Here is a guide to how children's speech usually develops. Speech development may vary across languages.
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.
m n y b w d p h
t ng (talking) k g f v ch j
sh zh (measure) l r s zth (think) th (that)
Children's speech generally gets easier to understand as they get older. Here's a guide2:
If you would like to look at anything in more detail, this listing of references [1] might be a good starting point.
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].
This page last reviewed 17 November 2020.
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Links
[1] https://kidshealth.org.nz/communication-development-references
[2] https://seonline.tki.org.nz/Educator-tools/Much-More-than-Words
[3] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1900
[4] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1584
[5] https://seonline.tki.org.nz/content/download/758/3925/file/MOEMuchMoreThanWordsV2.pdf
[6] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1583
[7] https://www.plunket.org.nz/plunket-near-me
[8] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1582
[9] mailto:special.education@minedu.govt.nz
[10] https://speechtherapy.org.nz/find-a-therapist/
[11] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1586
[12] https://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=29:admin&catid=11:admin&Itemid=117
[13] https://kidshealth.org.nz/node/1587
[14] https://kidshealth.org.nz/contact?from=http%3A%2F%2Fkidshealth.org.nz%2Fprint%2F363