In the early years of your child’s life there is so much incredible learning and development occurring. While it is very exciting, it can become confusing to keep up with where they are up to in their progress and what you can expect at different times. Here is a quick guide of some things to note about speech development. ‘Speech’ refers to the ability to pronounce the sounds in words correctly, whereas ‘language’ refers to the way that words are put together to convey meaning.
Usually by around 4 years it is expected that you understand your child all of the time when they are speaking. However, there are some sounds such as /r/ and /l/ that can take until around 6 years to develop. Prior to 4 years it is completely normal for children to substitute different sounds while they are learning to pronounce them correctly. If you are concerned about your child’s ability to produce sounds a speech pathologist can assess their current progress and provide information about how you could assist them.
If you are looking for some more information on the early years of speech and language development, there are some great resources that Speech Pathology Australia has created which you can find here
If you would like to discuss your child’s specific needs or questions that you have feel free to give us a call.
