Typical patterns of speech sounds in young children - Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Age	Typical errors – not a cause for concern
0-3	Many errors are typical in children of this age. Missing the last sound from words e.g. ‘dog’ becomes ‘do’
3-4	Saying ‘s’ as ‘th’ – this can sometimes be called a lisp Simplifying ‘ch’ and ‘j’ sounds and producing them as ‘t’ or ‘d’ When two consonants are together, simplifying them to a single sound e.g. ‘snake becomes ‘nake’ Producing back sounds ‘k’ and ‘g’ as front sounds ‘t’ and ‘d’ e.g. ‘cat’ becomes ‘tat’ Difficulty using later developing sounds ‘r’, ‘l’, ‘y’ and ‘th’
4-5	Saying ‘s’ as ‘th’ – this can sometimes be called a lisp Simplifying ‘ch’ and ‘j’ sounds and producing them as ‘t’ or ‘d’ When two consonants are together, simplifying them to a single sound e.g. ‘snake becomes ‘nake’ Difficulty using later developing sounds ‘r’, ‘l’, ‘y’ and ‘th’
5-6	Difficulty using later developing sounds ‘r’, ‘l’, ‘y’ and ‘th’
7+	Speech should now be clear