What sounds should my child be producing?

Once a child begins talking, parents and caregivers might find it challenging to understand much of what a child is starting to say.  Sometimes, so much so, that they might even think a child does not have any words because they are using what we call “approximations” of words rather than clearly articulated words in their entirety.  Early on, a child might use the word approximation “ba” when trying to say, “baby, “ball”, “book”, “balloon”, etc. This is completely normal! 

Children’s speech sound (or phoneme) and articulation development occurs over a period of a few years. You will watch as your child becomes clearer and better understood by others. This takes some time! Typically, phoneme development begins with cooing (vowel sounds “oo”, “ee”, “ah”), then early babbling (“mamama”, “bababa”) and finally words.  Most children will have mastered all the sounds in the English language by age six. However some children will master some phonemes sooner than their peers, and it doesn’t necessarily mean your child is delayed in meeting their speech milestones.

Your child needs time to learn, practice and master each sound in order to be able to use them clearly in their spontaneous speech.  Different sounds are expected to be mastered at different times during a child’s development.  In order to know if what your child is producing is age-appropriate, please see the chart based on the findings of the McLeod and Crowe (2018) study.

If you are unsure if your child might need services, reach out for a free phone consultation! We would love to hear more abotu your child and see if they might benefit from a speech evaluation!