When Should My Child Have Clear Speech?
Some Definitions:
What is Clear Speech?
Clear speech focuses on going slow and over-articulating. These exaggerated movements can help your kid see what you are doing! Remember, we don’t expect clear speech with first words!
What is a Word?
A word is something that is used consistently, independently, and with meaning. Some examples include symbolic noises like animal sounds or exclamatory words like “wow.” This can also look like sign language and consistent gestures.
What is Intelligibility?
Intelligibility refers to understanding. For example, by 36 months, word intelligibility to close family members should be at the 75-100% mark. Lots of things go into this such as rate of speech, volume, AND speech sound accuracy. Remember, it is possible to have age-appropriate speech sounds in words, but be unintelligible in sentences or conversations.
What is a Phonological Process?
Phonological processes are the patterns of simplified productions. This means simplifying complex words in predictable ways. All kids have speech patterns that are typical until a certain age. These patterns are how we do “baby talk” (e.g., using /w/ for /r/). If these patterns persist, it means kids need more repetitions to learn to differentiate those sounds. Following the pattern is often called a “delay” rather than a “disorder” by many SLPs (though there’s no consensus on that). That said, ideally, patterns should all be eliminated before children need to know sound-letter correspondences and begin to work on decoding in school.
What is Disordered Speech?
If a child has errors that are NOT part of the typical pattern of speech development, we call it a speech sound disorder. Examples can include lisps, deleting the first consonant of a word (e.g., using “oo” for boo), substituting back sounds for front sounds (e.g., using “goo” for boo), or inconsistent pronunciations of the same word. These often require more intensive intervention and speech therapy, as we are not simply trying to “speed up” their natural development but get them on a totally new track altogether.
So, When Should You See an SLP?
If your child does not have a clear, obvious word by 12 months (even if speech is unclear, you should know what they mean).
If you aren’t able to understand at least 25% of what your child says at 18 months OR if you’re still misunderstanding more than 50% at 24 months.
If your 3-year-old is not using /p, b, m, d, n, w, h/ sounds, OR if they can only use those sounds at the beginning of the word (e.g., they can say “mama” or “mommy” but not “mom” or “home”)
If your 4-year-old is not using /k, g, s, f, t, y/ sounds, OR if they are totally omitting any part of the word (e.g., using ‘top’ for stop, ‘pay’ for play, or ‘efent’ for elephant)
The only acceptable errors at age 5 are /th, r/… everything else should receive intervention at this age!
So, When Should My Child’s Speech Be Clear?
Well, it depends. A lot of things go into clear speech and it can vary amongst children.
Here are a few resources that break down these topics further. You may find them helpful!
And, if you are still unsure or have questions, book a free consult with one of our SLPs here!
Research:
Bowen, C. (1998). Developmental phonological disorders. A practical guide for families and teachers. Melbourne: ACER Press.
Dodd, B., Holm, A., Zhu, H., & Crosbie, S. (2003). Phonological development, a normative study of British-English speaking children. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 17, 617—43.
Peña-Brooks, A., & Hegde, M. N. (2015). Assessment and Treatment of Speech Sound Disorders in Children: A Dual-Level Text. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Shipley, K. G., & McAfee, J. G. (2016). Assessment in speech-language pathology: A resource manual. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Flipsen, P., Jr. (2006). Measuring the intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. 20(4), 202-312.
Lynch, J.I., Brookshire, B.L., & Fox, D.R. (1980). A Parent-Child Cleft Palate Curriculum: Developing Speech and Language. Tigard, OR: CC Publications.
McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children's consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology.
