Speech problems come under a number of different headings - speech delays, difficulties, disorders, impairments, articulation difficulties, speech disability, speech impediment or phonological speech problems etc.  But whatever you call it, children can present with speech problems for a wide range of reasons. It is important to take your child to a speech and language pathologist / therapist as soon as you have a concern about their speech development. The early years of life are a critical time for speech development and any speech difficulty should be investigated as soon as possible.

This section of the website looks at various disorders, impairments and difficulties of speech and will give you guidance on strategies and activities you can use to facilitate speech production. If you have any concerns relating to your child's speech development you should contact a qualified speech and language therapist / pathologist and discuss speech therapy. The sub-menu to the left has these disorders broken down into categories and we suggest that you read through as much of this section as possible to build up a knowledge base in this area so you can be sure you are researching what is right for you. Below is a milestones guide for normal speech development.

Milestones for speech

If you feel your child’s speech is delayed or varies from the norms please contact your local speech and language pathologist/therapist. Also, look at the resources on icommunicate to facilitate your child's speech production. Click here to see our Resource Centre.

The chart below is about a fictitious boy called Bill and describes how his speech develops over time.

0 – 12 months

Birth - 6 months – The first communication. In the early months Bill has no recognisable speech but he is communicating. In the first 2 months after birth he will be making reflexive crying sounds when hungry or uncomfortable. By two months he will be starting coo in response to his mothers voice. By six months, Bill will start to make some sounds, will laugh and squeal, but will still cry loudly when hungry, uncomfortable or annoyed.

6 – 8 months – Babbling. Bill starts to babble. Babbling is not only maturational but is also linguistic and relies on both visual and auditory input as the baby is learning. This is highlighted by blind children who use less labial sounds (sounds made with their lips) and deaf children who use more labial sounds (as these are can be seen more easily).

8 – 10 months – Babbling becomes more complex. Bill is starting to combine consonants and vowels in babbling, e.g. "baba", and attempts to imitate other speech sounds. Some babies may even use a kind of singing voice when babbling.

10 – 12 months – Jargon. Bill now starts to use long chains of babbled sounds, which include different intonation. He may talk to toys and attempt to sing along to music, and his vocalisations vary in intensity and volume. Bill may now be using sounds p, b, m, and d in his vocalisations.

12 months – The first recognisable words. Bill’s parents are overjoyed when he starts uttering his first simple recognisable words e.g. “mama” “bye bye”

12 - 18 months

Bill’s speech and listening are now becoming more integrated as he is listening to others, learning new sounds and words and learning the meaning of non-speech sounds. During this period he is developing more speech sounds and although some children may develop them a little later, many babies are attempting - m n p b d w h. At 12 months Bill may be verbalising 1 or 2 meaningful words (e.g. “mama / dada”) and may babble while looking at a book. He will attempt to imitate and practice new sounds, vowels and words. By 18 months he may be using up to 10 to 20 meaningful words mixed with jargon (although many babies may not be using recognisable words yet) and may use them to request when pointing to an object. Auditory memory is also developing and Bill is able to remember one item if he hears the word at the end of a sentence.

18 - 24 months

Bill’s sound inventory is beginning to increase ( m n p b t d w h ) and he is using most vowel and diphthong sounds accurately. Other sounds that may be emerging are k g t ng, but many children will not have developed these yet. Bill is may now be getting towards using between 10-20 words during this period. As well as real words, he still uses jargon and may often chatter away in jargon when looking at a book. Many babies like to sing in jargon and their vocalisations will increase as their activity level increases. Babies will often try to imitate words others are saying. Bill is beginning to put 2 syllables together, but it will generally be the same syllable duplicated e.g. “nana” for banana, “wawa” for water. Many words will be approximated and sounds that have not developed will be substituted. Final and medial sounds will also often be omitted. Bill now has an auditory memory that can store 2 items.

24 - 30 months

Bill is really starting to talk more freely now and by 30 months has an expressive vocabulary of 200 words. Many sounds have to develop but he has m n p b t d h w in his inventory and ng k g are now being used more freely. More consonants appear in word final positions (m,b,p), although he still over pronounces some words, produces the same words differently, shortens words, and misses out medial sounds. Although Bill’s speech contains omissions and approximations, his speech is still 75% understandable to friends and family. His use of jargon is disappearing and he is able to whisper.

30 - 36 months

Bill’s speech continues to develop and he now has m n p b t d w ng k g h y in his sound inventory and is starting to use f and s, although these sounds may still be stopped (replaced with a plosive sound e.g. “sun” becomes “tun”). Other common substitutions will be to replace th with f and r with w. Some sound combinations are still difficult for him including clusters (st pl tr etc) and he will often just reduce these to 1 sound, and medial sounds may still occasionally be omitted . His speech is now so clear that strangers understand him 75% of the time. He is also using more stress and intonation correctly in his words, although he may still omit some parts of less stressed speech. Bill will now listen more from a distance and his auditory memory can hold 2-3 items in different linguistic contexts.

36 - 48 months

Over this period Bill’s sound inventory really starts to be completed and he produces most consonant sounds correctly. He is now able to use words with many different sounds - m n p b t d w ng k g h f s y with most other sounds and clusters developing over this year - j l r sh ch z v sp st sk sl sm sn sw tr gr br pr cr fl bl pl gl. He is now using around 1000 words and his speech is 90% understandable. His speech now includes words with final consonants (e.g., hat, duck), but he may still occasionally delete weak syllables, e.g., "efant" for elephant. There will be occasional repeats or hesitations as in "ma-ma-ma-mom" and this is common amongst many children. Bill’s parents initially worry he may be acquiring a stammer, but many children experience a period of dysfluency and this sometimes happens because the demands to use language are greater than the capabilities to produce it. Most children overcome a dysfluent period and it is best to just keep an eye on the problem and not make an issue of it, but remembering to always give your child plenty of time to speak. Bill’s listening skills are also improving and he should be able to listen and attend to a story for 15 minutes. His auditory memory also increases and he can store up to 4 items by 48 months.

48 - 60 months

Bill is totally intelligible to everyone now he has most sounds and clusters perfected - m n p b t d w ng k g h f s y v z l r sh ch j th sp st sk sl sm sn sw tr gr br pr cr fl bl pl gl. Some of Bill’s friends are still having difficulty with r and l, but many children of this age take a little longer to acquire these sounds. Bill only gets tripped up on longer clusters – spr str scr spl, and some clusters in the middle and end of words are still being reduced occasionally. Bill is using 1500 plus words now and his rate, rhythm, intonation and volume are all normal. Bill’s auditory memory can now hold and repeat back 3 – 4 digits.

60 – 72 months

Bill now has no difficulties producing any sounds - m n p b t d w ng k g h f s y l r v z sh ch th sp st sk sl sm sn sw tr gr br pr cr fl bl pl gl spr str scr spl. He is using around 2000 words and his auditory memory allows him to store and repeat back 4 -5 digits.

72 months +

Speech is error-free and adult-like.