My child’s speech is hard to understand. Should I be worried?
This is a common question we are asked as speech pathologists. The answer depends on your child’s age and stage of development.
Speech is one of the most complex tasks that humans do. To say a single word, we must:
- Identify the word we want to say (accessing our lexicon, or mental dictionary of words)
- Identify the sounds in the word, in the correct order (phonological representation)
- Create a motor plan to say the word (phonological plan)
- Use the motor plan to move the muscles in our mouth and say the word (motor execution).
It’s no wonder that it takes time for children to learn how to formulate and say speech sounds!
Speech pathologists refer to how understandable speech is as ‘intelligibility’. New research on child speech intelligibility by Hustad et al. (2021) investigated how intelligible English-speaking children in the USA were to unfamiliar listeners. Researchers reported that the average child’s speech should be:
- 50% intelligible at 3 years old
- 75% intelligible at 4 years old
- above 90% intelligible at 5 years old
when speaking to unfamiliar listeners using multi-word phrases.
The researchers also reported that children’s speech intelligibility varies based on whether they are:
- saying a single word, or sentences in conversation
- speaking to parents and family, or an unfamiliar listener
- speaking about a known topic (such as their favourite TV show or movie), or an unknown topic.
Children who are difficult to understand compared to their peers may have a speech sound disorder. Read more about speech sound disorders and the speech sounds we expect typically developing children to used based on their age.
If you are concerned your child’s speech is difficult to understand, contact us for more information or to request a speech sound assessment.
References:
Dodd, B. and McCormack, P. (1995). A model of speech processing for differential diagnosis of phonological disorders. In B. Dodd (Ed.), Differential diagnosis and treatment of children with speech disorder (p. 67). London: Whurr.
Hustad, K. C., Mahr, T. J., Natzke, P., & Rathouz, P. J. (2021). Speech development between 30 and 119 months in typical children I: Intelligibility growth curves for single-word and multiword productions. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(10), 3707-3719. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00142
McLeod, S. & Baker, E. (2017). Children’s Speech: An evidence-based approach to assessment and intervention. Pearson Education Inc.
