What sounds should my child have at certain ages?

2 years old: /p/

3 years old: /b/, /t/, /d/, /m/, /n/, “ing”, /k/, /g/,

/h/, /w/ “y”, /f/

4 years old: /l/, “j,” “ch”, /s/,/v/, “sh”, /z/

5 years old: /r/, /zh/ as in measure, voiced “th”

6 years old: unvoiced “th”

The information represents the average age at which 90% of children produce particular sounds correctly. Additionally, this data is a cross linguistic review of the acquisition of consonant sounds in 27 different languages.

When determining if a child requires support for their speech sound production skills, speech-language pathologists use these norms, but also consider the following additional information:

1. Error patterns- Are the child’s errors patterned? (e.g., omitting final sounds in words- “ha” for hat, omitting sounds within a cluster- “poon” for spoon, substituting a stop sound for fricative sounds- “tun” for sun, etc.)

2. Stimulability- Can the child produce the sound in error, when given a model and verbal/visual cues?

3. Intelligibility- Can the child’s family and friends understand them?

If you feel like your child is demonstrating errors on speech sounds they should have for their age or you are having a difficult time understanding them, it may be a good idea to reach out to an SLP to determine if you child would benefit from therapy. For many children, the longer we leave speech errors, the harder it is to correct them once they are older and those motor patterns are habituated!

McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi:10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100.