Articulation and Phonology
Using toys to encourage language development
Speech sounds disorders can affect a child’s ability to communicate, decrease their self-confidence, and are correlated with later language and reading disabilities. Research shows that most sounds should be correctly produced by age 5. We have specialized training in treatment approaches such as cycles, articulation therapy, and Easy Does it for preschool stuttering.
We expect a child to be understood by:
18 months: 25% intelligible
24 months: 50-75% intelligible
36 months: 75% intelligible
By age 4, children should be 100% intelligible
A speech delay simply means that there is a slower rate of development than expected. Here are some characteristics of children that present with a speech delay:
- They have difficulty acquiring a variety of consonant sounds as quickly as expected
- They don’t sounds like children their age
- They struggle to be understood
Articulation Disorders
Articulation refers the way the muscles of the mouth accurately produce sounds. Some articulation errors are age appropriate. For examples, a child isn’t expected to correctly produce the “th” sound until seven, but some are no longer expected for your child’s age and can take away from their message
d to them feeling frustrated.
Phonological Disorders
Most little ones use typical speech patterns such as leaving final sounds off. The key is there are norms around when we longer expect to see specific patterns. For example, while it’s typical to relace the “k” sound with a “t” sound, we no longer expect that pattern to persist past 3 years old.
During your child’s in-depth speech sound evaluation, your therapist will determine which sounds are expected and which would benefit from speech therapy, and consider impact on overall speech clarity, evidence-based treatment techniques, and what’s motivating and important to our clients
Click here to work with us