Speech Sound Disorders

Aamina Shakoor, Speech Pathologist, Change for Life

Speech Sound Disorders (SSD) is a term used to refer to a range of difficulties involving the perception, motor production and phonological representation of the various speech sounds and segments.

The following charts and tables represent the typical speech sounds that children should have acquired from the age of 2-7 years old. Additionally, the Speech Sound Development Chart shows an example of the sounds with pictures and words represented for each of the sounds.

The data reported in the chart is based on a comprehensive review by Crowe and McLeod (2020). The study analysed 18,907 children across 15 different studies. The chart is in order by hierarchy by the mean age of when a speech sound should be acquired. Each bar range represents the average age of acquisition range for each speech sound. The data uses the 90% criterion, meaning that 90% of all children produced the speech sounds correctly by the ages reported.