How Can I Understand My Child?
An Informational Guide to Speech Errors
Are You Noticing Your Child Making Speech Errors?
Don't worry, they are perfectly normal!
As children acquire language, they are bound to make mistakes along the way!
Join us as we look at the practicals behind language production errors.
How is Language Produced
in the First Place?
Articulation
The production of sound.
It involves the movement of the lips, tongue, teeth, palate (top of the mouth), and respiratory system (lungs).
Articulation is important to be able to produce sounds, words, and sentences that are clear and can be easily understood by others.
It is important to note that before children produce words, they proceed through 'stages' of 'pre-linguistic speech.'
These stages are easily recognizable and contribute to your child's language development process.
Read through all the stages on the 'Before Speech' page.
As typically developing children acquire language, they produce patterns of sound 'errors' to simplify the adult model of speech and articulation .
You can find more information on the 'Phonological Processes' page!
What Can a Speech Error Look Like?
This Youtube short shows a child who says pwug /pwʌɡ/ instead of plug [plʌɡ], like an adult would.
This is an example of a process called substitution!
You can learn more about this on the 'Substitution' page.
This is just one of many examples of what a speech error can look like!