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Articulation |
Have you ever heard a child say "wabbit" for rabbit, or "tee" for key? If the child was very young, these errors may have seemed cute. Now imagine the same errors in the speech of an older, school-age child. These misarticulations are no longer cute, and may be cause of ridicule from family, friends or classmates.
Speech sounds are not mastered all at once but in an orderly pattern based on physical development and partly on learning. By three years of age, your child's speech should be intelligible most of the time, even to people outside the family. By about five years of age, most children say all of their sounds correctly, except maybe one or two (i.e. /r/ and /th/) sounds. Refer to "Development" for guide to specific speech sounds.
You can help your child speak more clearly by ....
-being a good speech model and NOT using "baby talk".
-pronouncing words clearly, slowly and correctly for your child to hear.
-focus on what your child is saying and not on how it is being said
-letting your child watch your face, lips and tongue as you form words and exaggerate sounds that your child may find difficult to say, such as "Where is your sssssock?"
-repeating new words and sounds by using them often in your conversations with your child.
-reading favorite books frequently and encouraging your child to discuss pictures, retell the story and practice words with difficult sounds.
Copywrite 2003 by Education World
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Acquisition of Speech Sounds |
The age at which 90% of children are producing a consonant sound is considered to be the upper limit of typical development.
CASELOAD SELECTION GUIDELINES FOR SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS
Baltimore County Public Schools
Towson, Maryland
2000
SOUND AGE CHILDREN BEGIN USING THE SOUND AGE 90% OF CHILDREN ARE USING THE SOUND
/p/, /m/, /h/, /n/, /w/ <2 years 3 years
/b/, /k/, /g/, /d/ 2 years 4 years
/t/, /ng/ 2 years 6 years
/f/, /y/ 2 years 6 months 4 years
/l/ 3 years 6 years
/r/, /s/ 3 years 8 years
/ch/, /sh/ 3 years 6 months 7 years
/z/ 3 years 6 months 8 years
/j/ 4 years 7 years
/v/ 4 years 8 years
/th/ voiceless 4 years 6 months 7 years
/th/ voiced 5 years 8 years
/zh/ 6 years >8 years
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