One of the top questions I get is about whether or not a child should be saying certain speech sounds.

Let me tell you, there is a WIDE range of normal when it comes to speech sound acquisition.

But in general, we know that certain sounds (like /b/ and /m/) come in early…

…and other sounds (like /r/ and /l/) come in later.

And knowing those milestones can help us decide which children need speech therapy, and which can wait it out.

I’m speech-language pathologist Carrie Clark and in today’s episode of The Speech and Language Kids Podcast, I’ll be telling you what ages certain sounds should come in by and I’ll be giving you a Therapy Roadmap for how to help them if they’re not.

You can listen to the full podcast episode below:

But before we get to the roadmap, let’s answer the question that everyone is asking:

When should children be able to say each speech sound?

I’ve got it all laid out for you right here:

The following sound chart represent the age of acquisition for the English speech sounds.  The age below indicates that 90% of children are saying this sound consistently when they turn that age.  For example, for the /b/ sound, 90% of children are able to produce the /b/ sound correctly in everyday speech by their third birthday.

Click here to view the research behind this speech sound age chart.

/b/ Sound…………………….3 years

/n/ Sound…………………….3 years

/m/ Sound……………………3 years

/p/ Sound…………………….3 years

/h/ Sound……………………3 years

/w/ Sound…………………….3 years

/d/ Sound……………………..3 years

/g/ Sound (as in “go”)…….4 years

/k/ Sound………………………..4 years

/f/ Sound………………………….4 years

/t/ Sound………………………….4 years

“ng” Sound (as in, “ring”)……4 years

“y” Sound (as in, “yum”)……..4 years

/v/ Sound………………………….5 years

“j” Sound (as in, “jam”)……….5 years

/s/ Sound………………………….5 years

“ch” Sound…………………………..5 years

/l/ Sound…………………………….5 years

“sh” Sound…………………………..5 years

/z/ Sound …………………………..5 years

/r/ Sound……………………………6 years

Voiced “th” (“they”)……………..6 years

Soft “j” (“beige”)………………….6 years

Voiceless “th” (“thumb”)……….7 years

* Keep in mind, most state education departments have their own chart of when children in the public schools qualify for services based on sound.  These ages may be different than the research presented here.

Ok wait!

Before you post a comment telling me I’m wrong….

There is a wide range of “normal”.

Many children acquire these sounds earlier or even later than these ages!

Different research studies put these ages at different levels.

This was a study done in 2020 but other studies have reported different findings.

That’s because all children acquire sounds differently.

Instead of getting hung up on the details…

….look for patterns.

Is the child missing MANY of these sounds?

Then there may be a problem.

If the child is only slightly behind these ages, then we may not need to worry too much.

A speech-language pathologist can do a full evaluation to see if there are enough red flags for us to feel that therapy is warranted.

So what do we do if we feel a child needs help with pronouncing speech sounds?

We follow the roadmap.

The first step of the roadmap is picking which road you want to follow first.

There’s no wrong answer here, just go with the one that makes the most sense right now.

(And revise your path later if they’re not making progress.)

Choose a Road:

Instead of working on specific sounds, you’ll be working on specific word structures, like:

Choose one structure to practice at a time.

When they can do those words, add a sound or add a new structure with sounds they can already say.

Decide if you’ll work on one phonological process at a time or if you’ll use a Cycles Approach.

Target that phonological process through these steps:

Choose a sound to teach.

Target that sound through these steps:

Teach the child how to overexaggerate their sounds and slow down.

Teach over-articulation through these steps:

We have step-by-step therapy plans that will take you from start to finish on each of these skills.

Get easy-to-follow plans that work for real kids in real sessions.

Available with the Full, Paid Hub Membership here.

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