Speech Sound Development

Here is a guide to how children's speech usually develops. Speech development may vary across languages.

What are early, middle and later speech sounds?

Early, middle and later speech sounds help us think about the order that children learn to say speech sounds.

Here is the approximate order that children's speech sounds develop. They develop from the time a child starts using words until the early years at school. Although the age range extends to 8 years, most children will be using these sounds earlier than that¹.

Early (18 mths – 3 yrs)

m n y b w d p h

Middle (2 – 6 yrs)

t ng (talking) k g f v ch j

Later (3 – 8 yrs)

sh zh (measure) l r s zth (think) th (that)

How will my child's speech develop?

Children's speech generally gets easier to understand as they get older. Here's a guide²:

by 2 years of age children can be understood by familiar adults most of the time
by 3 years of age children can be understood by unfamiliar adults most of the time
by 4 years of age children can be understood by unfamiliar adults almost all of the time
by 5 years of age children can be understood by unfamiliar adults all of the time

What are some tips to help my child's speech development?

show your child that you are interested in what they say, not how they say it
help your child to learn how to say tricky sounds by repeating them correctly as naturally as possible; for example, if your child says "bish" and you say "yes it's a big fish, isn't it?"
get face to face with your child so that they can watch the way you say words

References:

Shriberg, L.D. (1993). Four new speech and prosody-voice measures for genetics research and other studies in developmental phonological disorders. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, (36), 105-140.
Flipsen, P., Jr (2006). Measuring the speech intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, (20) 4, 303-312.

If you would like to look at anything in more detail, this listing of references [1] might be a good starting point.

Acknowledgements:

The content on this page has been produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and adapted from Much more than words | Manuka takoto, kawea ake (2014) [2].

External links and downloads (see the online version for more information at other websites)

Who should I talk to if I am concerned about my child's speech? [3]

Talk to someone else who knows your child well; for example, your child's teacher, doctor or a close family/whānau member. If you are still concerned, call the Ministry of Education at 0800 622 222 or check the Ministry of Education website for your local Ministry of Education office.

Information on communication development (Ministry of Education) [4]

[5]This booklet is for supporting the communication development of young children. Family/whānau, early childhood educators, kaiako, health professionals and others may find it useful. It includes information about typical communication development in young children and ideas for supporting them. The booklet was published by the Ministry of Education in 2014.

Plunket for concerns about speech or language development [6]

If you are concerned about your child's language or speech development, you could discuss your concerns with your Plunket nurse or other Well Child provider. For your local Plunket office or Plunket Karitane Family Centre, check the Plunket website for Plunket near you [7]. Plunket also offers a specialist early childhood health telephone help service. It is available to all families, whānau and caregivers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call PlunketLine free on 0800 933 922.

NZ Speech-Language Therapists' Association [8]

Speech language therapists are employed in the Ministry of Education, special schools, hospitals, and in private practice. To find a speech language therapist, you can contact the Ministry of Education, Special Education on 0800 622 222 (you can self-refer to a Ministry of Education speech-language therapist); email a query to special.education@minedu.govt.nz [9]; see where to find speech and language therapists at the NZ Speech-Language Therapists' Association website [10]; ask your child's teacher to refer your child or look in the phone book's yellow pages under speech language therapy for speech language therapists in private practice.

Speech-Language Therapy Dot Com (Australia) [11]

The website of Dr Caroline Bowen, a speech-language pathologist in Australia, provides the article on Intelligibility [12] (the proportion of a speaker's output that a listener can readily understand), from 12 - 48 months.

Speech Pathology Australia [13]

The Speech Pathology Australia website provides a range of fact sheets, including The Sound of Speech: 0 – 3 years and The Sound of Speech: Preschool and School Aged Children

This page last reviewed 17 November 2020.
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