Children don't learn every sound at once. Sounds made with the lips, like p, b, and m, usually come first. Sounds that need quick, precise tongue movements, like s, r, and th, take longer.
Each step below shows the average age children learn to say a group of English consonants correctly in everyday speech, based on a review of 15 studies of English-speaking children.
Pick an age to see which sounds most children can say by then.
- pas in pig
- bas in ball
- mas in mom
- das in dog
- nas in nose
- has in hat
- tas in toy
- kas in kite
- gas in go
- was in water
- ngas in sing
- fas in fish
- yas in yes
2–3 years- las in leaf
- jas in jump
- chas in chair
- sas in sun
- vas in van
- shas in shoe
- zas in zoo
4 years- ras in red
- zhas in measure
- th (voiced)as in this
5 years- th (voiceless)as in think
6 years
Good to know
- “Learned” means your child says the sound correctly in everyday words, not only when copying you.
- Blends like “sp” in spoon or “bl” in blue usually come together after the single sounds.
- Before a sound is learned, children often swap in an easier one, like “tat” for “cat”. Those swaps follow predictable patterns, explained in our guide to phonological processes.
When to talk to a speech-language pathologist
- Your child is past the age for a step and still can’t say most of its sounds.
- Your child is missing sounds from earlier steps, like p, m, or t.
- People outside your family often have trouble understanding your child.
- Your child gets frustrated, or avoids talking, because they aren’t understood.
You don't need to wait and see. We offer free phone consultations: talk with one of our speech-language pathologists about what you're hearing and whether an assessment makes sense.
Call 617-419-0424 or email hello@tlcspeechtherapy.com.
Source
McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(4), 1546–1571. doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100