Speech sound development advice from a child speech therapist

Speech sound development is a gradual process. Babies begin to explore early sounds when they begin babbling around eight months of age. If you are concerned about your child’s speech, our Brisbane north child speech therapist can provide assessment, advice and strategies to boost development.

By two years, early multisyllabic words will be emerging, such as ‘bunny’ and ‘mummy’ and their speech will be becoming more purposeful. By five years of age, children’s speech should sound very similar to adults. There may be a few sounds that are yet to come, the ‘th’ and ‘r’ sounds for example, but a child’s speech should sound largely clear to both family, friends and unfamiliar people.

Challenges arise when children have difficulty with their speech clarity. Unfortunately, poor speech clarity can impact on how a child interacts with their peers.

Speech clarity also has significant impacts on children’s success within prep and school. We know that literacy development can be compromised if children are not clear by the time they are starting formal education. Their literacy may be more impacted if they also have language difficulties (using and understanding words and sentences).

So much success can be achieved with early intervention and easy, practical strategies for the home environment! You might be advised by a relative, friend or a professional who is not a speech therapist, to “wait and watch for 6 months”. This may not be appropriate information.

Parents often know instinctively if all is not well with their child’s development. Trust your instincts and contact our child speech therapists if you are concerned.