Speech Sound Development
Children learn sounds by listening to people speaking around them. Babies begin by playing with sounds first of all and then start to babble. This babble develops into longer strings which uses a wider range of sounds.
All children make speech errors whilst they are learning to talk. These speech errors are called phonological processes and are very common during the process of learning to talk. Phonological processes can follow a predictable pattern and should gradually disappear as a child’s sound system develops. This means that children cannot say all sounds straight away - some are typically mastered later than others.
All children make speech errors whilst they are learning to talk. These speech errors are called phonological processes and are very common during the process of learning to talk. Phonological processes can follow a predictable pattern and should gradually disappear as a child’s sound system develops. This means that children cannot say all sounds straight away - some are typically mastered later than others.
Below is a phonological processes chart which lists common phonological processes and an approximate age at which children should no longer be using them.
Some children may replace ‘s’ with a ‘th’ sound so that e.g. ‘sip’ becomes ‘thip’. In addition, some children make a ‘s’ sound with the air escaping from the side of the mouth rather than from the front. In these cases it is advisable to wait until the child’s adult teeth are in place before completing a Request for Assistance form for therapy.