Speech Articulation and Phonology:
Speech
refers to the system of sounds that must be produced in a specific order and
manner, determining intelligibility of connected speech. Articulation refers to the productions of
specific sounds and includes motor planning activities. Phonological processes refer to the rules
children use to simplify adult speech sounds.
Research suggests that 75-80% of a 3 year old’s speech, 80-85% of a 4 year old's speech, and 85-90% of a 5 year old's speech should be
intelligible in a known context.
Developmental errors which are typical in the speech of 3-6 year old
children include: /w/ for /r/; /d/ for /th/; /w/
for /l/; /s/ for /sh/.
Common phonological processes and the age in which they should no longer be produced in a child's speech are included in the chart below:
Phonological Process Documented
|
Definition
|
Examples
|
Approximate Age of Elimination
|
Pre-vocalic
voicing
|
The
substitution of a voiced consonant for a voiceless consonant in the word
initial position.
|
“vits”
for fish
“bain”
for plane
|
3;0
|
Word-final
devoicing
|
The
substitution of a voiceless consonant for a voiced consonant in the word
final position.
|
“cup”
for cub “bag” for back
|
3;0
|
Final
consonant deletion
|
Omission
of the final sound in a word.
|
“ho”
for home “pi” for pig
|
3;0
|
Stopping
|
Substitution
of a stop (ex: d, t, p) sound for fricative or affricate sound (ex: s, z, sh,
ch)
|
“weap”
for leaf
“dub”
for glove
“ping”
for string
|
3;0
for /s/ and /f/ 3;6 for
/z/and /v/ 4;6 for sh,
ch, j 5;0 for th
|
Reduplication
|
Repetition
of a complete or incomplete syllable.
|
“wawa”
for water
|
3;0
|
Fronting
|
Substitution
of a sound produced in the front of the mouth, with a sound produced in the
back of the mouth.
|
“tandle”
for candle “deen” for green
|
3;6
|
Assimilation
|
When a
consonant starts to sound like a surrounding sound.
|
“beb”
for bed “bub” for bus
|
3;9
|
Cluster
reduction
|
Reduction
of a consonant cluster into a single sound.
|
“boke”
for smoke “ping” for string
|
4;0
|
Weak
syllable deletion
|
Omission
of an unstressed syllable
|
“nana”
for banana “copter” for helicopter
|
4;0
|
Gliding
|
Substitution
of a glide sound for a liquid sound
|
“wed”
for red “yeyo” for yellow
|
5;0
|
The following are some general activities that can be incorporated into your daily routine at home to encourage correct production of speech sounds:
- Model correct speech sounds for your child, emphasizing the sound your child is having difficulty producing. Do this without pressuring your child to repeat it back.
- Purposely mispronounce a word that your child has difficulty to saying. For example say "Look at the pider" while pointing at a spider." See if your child can "catch" your mispronunciation and try to correct you. This type of activity helps to increase your child's awareness of speech sounds.
- Incorporate frequent sound play into your activities. For example, when playing cars have them make a variety of different sounds (putt, putt, putt, vroom, beep, whoosh, etc). This encourages your child use a wider variety of sounds and syllable shapes.
- Find pictures or items in your house that are "minimal pairs." This means words that differ by one sound for example "key" and "tea", "gate" and "date." You can play games where your child produces a word and you have to guess the correct item. Again, this type of activity increase your child's awareness of differing skills and can be highly motivating for helping him/her more accurately produce sounds he/she is having difficulties with.
