Articulation Delay and Disorder

A child with an articulation delay/disorder has difficulty with producing age appropriate individual speech sounds resulting in speech that is difficult for listeners to understand.

A child with an articulation delay is showing speech developing at a normal sequential pattern, but not yet age appropriate. A child with an articulation disorder demonstrates speech errors that are not normally seen in typical speech development.

You may notice that your child is using one sound for another, leaving sounds out, adding sounds within words, or producing sounds that aren’t very clear. For example, your child might be saying “wed” instead of “red,” or “pay” instead of “play.”

According to ASHA.org, we can expect most English-speaking children to do the following:

By 6 months– Makes speech-like babbling sounds like puh, ba, mi, da

By 1 year– Babbles longer strings of sounds like mimi, upup, bababa

By 3 years–

Says m, n, h, w, p, b, t, d, k, g, and f in words

Familiar people understand the child’s speech

By 4 years–

Says y and v in words

May still make mistakes on the s, sh, ch, j, ng, th, z, l, and r sounds

Most people understand the child’s speech

There are several things you can do at home with your child to encourage speech development. Download our free informational guide on Articulation Delay and Disorders below to learn more:

Consult with your child’s pediatrician if you suspect that your child may have an articulation delay or disorder. Your pediatrician understands your child’s history, and may ultimately refer you to a speech pathologist. A speech pathologist, also known as a speech therapist, will then complete an evaluation and discuss further steps with you. Your speech therapist may recommend Speech and Language Therapy.

Please feel free to get in touch with me, or speak with your child’s pediatrician if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s speech and language development.

Julianne is a licensed speech therapist and founder of GO Therapy. She is excited to serve the Las Vegas and Henderson communities!