Why does my child find some sounds difficult to say?

All children’s speech sound systems develop gradually, and they are not able to say all sounds straight away. However, sometimes children’s speech sounds develop more slowly than expected, or in an unexpected way. This is called a speech sound delay or disorder.

 

Most often, there is no known cause for why a child is having difficulty with speech sounds.

 

Sometimes, there can be contributing factors such as the child experiencing lots of coughs, colds, or ear infections, which can result in Glue Ear. This impacts on how the child is hearing speech, and therefore how their own speech develops. We recommend the Hear Glue Ear app for free information and resources for children experiencing Glue Ear.

 

Differences in hearing status, development and the structure of the mouth can sometimes cause speech sound difficulties. For instance, children who are deaf/Deaf, have Down Syndrome or a Cleft Lip and/or Palate, may have unclear speech.

 

Children with speech sound difficulties, can sometimes experience dribbling, beyond the typical age expected. This could be related to their awareness of when they are dribbling, their oral coordination skills, or it can be related to their ears, tonsils, or adenoids. Speech and Language Therapists do not work on saliva control. Click here for a handout with general dribbling advice.

 

Sometimes children have difficulty making certain sounds. This is an articulation difficulty. For example, a child who has a lisp and their /s/ is ‘slushy sounding’.

 

Sometimes children have difficulty hearing the difference between certain sounds, or they are not sure which sounds should be used in words. They are able to make the sounds, but they do not use them in their everyday speech. For example, they might be ‘fronting’ sounds usually made at the back of the mouth, and they say ‘car’ as /tar/. This is called a phonological difficulty.