Typical Speech Sound Development

Developing the ability to communicate using clear speech sounds is an important part of early
childhood development. Speech sound acquisition is a gradual process that is different for every
child, and there is a wide range of ‘normal’ speech development. However, knowing what typical
speech sound development looks like can be helpful in deciding whether a child’s speech needs
further investigation.
Keywords: speech, articulation, phonology, speech sounds

Intelligibility
The term intelligibility refers to the proportion of a child’s spoken output that a listener can readily
understand (please note it is not a comment on a child’s intelligence). The following provides a guide
for how well typically-developing children of different ages can be understood by their parents:
By 18 months 25% intelligible
Around a quarter of the child’s speech is able to be understood
By 24 months 50 - 75% intelligible
At least half of the child’s speech is able to be understood.
By 36 months 75 – 100% intelligible
Most or all of the child’s speech is able to be understood.
(Lynch, Brookshire & Fox, 1980)

Children are likely to be less intelligible to strangers, but as a general rule, children are expected to be
at least 50% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners by three years of age, and almost 100% intelligible to
unfamiliar listeners by 4 years of age (Flipsen, 2006).

Phonetic Development
Phonetic development refers to a child’s ability to produce a speech sound correctly, either
spontaneously or in imitation. The table below lists the ages at which most children will have acquired
various speech sounds:

3- 3 ½ Years • Stops (short sounds): p, b, t, d, k, g

• Nasals (make the sound through your nose): m, n, ŋ (‘ng’ as in ‘ring’)
• Fricatives (long sounds): f, v, s, z, h

3½ - 4 Years • W, l-, j sounds

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4- 4 ½ Years • Affricates: tʃ (‘ch’ as in ‘chair’), dȜ (‘j’ as in ‘jump’)
• Fricative: Ȝ (as in ‘measure’)

5 - 5 ½ Years • Fricative: ʃ (‘sh’ as in ‘shell’)

6- 6 ½ Years • Approximate: r

7+ Years • Fricatives: θ (‘th’ as in ‘thing’), ð (‘th’ as in ‘the’)

(Dodd, Holm, Hua & Crosbie, 2003).

Phonological Development
Even if children are able to produce a sound, they may not consistently use the sound correctly. For
example, a child may be able to say a “g” sound in isolation, but say “doat” instead of “goat” in
conversation. Using the right sounds in the right places refers to a child’s phonological development.
The table below lists some common “errors” or phonological processes, and the age at which each
process is expected to have disappeared from a child’s speech. Please note that this is not an
exhaustive list.
Approximate Age of
Phonological Process Example
Elimination
Prevocalic Voicing car → gar
A voiceless (quiet) sound is replaced by a toe → doe 3 years
voiced (loud) sound. pig → big
Word Final Devoicing bed → bet
A final voiced sound is replaced by a big → bik 3 years
voiceless sound.
Final Consonant Deletion boat → bo
3 ¼ years
The final sound is omitted from a word cat → ca
Velar Fronting car → tar
A sound produced towards the back of the sick → sit
mouth is replaced by a sound produced 3 ½ years
goat → doat
towards the front of the mouth.
sing → sin
Palatal Fronting sheep → seep
A fricative sound is brought forward in the measure → mezza 3 ½ years
mouth.
Assimilation maybe → mayme
One sound influences another sound cup → pup 3 ¾ years
within a word.

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Weak Syllable Deletion elephant → e-phant
Unstressed syllables are omitted in words umbrella → brella 4 years
of more than one syllable.
Cluster Reduction float → foat
One or more sounds in a group of umbrella → umbella 4 years
consonant sounds is omitted. string → sing
Gliding of Liquids little → wittle
Liquid sounds ‘r’ and ‘l’ are replaced by red → wed 5 years
glides ‘w’ and ‘y’. light → yight
Stopping fin → pin 3 years (f, s)
A long sound is replaced by a short, van → ban 3 ½ years (v, z)
plosive sound. sheep → teep 4 ½ years (sh, j, ch)
thing → ting 5 years (th)
(Bowen, 2011)

What to do if you have concerns?

A hearing test and speech pathology assessment is recommended for all children with suspected
speech sound difficulties.

Want to learn more?

To learn more about Language Disorder and how to support children and young people for whom language is
their primary disorder, please contact Speech and Language Development Australia (SALDA). SALDA provides
holistic, innovative and effective therapy, education and support services and has a transdisciplinary team of
speech pathologists, occupational therapists, educators, psychologists and physiotherapists.

Contact: 1300 881 763 or [email protected]

Website: www.salda.org.au
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SALDAustralia

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References
Bowen, C. (2011). Table1: Intelligibility. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/.
Bowen, C. (2011). Table 2: Phonological Processes. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-
therapy.com/.
Bowen, C. (2011). Table 3: Elimination of Phonological Processes. Retrieved from http://www.speech-
language-therapy.com/.
Dodd, B., Holm, A., Hua, Z., and Crosbie, S. (2003). Phonological development: a normative study of
British English-speaking children. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 17(8), 617-643.
Dodd, B., Hua, Z., Crosbie, S., Holm, A., and Ozanne, A. (2002). Manual of diagnostic evaluation of
articulation and phonology. London: Pearson Education Inc.
Flipsen, P., Jr. (2006). Measuring the intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clinical
Linguistics & Phonetics, 20(4), 202-312.
McIntosh, B., and Dodd, B. (2008). Two-year-old’s phonological acquisition: normative data.
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 10(6), 460-469.

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