Articulation

What is "Articulation?"

Articulation refers to actual speech production- the shaping of speech sounds using the mouth, lips, and tongue.

Many school aged children have difficulty with certain sounds or groups of sounds. Sometimes, these errors are typical of speech development but are errors normally seen in younger children. This is known as an speech delay. Other times, these errors are atypical of speech development and are not normally seen as part of speech development. This is known as a speech disorder.

Types of articulation errors include substitutions, omissions, additions, and distortions. Articulation errors often make it difficult to understand the child. For suggestions on how to help your child improve his/her speech at home, go back to the "Articulation" tab at the top of this page and click on "Suggestions to Improve Your Child's Articulation at Home."

Speech Sound Developmental Expectations

Age Sounds

5 years old p, b, m, n, t, d, h, w, k, g, ng, y, f

6 years old v, l, sh, ch, j

7 years old s, z, th, r

8 years old All sounds mastered

Speech Intelligibility Developmental Expectations

(Note: "Intelligibility" refers to how well the child's speech can be understood, even if there are actual sound errors).

Age Intelligibility Level

19 -24 months 25% - 50%

2 -3 years 50% - 75%

4 - 5 75% - 90%

5+ 90% - 100%