OFTEN OUTGROW

PRONUNCIATION ERRORS Children learn sounds in a developmental sequence, so it’s typical for under 5s to misarticulate sounds. They’ve usually outgrown this halfway through Grade 0.

SHORTENED WORDS Early talkers simplify words. For example: “sgetti” for “spaghetti” or “ica” for “Veronica.” As your baby’s oral muscles develop, she will outgrow this.

DEVELOPMENTAL STUTTER This is defined as less than one word out of every 100 being stuttered. This should be out grown by about 3½.

AGE-RELATED GRAMMAR CONFUSION (TENSES AND PLURALS) Children under 7 or 8 years may say: “The girl ‘runned’ slow”, or “‘Mouses’ love cheese.”

PRONOUN CONFUSION Under5’s use incorrect pronouns.

For example: “I am riding ‘she’s’ bike.”

SENTENCE STRUCTURE Children under 4 often mix up the order of their words in a sentence. For example: “Why you are doing that?”