A child's speech development follows a general pattern from babbling and sounds as a baby to full words and complex sentences. Children typically learn to articulate the sounds that make up all of these words in a particular order however sometimes there may be errors or omissions of certain sounds.

 

Some of the more commonly known errors are interdental lisps (an error on the production of the 's' sound such that it sounds like a 'th') or gliding (when an 'r' as in "red" is pronounced as a 'w' as in "wed"). Sometimes however you may find that non-family members simply have trouble understanding what your child is saying. There are many variations and different types of speech and articulation errors that your child may exhibit. 

 

It is important to remember that it is a normal part of typical speech development for a child to make errors in the articulation of their speech at different ages. When assessing a child's speech and articulation, a Speech Pathologist will look at the child's age and general language development as well as taking into account their intelligibility and level of awareness and frustration of the speech difficulties. They may conclude that your child's errors are age-appropriate and to return in a few months if you are still concerned.  If the Speech Pathologist is concerned that the errors are not age-appropriate, or not a part of typical speech development, then they will likely recommend that therapy is commenced, or refer you to a specialist. 

 

Part of therapy for speech and articulation errors will include some home practise for your child. This is an important part of therapy and the more that you can follow your therapist's instructions for home practise, the more progress you will see!

 

If you are concerned about your child's speech and articulation then please call us now to speak to one of our therapists.