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Speech Sound Development

Speech sounds begin to develop from the time a baby vocalizes their first babble (which is when an infant appears to be experimenting with sounds) to about 8 years of age (middle of elementary school). When sounds are developing, children may demonstrate omissions, substitutions, or inconsistent productions. Typically these errors should disappear by a certain age. Below shows the range of ages at which most children are able to make consonant (non-vowel) sounds.

Early Developing Sounds

Between ages 1-3

/m/ as in “mama”

/b/ as in “baby”

/p/ as in “pop”

“y” as in “you”

/n/ as in “no”

/w/ as in “we”

/h/ as in “hi”

/k/ as in “cup”

/g/ as in “go”

/d/ as in “daddy”

/t/ as in “two”

Middle Developing Sounds

Between ages 3-6 ½

 “ng” as in “running”

/f/ as in “fish”

/v/ as in “van”

“ch” as in “chew”

“j” as in “jump”

Late Developing Sounds

Between ages 5 -7 ½

“sh” as in “sheep”

/s/ as in “see”

 “th” as in “think”

 “th” as in “that”

/r/ as in “red”

/z/ as in “zoo”

/l/ as in “like”

“zh” as in “measure”

Each speech sound has a range of when they should be developed. There is a wide range of when your child will master the production of the different sounds. It is difficult to decide what age a child should master a sound with 100% accuracy. These sets of norms can be helpful when deciding if a child is typically developing sounds or may need speech therapy to assist in correcting the production of a sound.

I often have parents inquiring by what age their child should produce certain sounds.

I hope this is helpful! 🙂

-ToniAnne