What is an articulation screener?

You can think of Toddler Talk’s Pronunciation Profile as an articulation test that parents can use to see which sounds their child has learned to pronounce correctly and which sounds they have yet to learn. 

It’s important to know that an articulation screener is not used to diagnose articulation disorders.

Articulation screeners are simply used to gather more information about a child’s articulation development. Articulation screeners can be helpful when deciding if a child may benefit from a full speech and language evaluation. A speech and language evaluations with a licensed speech pathologist provides a closer evaluation of a child’s speech development to rule out or diagnose articulation disorders. 

Toddler Talk’s Articulation Screener

Benefits of an articulation screener

The most obvious benefit of an articulation screener is that you can use it today on your own. There’s no wait list and can give your more actionable information.

The purpose of Toddler Talk’s Articulation Screener is to help you understand which sounds your child is able to pronounce and which sounds they are still learning.

This is important because:

● When children can pronounce sounds better, other people can understand them more

easily. We want to help you help your child sound more clear.

● It can be hard to know which sounds to work on for your child’s age. We want to help

you avoid working on sounds that are too hard for your child’s mouth.

● Sometimes even young children need professional help learning to make speech

sounds. We want to help you know if your child’s errors need extra help from a speech

therapist. This profile will give you useful information to share with your child’s therapist.

Download a copy of the Pronunciation Profile and follow along at home!

How Toddler Talk’s Articulation Screener Works

The Toddler Talk’s Pronunciation Profile is divided into 2 Parts: Part A and Part B. 

Part A

We will ask you some questions about how your child moves their mouth. You will either be directed towards lessons that will help support your child’s foundational skills for learning to pronounce many different sounds or you will be directed to move onto part B. 

Part B (Step 1 & Step 2)

You will be asked to identify the sounds your child has already learned and the sounds they are still learning. Part B will also help you identify the best sounds for your child to be learning right now so you can support them.

Toddler Pronunciation Profile - Part A

Answer the following questions (Circle Yes or No):

1.Can your child turn on their voice? This means that they can hum and vibrate their voice box. If your child only speaks in a whisper or does not speak, choose “no.”

Yes No

2. Can your child repeat two syllables in a row? Some examples are “ba-ba,” “ma-ma,” or “no-no.”

Yes No

3. Does your child open their mouth when they talk? For example, can they say the sound “ahhh” and open their mouth wide enough that you can see the back part of their mouth? 

Yes No

4. Can your child keep their mouth/ lips closed when they are not talking?

Yes No

If you have answered “No” to any of the above questions - STOP here

If you answered “No” to any of the above questions, it is our recommendation that you talk to your child’s pediatrician about scheduling a visit with a speech language pathologist (speech therapist). A speech therapist will be able to observe your child and know how to support their emerging speech skills. 

Related Post: How to find a speech therapist near you

If you answered “Yes” to all of these questions - Continue to Part B

Toddler Pronunciation Profile - Part B

Now we are going to go through the consonant sounds and some vowel sounds in English and to figure out which sounds your child pronounces clearly, and which sounds they are still learning.

How To Complete Part B - Step 1: 

Now you’ll see a list each of the sounds you will listen for. The sounds are organized from earlier to later developing sounds (roughly). 

You are going to either ask your child to repeat or say words that begin with each sound, we have given lots of examples for each sound, OR you can listen for them to pronounce each sound when they are talking during play or a regular activity. It’s always best to listen for them to say the sound in a word you’ve heard them say before when possible. 

For each letter sound, circle “Yes” or “No” if your child can make that sound at the beginning of a word. You will circle “Yes” if they make the sound at least half the time. And circle “No” if they do not pronounce the sound correctly at least half the time. 

If in doubt (Does my child make that sound clearly?), try asking them to say a word that starts with that sound again. And if you are still unsure, answer “No.” 

We suggest keeping this checklist out one day during a few different activities. This way you have lots of opportunities to observe your child try to make different sounds, especially if they don’t want to copy words you ask them to say. 

* Keep in mind it is harder for children to pronounce words that have 2 consonant sounds together. If you use your own words instead of using our examples (which is totally fine!), try to pick one where the target consonant is followed by a vowel (like “tuck” or “soon”) instead of two consonant sounds pushed together (like “truck” or “spoon”). 

Sounds Made With Your Lips:

Circle yes if your child clearly pronounces the sound at the beginning of a word.

* It’s okay for children under 2 to pronounce “P” as “B,” so don’t panic :)  

*See references

Vowels and Other Sounds:

Keep in mind that you might hear the vowel sounds A, O, U, E in the middle of a word, rather than at the beginning. Circle “Yes” if your child pronounces vowel sounds in the beginning, middle, or end of the word. 

*See references

Sounds Made With The Tip Of Your Tongue:

Circle yes if your child clearly pronounces the sound at the beginning of a word.

* It’s okay for children under 2 to pronounce “T” as “D” 

* It’s okay for children under 5 to pronounce “Z” and “S” with a lisp

*See References

Sounds Made With The Back Of Your Tongue:

Circle yes if your child clearly pronounces the sound at the beginning of a word.

* It’s okay for children under 2 to say “G” in the place of “K”

*See references

Later Developing Sounds:

Circle yes if your child clearly pronounces the sound at the beginning of a word.

* The “th” sound is noted twice because there are two different ways it is pronounced. If you read the example words for “TH” and “th” outloud and place your hands gently over your throat, you’ll notice a vibration in your throat when you say th “TH” words, but not the “th” words. The difference is that your vocal cords are vibrating to pronounce “TH,” but not when you say “th.”

*See references 1

References

1. Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155-2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168

Step 2 is all about which sounds to practice at home and what age.

Now you are going to use the tables from Step 1 to make a list of Sounds Your Child Already Pronounces and Sounds To Be Learned for each category.  Enter the sounds that your child can already pronounce on the left side of each section and the sounds your child is still learning to pronounce on the right side. 

After you finish Step 2, you’ll be ready to move on to choosing the best sounds for your child to learn next and beginning your at home pronunciation practice (see the next lesson). 

If you haven’t already downloaded a free copy of the Pronunciation Profile I highly recommend it! Recording your observations can be super helpful when talking to your pediatrician about the possibility of speech therapy and when going for a speech and language evaluation. You can use the form below and we’ll email you a free copy!

** Please consult with your child’s pediatrician if you have concerns about your child’s speech development. There are some circumstances where children need the support of a speech therapist to help them learn to pronounce sounds correctly. 

And by reading this you are promising me that you won’t practice at home if your child gets frustrated!! Only practice with sounds at home if it is FUN for your child! Practicing when they are frustrated can be a step in the wrong direction and some children will stop trying to talk all together if they get too frustrated. Speech therapists know how to support these children, so please get support if needed :) **

Sounds Made With Your Lips  P  B  M  W

You can start working on these sounds if your child is 18 months or older. If there are any sounds to be learned in this category, we suggest working on these sounds before moving on to other categories. 

Vowels and Other Sounds:  Y  H  A  O  U  E

You can start working on these sounds if your child is 18 months or older.

Sounds Made With The Tip Of Your Tongue:  D  T  N  Z  S 

You can start working on these sounds if your child is 2 years or older. Keep in mind that your child may pronounce Z and S with a lisp when they are younger than 5 years old. 

Sounds Made With The Back Of Your Tongue:  G  K

You can start working on these sounds if your child is 2 years or older.

Later Developing Sounds:  V  F  TH  th  CH  SH  L  R

You can start working on F and V if your child is 2 years or older. 

The rest of the sounds shouldn’t be addressed until after the child is 3 years or older. At that age, a parent can request intervention from the school speech therapist at the child’s school.

What to do after completing the articulation screener?

Now you’ve completed the Pronunciation Profile and you’ve gathered tons of information about the sounds your toddler can say and the sounds they still have to learn. Plus, you know which sounds are age appropriate to begin practicing with your toddler. This means you have specific goals you can start working on today to support your little one’s speech development at home!

Now it’s time to ask for help. If you have any concerns whatsoever about your child’s development, you should consult their pediatrician and/or a speech therapist in your community.

And as you wait for some outside support, hopefully you’ll have some added peace of mind knowing that you can get a head start by practicing at home!

You May Also Like:

• Articulations Norms By Age + Learn About Articulation Disorders

• What is speech intelligibility? And why is it important for toddlers?

Written by: Stephanie Burgener-Vader, MA, CCC-SLP

Edited by: Stephanie Keffer, MS, CCC-SLP

© 2020-2023. Stephanie Keffer, MS CCC-SLP. All Rights Reserved.

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