Phonology is the definition use to describe the process of how children develop the ability to use and understand the sounds of language in the brain. It is not a physical process, but an internal developmental one. In every language across the world there are rules with govern the development of phonology (a child’s sound system)
The sounds we make are split into consonants and vowels, and in English we have 44 of these. Vowels are mastered before consonants, and when consonants begin to be used, they will be more accurate at the beginning of words. Consonants develop in “families”. Some are easier to hear than others, and some are easier to make. All children who are learning to talk will simplify sounds.
Children will often simplify pronunciation by deleting certain sounds:
Final consonants maybe dropped eg) the ‘t’ sound in ‘hat’ and ‘cat’
Unstressed syllables are often deleted eg) ‘banana’ becomes ‘nana’
Consonant clusters are reduced eg) ‘snake’ becomes ‘nake’ , ‘sleep’ becomes ‘seep’
Another form of simplification involves substituting harder sounds with easier ones.
R (as in rock or story) becomes w
Th (as in there, that or thumb) becomes d, n or f
T (as in toe) becomes d
P (as in pig) becomes b
Reduplication of sounds is another common phenomenon. This occurs when different sounds in a word are pronounced the same way such as ‘dog’ becoming ‘gog. This is called consonant harmony.
The term “Phonological delay” is used when a child has patterns of speech which are more typical of a younger child. The sound system is developing normally, but at a much slower rate than expected. Playing games to hear whether words sound the same or different by changing one sound in a word (minimal pairs), and regular practice of target sounds with the help of a visual cue such as “Cued articulation” in addition to the activities around phonological awareness, will help your child’s sound system to move forward. If your child has ever experienced a temporary hearing loss due to ear infections, this may affect your child’s ability to make progress, so spending more time listening to sounds and words in games is really beneficial, and will help them begin to ‘discriminate’ between different sounds and words, for example ‘fed’ and ‘bed’
A “Phonological disorder” will involve some delay, but also the use of phonological processes that are atypical, inconsistent or not following the expected pattern of phonological development. This is likely to make your child less clear, will be more persistent and require specialist support. Regular practice of high frequency words (core vocabulary) that are important to your child, and that your child uses every day, will help to improve consistent word production, and increase your child’s confidence.
Articulation is the ability to physically move the tongue, lips, teeth and jaw to produce sequences of speech sounds, which make up words and sentences. If your child is experiencing difficulties with articulation, s/he may not be able to do things like physically lift her/his tongue, move her/his jaw, maintain lip closure or move her/his mouth quickly and accurately enough to make sounds and words. In addition to practising sounds and words, try the oral motor activities that we have posted on the site. They will help to strengthen your child’s muscles for speech and eating, whilst having lots of fun!