Super Star Speech

Does your child have a speech sound error or two that he doesn’t seem to be outgrowing? By age 7 or 8, children should have mastered all of their speech sounds. Some sounds, of course, should be produced correctly well before that age. To see a chart of when each sound should be mastered, click here.

If you suspect or know that your child has an articulation problem, seeing a speech-language-pathologist for an evaluation is a wise first step. He or she will be able to tell you exactly which sounds are in error—there may be some that you haven’t noticed! Even if you opt to work with your child at home, the speech pathologist should be able to give you some tips and get you started. However, this isn’t the preferred option for many parents. Perhaps you can’t afford speech therapy or fit it into your schedule. Perhaps you don’t want involvement with the public schools.

If you would like to work with your child’s speech at home, here are some guidelines and ideas.

First, pick a sound or group of sounds to work on. You may want to pick an easier sound to start with, or one that is important to the child, such as a sound in his name. Make the sound yourself and consider exactly how it is made. Where in your mouth does your tongue touch? Does the air leak through slowly, such as in an “s”? Or does the air pop out quickly, as in a “t”? If your child cannot produce the sound at all, you will have to describe this to him.

First, teach the child to say the sound by itself. Model it for him. Use your finger, spoon handle, or popsicle stick to touch his mouth or tongue in the target spots. When your child can produce it, practice. Practice, practice, and practice some more until he really knows it well by itself.

Then practice words that begin with the target sound, moving on to words with the sound in the middle or at the end.

When your child can produce the sound in words with 95% accuracy, begin practicing in sentences. By the time sentences are mastered, you will probably hear the sound being used most of the time in conversation. This may take a few weeks or longer. Don’t expect your child to use the sound in conversation right away—it will take time before he can produce the sound correctly without thinking about it.

Make your speech practice time fun. Keep the sessions short, but practice every day. Play board games, making your child say his word 3 times before every turn. Hop across the room, repeating the sound with every bounce. With dedicated practice, you should soon see improvement in your child’s articulation skills!

My Super Star Speech books include tips for teaching all of the common error sounds and provide practice activities and games for practicing speech skills.

My Super Star Speech books and homeschool games are currently being reviewed by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew. 100 homeschooling moms (and a dad) are busy trying out these items with their own kids and will soon be writing reviews on their blogs. I am anxiously awaiting to see what they will have to say!

Do you ever wonder if your child’s speech skills are normal? We don’t expect a three year old to have perfect speech, but we do expect it from a ten year old. Here are a few questions to help you figure out whether your child is developing articulation skills at a normal pace or whether you should be concerned. These are just general guidelines. If you have concerns, you may want to have your child evaluated by a speech pathologist, who might suggest therapy or assure you that your child is developing normally. My book, Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple also contains a simple articulation test that assesses each sound.

Can my three-year-old be understood by people outside the family? Three year olds have usually not mastered all of the speech sounds yet, but strangers should be able to understand much of what they say. It can be very frustrating for a child when others cannot understand his speech.

Is my 5-year old easy to understand? 5-year olds may still have 3 or 4 “tough sounds,” but they should not be interfering significantly with his intelligibility at this point.

What do others say about my child’s speech? Often parents are so accustomed to their children’s speech patterns that they do not even notice that little Johnny says “th” instead of “s” or leaves “r” off the ends of his words. I have met 10 or 12 year olds whose parents seem not to notice that their children have difficulty with some sounds even though everyone else does notice!

This is a list of the approximate ages at which children should have mastered different sounds. Of course all children develop differently and may not master sounds in this exact order. There are also other factors that a speech-language-pathologist would consider in determining whether a child’s speech patterns are within normal limits or delayed. For example substituting “th” for “s” at age 6 is normal, but omitting “s” entirely or substituting “t” for “s” would be a concern (and impacts intelligibility much more).

Articulation Sounds-Age Chart
Age 3 —— p, b, n, m
Age 3 ½— t, d, k, g, ng, w, y
Age 4—— f, v
Age 5—— l
Age 6—— ch, sh, j, th
Age 7 —— s, z, r, blends