Dear Parents,

Have you ever heard a child say "wabbit" for rabbit, or "tee" for key?  If the child was very young, these speech sound errors may have seemed cute.  Now imagine those same sound errors in the speech of an older, school-age child.  These misarticulations are no longer cute, and may be the cause of ridicule from family, friends, or classmates.

Speech sounds are not mastered all at once but in an orderly pattern that is based partly on physical development and partly on learning.  At first, children may simplify adult speech sounds to fit their current ability and knowledge levels.  For example, a child who always uses a "w" sound for "r," "l," and "y" sounds ("wabbit," "wamp" and "wewo" for rabbit, lamp and yellow) is using a gliding sound similar to "r," "l" and "y" but not including the tongue movements needed to make these other sounds.

As children learn more about speech sounds, they drop their simplification strategies and produce adult speech sounds.  By about 5 years of age, most children say all their sounds correctly, except maybe one or two.

You can help your child's speech sound development by following these suggestions:

• Listen to what your child has to say.  Don't focus on how it is said.

• Model correct sound production, e.g., Child:  "I saw a wabbit."  Adult:  "You saw a rabbit?  (With a slight emphasis on "r.")  What color was it?"  Don't ask your child to slow down or to repeat mispronounced words.

• Have your child's hearing tested, particularly if you have to repeat a lot or talk loudly to get his or her attention, or if speech is mostly unintelligible.

Your child's speech should be intelligible most of the time, even to people outside the family.  If it is not, or if articulation does not gradually improve with the above suggestions, please give me a call.  I would be glad to discuss any concerns you might have.

Sincerely,
Patricia Smith
Speech-Language Pathologist