Unlocking the Puzzle: When Your Child Can Say Sounds but Doesn't Use Them in Words

Have you ever found yourself in a puzzling situation where your child can pronounce specific sounds perfectly, yet they don't seem to use those sounds consistently in words? It can be quite frustrating, leaving you wondering why this is happening and how you can help your child bridge this gap in their speech development.

You may notice that your child uses certain patterns or strategies to simplify or modify words. These patterns are known as phonological processes, and they play a crucial role in a child's speech development.

What are Phonological Processes?

Phonological processes are natural and systematic patterns of sound simplifications that children use as they learn to produce speech sounds. They reflect the child's attempt to simplify the adult speech patterns they hear and make speaking easier. While these processes are typical in young children, most of them fade away as their speech skills mature.

Common Phonological Processes:

1. Final Consonant Deletion: Children may omit the final consonant sound in a word. For example, saying "ca" for "cat" or "do" for "dog."

2. Cluster Reduction: Clusters are when two or more consonant sounds appear together in a word. Children may simplify them by deleting or substituting one of the consonants. For example, saying "poon" instead of "spoon" or "tate" instead of "state."

3. Fronting: Children may substitute sounds produced toward the front of the mouth (such as /t/ and /d/) for sounds produced in the back (like /k/ and /g/). For example, saying "tup" for "cup" or "dod" for "dog."

4. Stopping: Children may replace fricative or liquid sounds (like /s/, /z/, /sh/, /f/, /v/, and /r/) with stop sounds (like /p/, /b/, /t/, and /d/). For example, saying "dun" for "sun" or "tar" for "car."

5. Reduplication: Children may repeat a syllable in a word. For example, saying "dada" for "daddy" or "wawa" for "water."

Why are Phonological Processes Important?

Phonological processes are a natural part of speech development. They reflect the child's attempt to simplify complex adult speech patterns and make communication easier. These processes allow children to navigate the intricacies of language as they acquire new vocabulary and grammatical structures. Over time, as they mature, children gradually reduce and eliminate these processes, leading to more accurate and adult-like speech production.

When to Seek Professional Help:

The timeline for children to grow out of specific phonological processes can vary from child to child. While most phonological processes naturally diminish as children's speech and language skills develop, the age at which they outgrow these processes can differ. Here is a general guideline for when children typically grow out of common phonological processes:

1. Final Consonant Deletion: Typically, children stop omitting final consonant sounds in words by around 3 years of age.

2. Cluster Reduction: Children usually begin to produce consonant clusters correctly by the age of 4 to 5 years.

3. Fronting: Most children stop fronting sounds (substituting front sounds for back sounds) by around 3 to 4 years of age.

4. Stopping: By the age of 4 to 5 years, children typically produce fricative and liquid sounds accurately, eliminating the need for stopping.

5. Reduplication: Reduplication patterns usually fade out by around 3 years of age as children refine their speech skills.

It's important to note that these ages are general milestones, and individual variations are common. Some children may take longer to outgrow certain phonological processes, especially if they have other underlying speech or language difficulties.

What does therapy look like?

Phonological processes therapy focuses on addressing patterns of sound simplifications or substitutions that children use as part of their natural speech development. These patterns (phonological processes) involve systematic and predictable errors that affect multiple sounds or sound groups in a child's speech. This therapy approach involves working on sound patterns within words and phrases rather than focusing on individual sounds in isolation. The goal of phonological processes therapy is to help children reorganize and refine their sound systems, enabling them to produce a wider range of speech sounds accurately

If you have concerns about your child's speech development or if specific phonological processes persist beyond the expected age range, now is the time to chat with a speech pathologist. We're here to help. Contact us to discuss your child's speech development, ask questions, and get the peace of mind you need.