Should I be Worried About My Child’s Pronuncation?

If you have a young child from the age of birth to three, the short answer is not unless your child has a medical diagnosis that we know would affect their pronunciation (cleft palate, for example).  Development in general happens within a given range – the same applies to speech and language.  Some children master early sounds at 12 months, while other children won’t master them until 3 years of age.  And both are okay!  Have a look at the speech chart at The Talking Child to get an idea of when children master certain sounds:

http://www.talkingchild.com/speechchart.html

So what are some of the early developing sounds?  The sounds we make by bringing our lips together, like “p”, “b”, “m”, “w”, and “b”.  “N” is also an early developing sound – but that sound we make by bringing the tip of our tongue to the ridge right behind our top teeth.

Remember, you are the expert.  If you have a concern call a speech-language pathologist to screen your child.  They’ll be able to tell you definitively if a full evaluation is necessary and if treatment would be beneficial.

Here’s the link to a great blog post that goes into a little more detail about articulation in young children:

What’s the Bottom Line Regarding Articulation in EI?!

As always, please call us at Speech & Health if you have any questions about your child’s development!