Speech Sound Development
Speech sounds start emerging when an infant starts to babble and continue to develop throughout early childhood up to approximately 8 years. All children develop uniquely, although usually follow a typical developmental pathway.
By the age of two years most children can be understood by familiar adults most of the time. By three years they can be understood by unfamiliar adults most of the time and by five years of age most children will be understood all of the time in all contexts.
A number of factors can influence a child’s capacity to develop effectively in this area including:
- Middle ear complications – Conductive hearing loss
- Disorders of muscle tone
- Phonological processing difficulties
- Motor speech difficulties
- Global developmental delay
- Receptive and Expressive language disorders
- Brain trauma
If you are having trouble understanding your child or if other people do not understand them it can be extremely frustrating and often behaviour difficulties arise because of this. An assessment will determine whether your child is following an appropriate developmental pathway at a typical speed or whether there is a delay or disorder that requires treatment. Intervention will only be recommended if it is identified that your child will not develop a satisfactory complete speech system without support.
Justine can provide specialist intervention for children of all ages who are having difficulty developing effective and intelligible speech.
