Clear Speech

Last month, our journey got back on track and we discussed expressive language expectations for kids at three years old. I spoke about the types of words and the lengths of sentences we expect to hear from children at that age. This month, I want to take a look at how clear we expect three-year-olds to be when they speak.

It’s no mystery that we wouldn’t expect kids that young to be perfectly clear. There will be errors, and a lot of those errors will be cute. However, a line is drawn at kids’ overall speech clarity. Barring a few age-appropriate errors, three-year-old children should be understood most of the time by an unfamiliar person by just listening to them.

So, what’s “cute” or “normal”? At three, kids should have all of their “stopping” sounds… the sounds that are made by stopping air from flowing through the mouth. They would also be able to make their “nose” sounds, like M and N, where air flows through the nose. They should also be able to make most of the beginning, middle and end sounds of words. If they are able to do this but they distort other sounds, that’s OK to a degree. It’s also OK for kids this young to drop the first sound in a group of sounds at the beginning of a word, such as “piderman” for Spiderman, and to “lisp” their Ss.

When speech clarity at this age is really low, there are some important implications that should mobilize a parent to act. Many studies have shown later problems with language learning in these children. Additionally, there is a relationship between severe speech sound disorders and impaired early reading skills. There are also various social implications to consider. As always, it’s important to check in with a professional if there is a concern. The sooner a child gets help, the better chance they have at closing the gap and overcoming any problems that could arise as a result of how they’re speaking now.

 

Mohamed (Mo) Oshalla, MHSc.,
Speech-Language Pathologist & Executive Director,
Ontario Speech & Language Services