Speech Sounds by Age Chart
Which Sounds Most Children Say by Each Age
Choose your child's age. The lookup lists the consonant sounds that about 90% of children in the United States produce by that age, and the sounds many children are still learning, based on a 2020 review of 15 studies.
Reviewed October 24, 2026 · Free to use · Bookmark it for next time
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- 18,907US children across 15 studies
- 3 yrs 11 moby which 90% produce most plosives, nasals, and glides
- 5 yrs 11 mofor the liquid sounds /l/ and /r/
- 6 yrs 11 mofor the last fricatives, such as "th"
Why These Are Averages, Not Deadlines
Each age is an average across many studies, and each study used its own tests and children. Speech-language pathologists treat norms as one piece of evidence and combine them with other measures, such as the patterns in a child's errors.
A sound that has not arrived yet is a reason to ask, especially when it comes with frustration, unclear speech, or trouble being understood.
All Sounds, Earliest to Latest
| Sound | Example | Type | Average age (90%) |
|---|
Sounds and Oral Function
Clear speech depends on how the tongue, lips, and jaw move. Speech-language pathologists at Integrative Wellness & Therapeutics also train in myofunctional therapy, so an evaluation looks at sound errors and the oral movements behind them.
Learn about pediatric speech therapy.
Sources and How This Tool Works
Each sound shows the average age at which 90% of children produced it correctly, across 15 US studies (6 articles and 9 assessments) with 18,907 children, from Crowe and McLeod (2020). Ages are averages across studies, rounded to the nearest month. A sound counts as reached when your child's age is at or past that average. Example words are illustrations added for parents. Individual children vary, and studies differ in methods and criteria; speech-language pathologists combine norms like these with other measures, so a sound outside the list is a reason to ask, not a diagnosis.
- Crowe K, McLeod S. Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2020;29(4):2155–2169 (open access; table license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Link
- American Speech-Language-Hearing Association — Consonant age of acquisition (summary sheet of Crowe & McLeod, 2020) Link
- Storkel H. Using developmental norms for speech sounds as a means of determining treatment eligibility in schools. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. 2019;4:67–75 Link
General information for families, reviewed October 24, 2026. It does not diagnose, and it does not replace an evaluation by your child's own clinicians.
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