What is Speech Therapy?

Does Your Child Say "Wabbit" for Rabbit, or "Tar" for Car?

When your child is learning to speak, you might hear them leave sounds out, substitute one sound for another or simplify words. Most of the time, these speech patterns are a normal part of learning to speak and become clearer as they get older. But sometimes, certain sounds just don’t seem to come along as expected.

That’s where speech therapy can help.

Speech therapy for speech sound disorders helps children learn to say their sounds properly through a gradual progression starting with simple sounds and words and gradually working up to sentences and everyday conversation.

When children are hard to understand, it can be frustrating for them – and for the people trying to communicate with them. It may also make them less likely to engage in conversations or social activities.

Helping your child with their speech can help make a big difference in their confidence and ability to connect with others.

Speech sound development range for children by Crowe and McLeod, 2020. The image displays age ranges as steps on a staircase. The first step displays two to three years and b, n, m, p, h, w, and d. The second step displays three to four years and g, k, f, t, ng, and y. The third step displays four to five years and v, j, s, ch, l, sh, and z. The fourth step displays five to six years and r, zh, and th (voiced). The fifth and last step displays six to seven years and th (voiceless).

Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A Review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155-2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00168

Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A Review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155-2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00168

Can you understand what your child is saying?

Speech intelligibility refers to how easily a child's speech can be understood by others. As they grow and develop, their speech should become easier to understand.

Every child develops differently, and some sound errors are perfectly normal. However, if your child is much harder to understand than expected for their age, becomes frustrated when others can't understand them, or is only understood by close family members, it may be time to seek some support.

As a general guide:

By age 3: You should understand about 50% of what your child says.

By age 4: You should understand about 75% of what your child says.

By age 5: Most of what your child says should be understandable, even though they may still have difficulty with certain sounds.

Speech Intelligibility

Hustad, K. C., Mahr, T. J., Natzke, P., & Rathouz, P. J. (2021). Speech development between 30 and 119 months in typical children I: Intelligibility growth curves for single-word and Multiword Productions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(10), 3707-3719. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00142