Common Functional Speech Sound Disorders in Children

Kara Adams
Mar 12
3 min read

Every parent gets excited to hear their child’s first words, but what if speech development isn’t going as expected? Speech sound disorders (SSDs) are pretty common in young kids, and knowing what to look for can make a big difference. Speech disorders can be categorized into "functional," meaning there is no known cause for the disorder, and "organic," which includes developmental or acquired speech disorders. Since functional speech disorders are the most common in children, this post will focus on them. Let’s break down articulation and phonological disorders—two of the most common types—and what you can do if your child needs help.

What Are Speech Sound Disorders?

Some kids have trouble making certain sounds, which can make their speech hard to understand. Here are the two main types of SSDs:

Articulation Disorders

This means a child has difficulty physically making certain sounds. They might have the following types of errors:

Substitutions: Replacing the target sound with another sound. For example, the child says "wabbit" instead of "rabbit."
Distortions: The target sound is distorted when the child attempts to say it. Frontal and lateral lisps are an example of distortions.
Omissions: A child may leave out specific sounds completely (like saying "bo" instead of "boat").

Phonological Disorders

This is more about how kids process speech sounds and patterns. Instead of just struggling with a few sounds, they may struggle with multiple sounds based on a pattern of production. There are many phonological processes, but some of the most common include:

Final consonant deletion: A child leaves off the last sound in words ("ca" instead of "cat").
Fronting: A child swaps sounds that occur in the back of the mouth like "K" & "G" for sounds that occur in the front of the mouth such as "T" & "D" (saying "tat" instead of "cat").
Cluster Reduction: This occurs when a child simplifies sound blends to one sound instead of the entire consonant cluster ("poon" instead of "spoon").

These patterns are totally normal for little kids, but if they stick around longer than they should, it might be time to check in with a speech therapist.

When Should Parents Be Concerned?

Every child develops at their own pace, but here are some general signs that might mean your child needs extra support:

By age 2, family members have trouble understanding them.
By age 3, people outside the family struggle to understand them.
By age 4, their speech should be mostly clear to everyone.
They’re making the same mistakes past the typical age when kids grow out of them.

How Can Speech Therapy Help?

Good news—speech therapy can make a huge difference! A speech-language pathologist (SLP) can work with your child to:

Teach them how to say tricky sounds correctly.
Help them recognize and fix speech patterns.
Give parents simple ways to practice speech at home.

How Can Parents Help at Home?

Here are a few easy ways to support your child’s speech development:

Model correct speech – If your child says “wabbit,” just repeat it back correctly: “Yes, that’s a rabbit!”
Encourage talking – Chat with your child throughout the day, read books, and sing songs together.
Make it fun – Try silly word games, rhyming, and playing with sounds.
Be patient and positive – Focus on progress, not perfection.

Next Steps

If you’re wondering whether your child’s speech development is on track, we can help! Serenity Speech & Language Therapy offers free speech and language screenings to see if a full evaluation or therapy might be needed. Early support can help build confidence and set your child up for success!

References

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). (n.d.). Articulation and phonology. Retrieved from https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/articulation-and-phonology/