Speech sounds

Typical Speech Sound Development:

By age 2-3: p, b, d, m, n, h, w

By age 3-4: t, k, g, ng, f, y

By age 4-5: v, s, z, sh, ch, j, l

By age 5-6: th (voiced), zh, prevocalic r

By age 6-7: th (voiceless), vocalic r

Disclaimer: While most research indicates that 90% of children will have mastered these sounds at this age, it is important to remember that this is not true in every case. 

How can parents help?

• Talk about your student's goals and/or targeted speech sound with them daily.

• Practice with your student for 5 minutes every day.

• Try to avoid pushing your student to frustration. If they are close to a correct production, praise them! Sometimes it's best to move on and come back to practice at another time.

• Understand that changing a student's speech patterns takes time and frequent reinforcement. It cannot be done through speech therapy alone.

Click on a sound below to watch videos and print out practice activities to do at home.

Early developing sounds (ages 2-4)

Middle developing sounds (ages 4-5)

Later developing sounds (ages 5-8)

Phonological Processes

Other