This area deals with a child’s acquisition and mastering of the adult speech sound system. A child with phonological difficulties struggle to master the phonology of the language and makes systematic simplifications. They are often able to say sounds in isolation, but substitute these sounds for other sounds when saying them in a word. These simplifications are normal for young children, but become problematic when a child uses them when they are no longer age appropriate.

 

Examples of phonological errors include:

• Syllable deletion, for example nana for banana

• Sound substitutions, for example tat for cat or goggie for doggie

• Simplification of sound clusters, for example top for stop