Pediatric Articulation Therapy

The term “speech” is used interchangeably with the word “articulation”

and is used to describe how intelligible a person is and if they are

producing the sounds of the English language correctly.

Speech sound disorders happen when a child is unable to produce age

appropriate sounds correctly. Within this category, there are different

types of disordered speech:

• Articulation Disorders generally refer to a child who has difficulty

                 producing individual speech sounds such as /r/ or /k/ and /g/

• Phonological Disorders affect a child’s ability to produce entire classes of

                 sounds. For example, they may leave off ending sounds on all words or

                 they may not be able to produce cluster sounds such as /st/ or /fl/

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a motor speech disorder in which a child

                 has difficulty translating conscious speech plans into motor plans

• Dysarthria is a speech disorder caused by muscle weakness secondary to

                 brain damage

Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) are experts in understanding how

speech sounds develop and how to help children produce age appropriate

sounds correctly. If you are concerned about your child’s ability to be

understood, an SLP will first assess your child’s articulation to determine

whether their speech errors are developmental or disordered. If your child

does demonstrate the need for Speech Therapy, the SLPs at Envision

Hope will develop a personalized plan of care to address your child and

families unique needs.

BIRTH TO 1 YEAR

• Baby vocalizes by cooing

• Baby is able to produce vowel sounds such as “ah”

• Baby is babbling with early developing phonemes such as “b” and “m”

1 TO 2 YEARS

• The child is able to say the following sounds in babbling and words “p”, “b”, “m”, “w”, “t”, “n”, “d’, “h”

2 TO 3 YEARS

• The sounds “k” and “g” begin to emerge

• The child is able to produce all vowels correctly

3 TO 4 YEARS

• The child begins to add the sounds “s”, “l”, and “y” to their repetoire

• The child should now be producing the sounds at the end of words consistently

4 TO 5 YEARS

• The child begins to add the sounds “sh”, “zh”, “j”, “z”, “v”, and “ch”

• Consonant clusters such as “sm”, “fr”, and “sw” begin to emerge

5 TO 6 YEARS

• The child should be mostly intelligible to unfamiliar listeners

• “l” and “r” may still sound like “w” and “y”

• “th” may still sound like “f” or “v”

By age 7-8, your child should be intelligible without speech errors.

If you suspect that your child has an articulation disorder call us at

(214).494.4677 to schedule a free consultation with one of our Speech-

Language Pathologists.