Understanding the typical developmental milestones of speech sounds in children is crucial. It’s a multifaceted journey marked by various stages—babbling, the emergence of first words, the refining of sounds, and eventually, the mastery of articulation. Along this journey, children may encounter challenges producing certain sounds due to physical, linguistic, or environmental factors.

As children progress through their developmental milestones, their speech journey unfolds in captivating ways. It’s important to note that as children grow physically and cognitively, their speech sounds evolve gradually. It’s normal for young children to experience variations in their speech sound production as they navigate this intricate language acquisition journey.

Did you know that English has 44 phonemes? This suggests that the English language has 44 distinct spoken sounds as opposed to 26 letter sounds created in print and 250 graphemes.

Speech Sound Development Across Different Age Groups

Monitoring your child’s speech sound development can provide valuable insights into their linguistic progress. Here’s a guide based on current guidelines to help you track your child’s speech skills at home:

Age 1-2: Exploratory Sounds

During the first year, infants coo and babble, exploring a range of sounds as they develop the oral motor control necessary for speech. By around 1 year old, many children begin producing simpler sounds like “p,” “b,” and “m.” These sounds are among the first consonants due to their ease of production involving bilabial or labiodental movements. There are 24 consonant speech sounds in the English language. 

Age 2-3: Expanding Sound Repertoire

Between the ages of 2 to 3, children’s speech repertoire expands significantly. They start experimenting with more sounds, attempting combinations of consonants and vowels. Complex sounds like “k,” “g,” “f,” and “t” begin to emerge as they refine their oral articulation skills. However, clarity might still develop, leading to charming mispronunciations that mark this stage.

Age 3-4: Refinement and Complexity

By ages 3 to 4, there’s a noticeable refinement in speech. Children strive to master a broader range of sounds, aiming for clearer articulation. Consonant clusters, such as “sp,” “bl,” or “tr,” might still pose some challenges, but overall, there’s significant growth in their pronunciation and articulation abilities.

Age 4-5: Mastery and Complexity

Around ages 4 to 5, most children have acquired the majority of speech sounds in their native language. However, certain complex sounds like “r,” “th,” and “dge” (as in “measure”) might still present challenges due to their intricate articulation. While clarity improves, slight imperfections might persist.

Age 5 and Beyond: Refinement and Fine-Tuning

By age 5, children continue to refine their speech sounds, aiming for increased clarity and accuracy. While the bulk of speech sounds, except for the /r/ sounds such as voiced and voiceless “th” as in “that” and “bath,” are mastered by this age, some nuances and more intricate aspects of pronunciation might require ongoing practice and refinement.

Understanding these age-related milestones in speech sound development provides a roadmap for caregivers and educators. It helps identify potential areas of concern and offers appropriate support and guidance to ensure children’s speech development progresses smoothly.

The field of speech pathology does not have a universally accepted body of research stipulating that specific, exact ages must develop all sounds or that a certain age should eliminate all sound errors. Rather, a diverse range of studies within speech pathology exists, with a general consensus on the majority of sounds and speech error patterns following recognized speech development trends. Here is the speech intelligibility from 18 months to 4 years of age.

However, considerable variability and disagreement exist regarding certain sounds and speech error patterns, specifically concerning the appropriate ages for their acquisition and resolution. At Brooklyn Letters, we have compiled the most authoritative research studies, synthesizing this information into several comprehensive charts.

Here’s an example of when speech sounds are acquired and when speech sound errors, called phonology, should be eliminated. Here is everything you want to know about treatment approaches for speech sound disorders.

Phonology is the bridge between linguistics and speech (phonetics), playing a crucial role in understanding speech sound acquisition and resolving phonological errors. A complicating factor in determining the appropriate timelines for these developments is correlating them with the child’s expressive language age.

This connection adds a layer of complexity to understanding when speech sounds should be typically acquired and when phonological errors should ideally be addressed. This will be discussed in a separate blog.