Phonological Processes Chart: What Young Children Say, and When It Stops

A phonological process is a pattern a young child uses to make words easier to say while they learn to talk, like saying “tee” for key or “wabbit” for rabbit. Almost every child uses some, and each one usually goes away by a known age: by 3 for leaving off the last sound of a word, by 4 for saying t and d in place of k and g, and by 6 or 7 for saying w in place of r. The chart below gives the age for each pattern, from the table published by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).

A pattern that is still there well past its age, or one most children never use, can be a sign of a speech sound disorder. That is a question for a speech-language pathologist, and this page helps you know what to listen for before you ask.

The one distinction the rest of the page turns on is a sound against a pattern. Some children have trouble making one particular sound. Others make the sound fine on its own but follow a rule that swaps a whole group of sounds. The first is an articulation problem, the second a phonological one, and they are practiced in different ways.

What is a speech sound disorder?

A speech sound disorder is when a child has more trouble with speech sounds than is expected for their age. ASHA defines speech sound disorders as “any difficulty or a combination of difficulties with perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments” in its Practice Portal for clinicians. In plainer words, the trouble can be in hearing the difference between sounds, in moving the mouth to make them, or in knowing which sounds go where in a word.

Speech sound disorder is an umbrella term with two main kinds underneath it, articulation disorders and phonological disorders, and a child can have both.

Most sound errors in young children are not a disorder. ASHA’s page for families on Helping You Communicate says that “most children can say almost all speech sounds correctly by 4 years old”, and that some sounds take longer. A 3-year-old who says “tat” for cat is usually right on schedule.

Articulation disorder vs. phonological disorder: what is the difference?

An articulation disorder is trouble making a particular sound. A phonological disorder is a pattern that changes a whole group of sounds. ASHA describes the first as a disorder of “the motor production of speech sounds” and the second as a disorder of “the linguistic aspects of speech production”.

	Articulation disorder	Phonological disorder
What goes wrong	Making one sound, such as a lisped s or a distorted r	A rule that swaps or drops a group of sounds
What you hear	The same sound wrong in every word	A pattern across many sounds: every k and g said as t and d
An example	”Thun” for sun, every time	”Tee” for key, “doe” for go, “tup” for cup
What practice works on	The movement for that sound	Hearing and saying the contrast between sounds

The difference changes what practice looks like. A child with an articulation problem practices the movement: where the tongue goes, often in front of a mirror. A child with a phonological pattern practices the difference the pattern erases, usually with minimal pairs, two words that differ by one sound, such as key and tea.

A speech-language pathologist decides which a child has. An evaluation report will usually name the patterns it found, and the chart below is a plain-language key to those names.

Phonological processes chart: each pattern and when it usually stops

ASHA’s table lists nine patterns young children commonly use, with the age by which most children have stopped each one. The ages below are ASHA’s. They are the age most children have stopped by, not a deadline, and ASHA notes they “can vary greatly in each child”.

Pattern	What the child does	Example	Usually gone by
Final consonant deletion	Leaves off the last sound	”bo” for boat	3
Velar assimilation	Changes a sound to k or g because of a k or g nearby	”gog” for dog	3
Nasal assimilation	Changes a sound to m or n because of an m or n nearby	”nunny” for bunny	3
Stopping of f and s	Says a short stopped sound (p, t) for a long one	”pan” for fan	3
Stopping of v and z	Says b or d for v or z	”ban” for van	4
Fronting	Says k and g at the front of the mouth, as t and d	”tee” for key	4
Deaffrication	Says sh for ch	”ship” for chip	4
Weak syllable deletion	Drops the quiet beat of a longer word	”nana” for banana	4
Cluster reduction	Says one sound of a two-sound start	”fog” for frog	4
Cluster reduction with s	Drops a sound from an s start	”poon” for spoon	5
Stopping of sh, ch, j and th	Says t or d for these sounds	”too” for shoe	5
Gliding	Says w or y for r or l	”wabbit” for rabbit	6-7

Gliding is the last to go, which is why a 5-year-old saying “wabbit” is usually still on time. Final consonant deletion is the first, so a 4-year-old who still says “bo” for boat is worth mentioning to a speech-language pathologist.

Other charts give slightly different ages. Caroline Bowen’s widely used table, one of the sources ASHA draws on, puts fronting at 3½ and gliding at 5. The patterns and their order are the same; this page uses ASHA’s figures throughout so that no row mixes two sources.

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Free printable phonological processes chart

Two pages: the chart, with a picture of each word the child is aiming at and a column to write what you heard, then the patterns to mention sooner and how to use the sheet. No account, no email. Take it with you to an appointment.

1. Phonological Processes Chart (PDF)12 speech patterns · 2 pagesDownload

Which phonological processes are a red flag?

Two things are worth raising with a speech-language pathologist: a common pattern well past the age in the chart, and a pattern most children never use. The second kind is easy to miss, because a parent has nothing to compare it with.

Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction lists two such patterns on its phonological processes chart, both marked as seen in more severe delays:

• Backing, the reverse of fronting: a front sound moved to the back of the mouth, as in “kime” for time.
• Initial consonant deletion: the first sound left off, as in “oy” for toy.

Hearing either is a reason to ask, not a diagnosis. The same chart describes a phonological disorder as a pattern used past its typical age, or a pattern that is not part of typical development, which is the same pair of signs.

How minimal pairs therapy works

Minimal pairs therapy uses two words that differ by one sound, like key and tea, so that a child’s pattern changes the meaning of what they say. If a child who says “tee” for key asks for the tea, they get the tea. ASHA’s Practice Portal describes the approach as using “pairs of words that differ by only one phoneme or single feature signaling a change in meaning”.

It is one of the most studied approaches for phonological patterns. Holly Storkel’s 2022 review in Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools notes it has been used in over 40 to 50 research studies, and ASHA suggests children with a few speech errors may benefit most from it.

How are speech sound disorders diagnosed and treated?

A speech sound disorder is identified by a speech-language pathologist, in an evaluation of how your child says sounds and how easy their speech is to follow. The evaluation is where the names in the chart come from: a report might say a child shows fronting and cluster reduction, with the words that show each.

Treatment depends on the kind of problem. An articulation problem is usually treated by practicing the movement for the sound. A phonological pattern is usually treated by practicing contrasts, often with minimal pairs, and ASHA’s Practice Portal describes several such approaches. The speech-language pathologist chooses the approach and the target sounds, and sends practice home.

Practice at home is part of the plan: speech-language pathologists most often ask for about 10 minutes, about five times a week, according to a 2018 survey of 288 speech-language pathologists by Sugden and colleagues. Follow what your child’s speech-language pathologist sets, and keep it short and playful.

Speech and early reading lean on the same skill: hearing the separate sounds in a word. A child who notices that key and tea start differently is doing the listening that hearing sounds in words describes for reading, and reading practice that says sounds one at a time gives them more of it.

When should I see a speech-language pathologist?

See a speech-language pathologist if a pattern is still there well past the age in the chart, if you hear a pattern most children do not use, or if you are worried. A worry is reason enough to ask, and asking early costs nothing.

A few things to take with you make the appointment more useful: the words where you hear the pattern, what your child says instead, and your child’s age when you first noticed. The “what I heard” column on the printable chart is there for exactly that.

To find a certified speech-language pathologist in the United States, use ASHA ProFind, which lists over 20,000 audiologists and speech-language pathologists accepting referrals. Your child’s pediatrician can also refer you.