| Age |
Developmental milestones |
Common errors
|
Possible implications if milestones not achieved |
| 0-6 months |
- The baby makes cooing sounds (e.g. ‘oo’, ‘ee’, ‘ah’), turns towards sounds and gives eye contact when they hear an adult speaking or making sounds
|
|
- Can affect social interaction with parents
- Can affect oral muscle tone (i.e. of the tongue, cheeks, lips)
|
| 6-12 months |
- At 6 months the baby starts
to babble and repeat sounds (e.g. ‘mamama’)
|
|
- Can affect social interaction with parents
- Can affect oral muscle tone (i.e. of the tongue,
cheeks, lips)
- Can affect the child’s ability to sequence sounds together
|
| 1-2 years |
- The child is able to say
the following sounds in words- /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/
- The child is able to say
the following sounds in words – /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/
|
- Voicing- This is where sounds made with no voice are replaced with voiced sounds (e.g. “car” becomes ‘gar’, “tea” becomes ‘dea’)
-
Stopping- This is where sounds made with a long airflow are replaced by sounds made with a stopped airflow (e.g. “sea” becomes ‘tea’, “shoe” becomes ‘to’)
- Final consonant deletion- The ends of words are often missed out (e.g. “tap” = ‘ta’)
- Velar Fronting- This is where sounds made with the tongue hitting the back of the mouth (e.g. /k/ and /g/) are replaced with sounds made at the front of the mouth (e.g. /t/ and /d/) so “car” becomes ‘tar’, “key” becomes ‘tea’
- Palatal Fronting- This is where the tongue is moved forward in the mouth so the ‘sh’ sound becomes a /s/ sound
- Weak Syllable Deletion- This is where non-stressed syllables are deleted from words (e.g. “elephant” becomes ‘ephant’)
- Assimilation- The pronunciation of the whole word is influenced by the presence of a particular sound in the word (e.g. “dog” become ‘gog‘)
- Consonant Cluster Reduction- This is where clusters of consonants in words are reduced by one or more consonants (e.g. ‘brick’ becomes ‘bick’, “clown” becomes ‘cown’)
- De-affrication- This is where the affricate sounds ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘j’ are replaced with fricative sounds (‘sh’, /s/, /z/ or ??’) or the /t/ or /d/ sound
- Gliding- This is where the /l/ and the /r/ sounds are replaced with the /w/ or the ‘y’ sound
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with‘) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Frustration due to not being understood
- Can affect fluency and clarity of speech
- Difficulties being understood by others
|
| 2-3 years |
- The child is able to say the following sounds in words- /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/
- The child is able to say the following sounds in words – /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/
|
- Voicing- This is where sounds made with no voice are replaced with voiced sounds (e.g. “car” becomes ‘gar’, “tea” becomes ‘dea’)
-
Stopping- This is where sounds made with a long airflow are replaced by sounds made with a stopped airflow (e.g. “sea” becomes ‘tea’, “shoe” becomes ‘to’)
- Final consonant deletion- The ends of words are often missed out (e.g. “tap” = ‘ta’)
- Velar Fronting- This is where sounds made with the tongue hitting the back of the mouth (e.g. /k/ and /g/) are replaced with sounds made at the front of the mouth (e.g. /t/ and /d/) so “car” becomes ‘tar’, “key” becomes ‘tea’
- Palatal Fronting- This is where the tongue is moved forward in the mouth so the ‘sh’ sound becomes a /s/ sound
- Weak Syllable Deletion- This is where non-stressed syllables are deleted from words (e.g. “elephant” becomes ‘ephant’)
- Assimilation- The pronunciation of the whole word is influenced by the presence of a particular sound in the word (e.g. “dog” become ‘gog‘)
- Consonant Cluster Reduction- This is where clusters of consonants in words are reduced by one or more consonants (e.g. ‘brick’ becomes ‘bick’, “clown” becomes ‘cown’)
- De-affrication- This is where the affricate sounds ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘j’ are replaced with fricative sounds (‘sh’, /s/, /z/ or ??’) or the /t/ or /d/ sound
- Gliding- This is where the /l/ and the /r/ sounds are replaced with the /w/ or the ‘y’ sound
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with‘) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Frustration due to not being understood
- Can affect fluency and clarity of speech
- Difficulties being understood by others
|
| 3-4 years |
- The child is able to say the following sounds in words – /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /s/, /y/, /h/
- Speech may be unclear to adults who don’t know the child well
|
- Weak Syllable Deletion: This is where non-stressed syllables are deleted from words (e.g. “elephant” becomes ‘ephant’)
- Assimilation- The pronunciation of the whole word is influenced by the presence of a particular sound in the word (e.g. “dog” become ‘gog’)
- Consonant Cluster Reduction- This is where clusters of consonants in words are reduced by one or more consonants (e.g. “brick” becomes ‘bick’, “clown” becomes ‘cown’)
- De-affrication- This is where the affricate sounds ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘j’ are replaced with fricative sounds (‘sh’, /s/, /z/ or ??’) or the /t/ or /d/ sound
- Gliding- This is where the /l/ and the /r/ sounds are replaced with the /w/ or the ‘y’ sound
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with’) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Can affect fluency and clarity of speech
- Difficulties being understood by others
- Can affect expressive language development (e.g. leaving sounds off the end of words affecting verbal grammar)
|
| 4-5 years |
- The child is able to say
the following sounds in words – /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/,
/s/, /y/, /h/, ‘sh’, ‘ch’, ‘j’, /z/, /l/, /v/
|
- De-affrication- This is where the affricate sounds ‘sh’, ‘ch’ and ‘j’ are replaced with fricative sounds (‘sh’, /s/, /z/ or ??’)
or the /t/ or /d/ sound
- Gliding- This is where the /l/ and the /r/ sounds are replaced with the /w/ or the ‘y’ sound
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with‘) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Can affect fluency and clarity of speech
- Difficulties being understood by others
- Can affect expressive language development (e.g. leaving sounds off the end of words affecting verbal grammar)
|
| 5-6 years |
- Speech should be mostly
clear and easy to understand, but some immaturities may still be noted(e.g. with ‘r’ and ‘th’ sounds)
|
- Gliding- This is where the /l/ and the /r/ sounds are replaced with the /w/ or the ‘y’ sound.
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with‘) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Can affect fluency and clarity of speech
- Difficulties with spelling due to articulation errors
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Can affect expressive language development (e.g. leaving sounds off the end of words affecting verbal grammar)
|
| 6-7 years |
|
- The voiceless ‘th’ sound (as in ‘thank you’) is replaced with a /f/ sound
- The voiced ‘th’ sound (as in ‘with’) is replaced with a /v/ sound
|
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Difficulties with spelling due to articulation errors
- Can affect expressive language development (e.g. leaving sounds off the end of words affecting verbal grammar)
|
| 7-8 years |
- The child is able to say all of the speech sounds in words with no noticeable errors
|
|
- Difficulties with socialisation
- Difficulties with spelling due to articulation errors
- Can affect expressive language development (e.g. leaving sounds off the end of words affecting verbal grammar)
|
