Speech Development
The sound pattern of language that we call “speech” or “articulation” is made up of combinations of sounds that form words. Speech development is a gradual process. It begins in infancy and continues through a child’s seventh or eighth year. Children develop speech abilities at different rates and ages. Some children develop slower or faster than the average.
Milestones of Speech Development
- Newborn - 3 months
First Sounds
The newborn baby is very limited in making sounds because the oral structures and vocal cords are not fully developed.s Newborns are limited to crying, which signals hunger or discomfort, and to other non-cry sounds such as burps, coughs and sneezes.
Between two and three months of age your baby is better able to control the vocal muscles of the mouth, larynx and throat. During this period your baby begins to laugh.
During the period of 4 - 6 months, babies develop greater control of their oral structures. They can produce sounds that are more like speech. They begin to put sounds together, making syllables out of vowel and consonant-like sounds. They also make non-speech sounds like “raspberries,” squealing, yelling and growling. This experimentation with sound production is called vocal play.
Between 6 - 11 months of age, infants begin to babble. In babbling, a syllable is repeated two or more times in sequence, like “ba-ba.” Babbling is a way for your infant to practice the oral motor speech skills needed during actual speech.
Read more about Speech Development on page two
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