Saying Sounds In Words

When people think of a speech and Language therapist the first thing most of them seem to assume is that we treat people who cannot say their sounds properly. I hope this site and blog have given you a greater insight than that. A large number of children do have speech sound errors though and they range from very simple with only one or two sounds being changed, to very complex as in dyspraxia.   As they are learning to speak all children alter words to make them easier to say. How each child does this is unique to him or her, although there are some common simplifications that are frequently used. Below are the common substitutions that children use at each age.

12 – 18 Months

All sounds are present but not consistent. Babbling and repeating syllables e.g. “dada”.

2 Years

Final sounds are missed off words e.g. dog → “do”.  One consonant is used throughout word e.g. cat → “tat”.

2 Years & 6 Months

Final sounds are missed off words e.g. dog → “do”.

3 Years

These sounds are often ‘stopped’ into shorter sounds, such as d, t, b or p.  The sounds k/c and g are often replaced with t or d.

4 – 5 Years

Children are beginning to use clusters of consonants e.g. spoon.  “th” is replaced with “f” and “r” is replaced with “w” until 6 years.

Unfortunately some children continue to have difficulties with speech sounds and do not learn how to say the words correctly themselves. This can make them difficult to understand by people who are not close family. It may also affect your child’s behaviour and their ability to make friends.

There are some general tips that may help:

• When your child makes a mistake, say the word back to him using the correct production. Avoid correcting him

• Encourage your child to use natural gestures and pointing to help you understand what they have said

• If you are unable to understand them, be honest and ask them to show you in another way if they can

• Accept other ways your child may be communicating with you, such as sounds, facial expressions and gestures

• Remember if your child cannot say certain sounds they are not being lazy. To change how they say sounds takes a lot of practice, thought and effort. Try it yourself – talk about a subject of your choice (e.g. television, holidays, football, etc) for 5 minutes and miss out all the “s” sounds

Speech and Language Therapists usually follow small steps to change how a child produces a sound in their speech. Below is a quick idea of the stages that are used.

• Producing the sound on its own e.g. “s, s, s, s”

• Producing the sound within a word e.g. for “s” - sand (beginning of the word), kiss (end of the word), or basin (middle of the word)

• Practicing using the sound correctly in short sentences e.g. “I found a sock”

• Saying rhymes and tongue twisters that include words with the sound in them to practice

• Finally, using the sound in conversations

At all stages the Therapist will make deliberate errors of their own to check that the child can hear the difference between the sound and the one they are replacing it with. Games are a vital element of the practice to ensure it is fun and less pressured.

Also the effort rather than perfection is often rewarded especially at the beginning as a child is learning where their tongue should go.

Each child will obviously progress at different rates and it is not uncommon for a child to get stuck at one stage for a number of weeks. Helping children to say sounds correctly is never as straight forward as it seems.