Toddlers experience a huge development in speech sounds and triple the number of words they can say between 1and 2 years of age. As a result, their speech becomes easier to understand. At 2 years, half of their speech should be understood, and at 3 years, most of their speech should be understood by family and friends.
What can most toddlers do?
• By 2 years, toddlers can say a range of speech sounds when talking (e.g. p, b, m, t, d, n, h, w)
• By 3 years, toddlers can say even more sounds (e.g. k, g, f, s, ng)
What do many toddlers still find difficult?
Many toddlers have difficulty saying sounds correctly all the time. Some words are more difficult than others for children to say, so they may make some sound errors (e.g. “tat” for cat and “pam” for pram). Sometimes, children can be more difficult to understand when they are using longer sentences.
What can parents do to help?
Parents can continue to help their toddler’s speech development by modelling the correct way of saying words, particularly when children make occasional sound errors. However, if a toddler’s speech is very difficult for parents to understand, or if children are using gestures (and grunts) in place of words, parents should contact a speech pathologist for further advice. If parents are concerned about their child’s speech development, they are advised to have their child’s hearing checked by an audiologist, as hearing is important in learning how to say sounds correctly
The information above was partly extracted from Speech Pathology Australia's website. For more information, please visit - https://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/SPAweb/Resources_for_the_Public/Fact_Sheets/SPAweb/Resources_for_the_Public/Fact_Sheets/Fact_Sheets.aspx?hkey=e0ad33fb-f640-45b1-8a06-11ed2b73f293
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