As a speech-language pathologist, I often receive calls from parents with preschoolers to middle schoolers asking if their child needs articulation therapy.

So, how do you know if your child needs articulation services?

In general, if by the age of 7, they still are struggling to pronounce sounds, they would benefit from support. The general rule is that one would expect that developmentally they should be able to produce these sounds by the below guidelines.

Age 2: b, d, h, m, n, p

Age 3: f, g, k, t, w, ng

Age 4: q

Age 5: ch, j, l, s, sh, y, bl

Age 6: r, v, br, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, kl, kr, pl, st, tr

Age 7: z, sl, sp, sw, th

(Based on the Goldman Fristoe – 2 Test of Articulation, 2000)

However, a new study indicates when services may be required earlier. If the child is younger than 7, key indicators are:

1) intelligibility (the degree that which the listener can understand the speaker), and

2) stimulability (ability to correctly pronounce the sounds with clinician models and cues).

A study in the May 2022 Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research by McLeod, Sam, and Law evaluated neurotypical children ages 2:4-6:9 with speech errors and observed them over 2.5 years with no formal therapy in order to determine which factors indicated whether children’s speech sound production normalized without services. Researchers found that children were more likely to self-correct their speech errors if they were intelligible and could correctly pronounce the speech sound(s) with speech-language pathologist models and cues during the initial assessment.

Therefore, when considering whether your child needs help:

* Is my child 7 or older and still not able to correctly pronounce the sound(s)?

* If my child is under 7:

      1)   Is my child not intelligible/understandable?

      2)  If the sound is modeled, is my child still unable correctly pronounce the sound(s)?

If any of the above is true, I would recommend articulation therapy services.

I am currently available to provide speech therapy to school-age children with articulation difficulties as well as work with adults in accent reduction (helping non-native American speakers improve the American English accent).

By Natalie Cohen, M.S., CCC-SLP