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| Home / News / Speech News / | ||
| Articulation Development in Children | ||
| What is Articulation? Articulation refers to the production of speech sounds in connected discourse or isolated words. What Can Cause Delayed Articulation? Impaired or fluctuating hearing due to frequent ear infections, prolonged or recurring illnesses interfering with sound play or child-parent interaction, and impaired oral-motor coordination are examples of factors which may contribute to a delay in speech sound mastery. Quite often we cannot identify any factors in a child's background that might account for delayed articulation skills, yet a delay is present. As children learn speech sounds, they frequently make one or more of the following types of errors:
How Does It Develop? Children learn correct speech sound production by listening to and imitating appropriate models. Articulation skills develop over a period of 5-6 years, as a child gradually learns to control the movements of his tongue, lips, jaw and soft palate and coordinate these movements with the production of an air stream. By age 3, a child. s speech should be at least 80% intelligible (easily understood) and by age 4, his speech should be 100% intelligible, even though he may still have a few error sounds. The following table represents approximate ages at which we expect children to be producing various sounds correctly: Age Sounds Mastered 3 years p, b, m, w, h and all vowels 4 years d, t, n, g, k, f, y 5 years r, l, s, ch, sh, z 6 years j, v, th, zh What Are the Results of Delayed Articulation? When a child has numerous articulation errors, his speech may be virtually unintelligible, a condition that can be profoundly handicapping. Frustration, withdrawal from situations requiring speech, and behavior problems frequently stem from moderately to severely delayed articulation skills. What Can Be Done? If you know a child whose speech is difficult to understand or who makes articulation errors which seem inappropriate for his age, consider referring that child for a free speech screening at the Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center. After the screening, our speech pathologists can advise you if a complete evaluation is indicated and provide you with a variety of suggestions to help your child learn his difficult sounds. If you live in the Seattle and have further questions or would like to schedule an appointment, feel free to contact us.
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