Articulation Most children make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. A speech sound disorder occurs when mistakes continue past a certain age. Every sound has a different range of ages when the child should make the sound correctly. Speech sound disordersinclude problems with articulation(making sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns). In general, sounds are articulated correctly by the following ages: Age 3: h, m, n, p, b, t, d, w, y (as in yes), f Age 4: k, g, sh, ch, j, s, z Age 5: l, voiceless th (as in think) Age 6: v, sh, ch Age 7: voiced th (as in that) Age 8: r, s, z
Language According to American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: Language is made up of socially shared rules that include the following:
What words mean (e.g., "star" can refer to a bright object in the night sky or a celebrity)
How to make new words (e.g., friend, friendly, unfriendly)
How to put words together (e.g., "Peg walked to the new store" rather than "Peg walk store new")
What word combinations are best in what situations ("Would you mind moving your foot?" could quickly change to "Get off my foot, please!" if the first request did not produce results)
For a more complete description of what language you can expect your child to be using (from grades KG-5th), please see the following link: