The table below is adapted from the Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation* and is arguably one of the most widely used tools for Speech Therapists to determine a child’s speech development. These are typically the ages at which 85% of the standardisation sample of children correctly produced the consonant and cluster sounds.

* Read more about Dr Ronald Goldman, PhD and Dr Macalyne Fristoe, PhD 

Significant deviations from these norms may indicate a speech development defect and it will be in your child’s best interest to have a professional assessment done.

A developmental norms chart like the Goldman Fristoe Test, however, is but one source of information. As a professional Speech Therapist, I will use this chart coupled with additional measures to accurately diagnose a speech sound disorder.

The table lists the sounds in order from Initial Sound (The sound that a word starts with), Medial Sound (a sound in the middle of a word) and Final Sound (the sound a word ends with)

Notes:

• This Speech Development Chart indicates which sounds are expected to be pronounced correctly in each age group. Children in the next age group should be able to pronounce all the sounds in the previous age group, as well as the new sounds in the current age group.
• I have not used the correct phonetical symbols in this chart.
• It is not expected of your child to be able to pronounce all the words correctly or even all the sounds in a word, but only the sounds that are highlighted for each specific age group. At the age of 7 years, though, it is expected of a child to pronounce all the sounds correctly.

The typical errors during a child’s language acquisition process (e.g. not saying the “r”-sound) should resolve by a certain age. If they continue with these errors past the expected age, it would be in the child’s best interest to have an assessment done to determine if Speech Therapy may be helpful. 

You should also use the Checklist for Speech Defects to find out if there may be a problem with your child’s speech development.

If you are concerned about your child’s development in general or compared to the norms in this chart, or if you need more information, do not hesitate to contact me for a formal assessment.