Speech sounds and clarity

Some children say every sound clearly by three. Others are still working on S, R, L or TH at six, or drop the ends of words so often that strangers struggle to follow. Both can be typical, and both can be signs that a little targeted help would make daily life easier.

Who this is for

• Children whose speech is harder to understand than other children their age.
• Lisps, including lateral lisps that sound "slushy".
• Difficulty with specific sounds such as R, L, S, K, G, SH, CH or TH past the typical age.
• Patterns such as leaving off the ends of words, replacing K with T ("tat" for "cat"), or simplifying clusters ("poon" for "spoon").
• Children who get frustrated when they are not understood.

What the service will include

An assessment looks at every consonant in every word position, how the errors pattern together, how understandable connected speech is, and whether hearing, oral structures or motor planning might be involved. From there, therapy for a single sound usually follows a traditional articulation sequence (sound in isolation, syllables, words, sentences, conversation), while pattern-based errors are often treated with phonological approaches such as minimal pairs or the cycles approach. Parents are coached so that practice can happen in short daily bursts at home, which research consistently links to faster progress.

What you can do today

Use the speech sound checker to see which sounds are expected at your child's age, then try the practice game for sounds that are expected but not yet there. If your child is under school age and you are concerned, the free Preschool Speech and Language Program is the first call.