As a toddler and/or preschool teacher, you hear lots of different children say lots of new words every day BUT you have likely noticed some children seem to have perfectly clear speech while others are taking longer to say their sounds correctly. It can be hard to know what’s typical! As a pediatric speech therapist that provides supports in child cares every week, I am often asked, “Is their speech development on track?”

The good news is speech sounds develop in a typical progression (but children will still vary in what sounds develop when.)

Seeing how certain sounds develop at different ages means we expect children to simplify words and make errors when they are learning to talk. Its normal!

Lets Take a look at some “Typical” examples

2 year old says, “Want tootie pwease” (Want cookie please)
- We don’t expect them to have the /k/ or /l/ sound yet (/k/ comes around 3 and /l/ around 4) so they simplify these sounds- It’s typical!
3 year old says, “I dot a wed one!” (I got a red one)
- We expect a child to have /g/ by the end of 3 (so this is still ok) and we don’t expect them to have the /r/ sound yet (that comes around age 5), so they simplify the /g/ to /d/ and /r/ to /w/. It’s typical!

4 year old says, “It’s over dare, by da bafwoom” (It’s over there, by the bathroom).
- We don’t expect a 4 year old to say the /th/ sound until 5 and 6 so they simplify it to /d/ and /f/. We also don’t expect /r/ yet. It’s typical!

We call these types of errors developmental errors. They are expected errors within a child's development and typically improve with age.

This is also why knowing which sounds children typically can say at each age is so important for early childhood educators. It gives you confidence to know when a child’s speech is on track and helps you support families in making decisions about when to seek extra help, such as an early intervention referral.

Lets Take a look at some “NOT SO TYPICAL” examples

3 year old says, “I unt uh-a-uh peate” (I want banana please)
- We expect a child to have /w/ /b/ and /n/ by the end of 2 (and this child is 3) so this is not typical. It’s ok they didn’t say the /l/ or /s/, we don’t expect that until 4. We would want to talk to the parents and share some resources.

4 year old says, “My tar is dibin on a pish” (My car is driving on a fish).
- We expect a 4 year old to say the /k//ing/ and /f/ sounds so this is not typical. It’s ok they said /d/ for /dr/ and /b/ for /v/, we don’t expect those sounds yet.

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