
www.asha.org
