| Articulation disorders are a common childhood speech
disorders. Children produce some speech sounds incorreclty because their
articulators (tongue, teeth, and jaw) are not moving correclty or in the
appropriate sequence. Common articulation errors may include substituting
sounds (wake for lake or wabbit for rabbit). Other common errors include
distortions like an interdental lisp (thun for sun). Common errors that are
seen in elementary schools are /s/, /r/, /l/, and /th/. Misarticulations
during the elementary school years are usually easier to remediate than at
the middle school level.
Phonological disorders can also cause speech that is not clear in children.
This disordercan be described as when a child has difficulty learning and
organizing sounds that affects speech intelligibility. For example a child
may produce "tup" for "cup" or "date" for "gate". Please view the
links below to see what the devlopemenatl norms (recommended ages for
acquisition) are for a child's development of specific speech sounds. (Source:
Smit, Et.Al; “The Iowa Articulation Norms Project and Its Nebraska
Replication.” Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, Volume 55, 779-798,
November 1990).
Your child's need for articulation therapy is based on the following;
1. The Developemental norms. (as seen below)
2. The number of sound errors.
3. The effect of the sound errors on the child's overall intelligibility
of his/her speech.
Males:
3 years: /m,n, h, w, p, b/
3 1/2 years: /t, d, k/, initial and final /f/ in words
4 years: /g/
5 years: /y/
5 1/2 years: /v, tw, kw/, and final /f/ in words
6 years: /pl, bl, kl, gl, fl/ and /l/ in initial & medial
positions of words
7 years: /sh, ch, dz/, final /l/ in words, /th/ in 'these'
7 - 9 years: /ng, s, z, sp, st, sk,sm,sn,sw,sl,skw,spl,spr,str,skr/
8 years: /th/ in 'think', /r, pr, br, tr, dr, kr, gr, fr/
9 years: /thr/
Females:
3 years of age: /m, h, w, p, b, d/
3 1/2 years: /n, k, g/, initial and medial /f/ in words
4 years: /y, t, tw, kw/
4 1/2 years: /th/ like in 'these'
5 years: /l/ in initial and medial positions of words
5 1/2 years: /v, pl, bl, kl, gl, fl/,and the final /f/ in words
6 years: /sh, ch, dz/, final /l/, and /th/ like in 'think' in
7 - 9 years: /ng, s, z, sp, st, sk, sm, sn,sw,sl,skw,spl,spr,str,skr/
8 years: /r, pr, br, tr, dr, kr, gr, fr /
9 years: /thr/ | |
