Super Star Speech

In their first year, well before they say their first real words, babies babble many different sounds  as they experiment with their voices. Supposedly, babies actually produce and experiment with ALL of the sounds, including those not in their native languages. As they mature, immersed in their native language, they start limiting themselves to only the sounds that they hear and eventually lose the ability to even hear many sounds in other languages. When I was visiting in Korea, I would try to imitate a word, to be told repeatedly, “No!”  And they would say the word again. I thought was repeating the word I was hearing! Apparently not! You are probably aware that Asians often confuse the sounds “l” and “r.” That sound is the same in their languages and they actually cannot hear the difference.

This is why, if you want your child to speak fluently and without an accent in a second language, he must be exposed to it very young in life.

Toddlers vary widely in their language skills. Some speak in complete sentences while others are still using single words. Much of the variation is simply due to temperament and individual development, but a child’s environment and adult stimulation can help these skills along. Here a some ideas to use with normal-developing toddlers and with older children who have delayed language skills:

-Call out action words for the child to follow: sit, jump, kneel, walk, stop…

-Sing action songs with your child–”Where is Thumbkin?”, “Ring Around the Rosie,” “London Bridge,” “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” and so on. A favorite of my children was “Wheels on the Bus.” I know I sang it hundreds of times with them! I am a big fan of incorporating music and language.

-Play hide and seek with objects. Let the child see you hide the object, then ask, “Where is ___?” and have him find it. Then hide the object without the child watching, but leave it partly exposed. This will help him become familiar with new vocabulary.

-Make scrapbooks of different types of items–food, animals, action words, and so on, cutting pictures from magazines. Pages could also be made for adjectives–cold, smooth, pretty, etc. Older children can help with the cutting and/or gluing.

-Have the child follow two-part commands. “Turn around, then clap your hands.” “Run to the kitchen and pick up a spoon.” Then work up to three-part commands.

-Spread picture cards showing different categories across the table. Ask your child to “find all the things we eat” or “find all the animals.”

-Require the child to use his best language when he wants something. “More.” “Cookie, please.” or “I want to read a story.”

-Expand upon the child’s utterances. If he says, “cookie,” say “Want cookie, please.” Just hearing the expanded form of his phrase will encourage him to expand it next time.

-Teach body parts and pronouns by naming, “my nose,” “your nose,” and so on.  Ask, “Whose neck is this?’ Model the correct answer if this is difficult for the child.

-Talk to your child! Explain what you are doing. Explain his world to him. Have him help you with simple chores while you talk. Ask him questions.

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