Phonological Process Milestones

Whether you are a parent of a child in speech therapy, or a Speech Language Pathologist looking for resources, these milestones can be helpful for assessing a child’s current level of phonology, and tracking their progress in Speech Therapy over time.

Phonological Processes expected in typical development:

• Reduplication (2-3 years)

• Final Consonant Deletion (up to 3 years)

• Prevocalic Voicing (up to 3 years)

• Fronting (up to 3.5 years)

• Epenthesis (up to 3.5 years)

• Assimilation (up to 3.5 years)

• Stopping (3-5 years)

• Stridency Deletion (3.5 - 4 years)

• Devoicing (up to 4 years)

• Gliding (up to 4 years)

• Cluster Reduction (up to 4 years)

• Weak Syllable Deletion (up to 4 years)

• Vowelization (up to 5-7 years)

Phonological Processes not part of typical development, indicative of a phonological disorder:

• Backing

• Initial Consonant Deletion

• Glottal Replacement

• Metathesis

• Strong Sound Preference

References:

Children’s Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review. (2018). ASHAWire. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100

Sander, E. K. (1972). When are Speech Sounds Learned? Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 37(1), 55–63. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshd.3701.55

Pena-Brooks, Adriana, & Hedge, M.N., (2007). Assessment and treatment of articulation and phonological disorders in children (2nd Edition)

McLeod, S. & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. doi:10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100. Available from: https://ajslp.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2701897