Youthrive Integrated Therapy Services
By Jess Swalwell, Youthrive Speech Pathologist
I can understand my child by no one else can. People are constantly asking me to interpret what my child is saying.
Does this sound like something you have said before? It might mean that your child has some speech sound difficulties impacting on their ability to be clearly understood by others. Often parents will understand their child better than what other people will.
It is expected that your child is understood:
- 50% of the time at 2 years old
- 75% of the time at 3 years old
- 100% of the time at 4 years old
If your child is not quite hitting those marks it may be time to see a Speech Pathologist for an assessment. At this assessment, the Speech Pathologist will be able to give you a better idea around your child’s presentation. They may use terms like:
Articulation delay
To produce a correct speech sound you need to be able to move your tongues, jaw, teeth and lips to change the air stream that is produced by your vocal cords (aka. voice box). When a person is unable to produce a sound which is considered expected for their age it can make it difficult for other’s to understand them. It’s important to be aware that speech sounds develop along a continuum. Therefore, the sounds we expect a 2 year old to be able to produce is very different to what we expect of a 5 year old. That’s why it is a good idea to check with a Speech Pathologist around what articulation errors are appropriate or inappropriate for your child to be making.
Phonological Delay
Speech sounds can be grouped into different categories. Some sounds are long, some are short. Some need our vocal cords to be vibrating, some need our vocal cords “turned off”. As some groups of sounds are “easier” to produce we expect younger children to produce and error sound. For example; when a child calls the colour ‘red’ ‘wed’. These patterns are common amongst children and are considered developmentally appropriate whilst children are developing their speech sounds. However, as children gets older we would expect these patterns to decline and be replaced with the correct pronunciation.
Motor Speech Difficulties
This occurs when a child has difficulties producing words as a result of problems with motor planning or the muscle tone of their speech muscles. Children will know exactly what they want to say however, when their brain sends the signals to their muscles the speech comes out incorrectly. Often you will see children producing the same word multiple ways. For example they might say “tat” “gat” “at” all to mean the word “cat”. It is also important to see a Speech Pathologist if you notice your child has these difficulties as it is unlikely they will “grow out of it.”
