Page 14 - Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

Routines-Based Early Intervention Guidebook

Speech Production

What is speech produc on?

Speech produc on, also commonly referred to as ar cula on, can be simply stated as
the ability to form sounds. When children have difficulty making the sounds that are typical for
their age, we need to use strategies to facilitate speech produc on.

How does speech produc on begin?

Overall, the ability to produce sounds follows a predictable path. It is cumula ve and
builds upon itself. The following is a broad view of speech development from birth. Tables and
charts with developmental milestones in speech produc on can also be found in the Appendix
of this book.

Speech produc on begins at birth. Children start out by making simple, involuntary
(uninten onal) noises, such as crying, ‘cooing,’ laughing, and squealing. Then, they progress
to making more complex, voluntary (purposeful) sounds with their mouths. At approximately
6 months of age, they begin to babble, and by about 8‐12 months of age their produc ons
begin to sound more and more like adult speech. Within this period of development, children
play with sounds. They imitate animal sounds and environmental noises, as well as the speech
that they hear from the adults in their world.

As the speech produc on system develops, both physiologically (nature) and through
feedback from caregivers (nurture), our expecta ons about speech produc on have to evolve.
A great illustra on of this is the important transi on caregivers need to make from responding
to the child’s cry in the first year of life, to responding to the child’s first words by 12‐18
months. Caregivers need to tune into their child. This means they always have a mental list of
where the child is in development and what the appropriate expecta ons are. Expecta ons
need to align with abili es, if not, the result is frustra on.

When first words appear, they are usually one or two syllables in length (i.e., ba/ball,
mama/mom). As the child’s first 50 words develop, it is common to repeat the same syllable
two mes (e.g., bye‐bye, night‐night). Children tend to use certain sounds before other
sounds. Early sounds are o en sounds that are produced with the lips and the p of the
tongue including: b, p, m, d, t, and n. It is important that the words and sounds we choose to
target follow these developmental pa erns.

As children’s words develop, they become more similar to adult pronuncia on.
Children also begin to combine words into short phrases and sentences. The words we choose
to target at this stage should con nue to follow developmental pa erns. We begin to shape
the one‐ to two‐syllable words that the child is already using into longer three‐ and four‐

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