As your child learns to speak, you've probably noticed that some letter sounds are harder for them to make than others. It might be tempting to sit down and try to teach your child all the sounds at once. But there are some sounds that are simply too advanced for young mouths to make. 

If you decide to work on sounds with your child, here are a few good reasons to avoid more difficult sounds. 

• Your child's tongue might not be ready. 

• Children typically learn the sound at an older age on their own.

Sounds that are difficult to learn are also difficult to teach, and everyone will end up frustrated. Remember your child should be having fun. In much the same way that you wouldn't want to teach a six month old to walk, working on sounds that are too hard too early is a recipe for disaster. 

Use this chart as a reference for when you should expect your child to start making certain sounds. Note that the S and Z sounds may still be lisped through age five. 

*S and Z can still be made with a lisp until the child is 5.

Consonant Sounds

Consonant sounds are sounds that are made with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. The closer is created when we move our lips, tongue, jaw, and velum (back end of the roof of the mouth) to restrict airflow. Each coordinated and precise pattern of closure results in the production of a different consonant sound.

We've divided the basic English consonant sounds into three categories based on how hard they are to teach. Watch the video or read below.

Green Light Consonant Sounds

What we call green light sounds are sounds that you can show your child how to make. 

These are mostly sounds that are made with the lips. They're the easiest sounds for you to teach because your child can see what you're doing with your mouth and imitate you. 

Reference the green light chart for which sounds to start teaching and when. Do not start working on sounds unless your child is at least as old as the age in the left hand column. 

Yellow Light Consonant Sounds

Other sounds are made by placing the tongue in a specific place inside the mouth.

It's much harder to show someone how to move their tongue than their lips. These are yellow light sounds. You can work on these too, but only after your child has already mastered the green light sounds for their age. 

*S and Z can still be made with a lisp until the child is 5.

It’s important to know that working on these yellow light consonant sounds with your child may be effective, but be aware that you might not be successful.

When practicing with these sounds, be sure to remember the number one rule, make sure everyone is having fun. To teach these sounds, you make the sound for your child, and hope they can figure out how to move their tongue correctly on their own. 

If your child is struggling with learning the yellow light consonant sounds, it’s a good idea to talk to their pediatrician about seeking the support of a licensed speech therapist. 

Red Light Consonant Sounds

The last category is red light sounds. These sounds are for older kids and are complicated to make in the mouth. We do not recommend working on these with your child at home. 

If your child still needs help with these sounds when they're older, let a speech therapist work with them. There's a lot of training that goes into learning to correct these sounds, and we don't want you or your child to get frustrated, or for them to develop bad habits in their pronunciation as they learn.

Suggested Post: How to find a speech therapist

Download a copy of our at home guide to teaching consonant sounds ↓

Vowel Sounds

So far we focused on consonants, but saying vowels is an equally important skill for developing speech. No matter how advanced a child is with their consonant sounds, they will not be able to make words that other people can understand without using vowels as well. 

Vowels are made in the mouth by opening the jaw different amounts, putting the tongue in different places, shaping the lips, or a combination of these things. 

Babbling babies are already experimenting with vowels when they say things like the ah sound in bah bah bah. 

Here’s a list of the vowel sounds in English:

The tricky think about the English language is that each vowel letter (A, E, I, O, U) can represent many different vowel sounds. In the list below, you’ll see these vowel letters repeated many times, but I’ll include several words that include the each vowel sound so you can listen to the difference.

• oo as in pool, cool, and school

• U as in book, cook, and took

• u as in but, hut, and cut

• ai as in hi, bye, and bite

• au as in cow, how, and wow

• oi as in boy, toy, and

• er as in her, fur, and camper

• E as in bead, key, and seed

• i as in hid, little bit, and kid

• A as in wait, fate, and late

• e as in head, net, and let

• a as in had, bad, and sad

• o as in hot, bought, and lot

• O as in boat, coat, and vote

Watch this video or read below to learn how to teach vowel sounds at home.

When practicing vowel sounds resist the urge to simply have your child imitate the sound in isolation. Instead, have them try to copy simple words that include those sounds. 

For example, have your child practice the I sound while saying, “Hi!” to people they see at the park. Or have them practice the O sound by getting them to say, “Go!” when you race toy cars. Remember, your child's gateway to learning is having fun. (Continue reading for more specific word lists!)

To help you start to teach your child to say basic vowel sounds, we've divided them into three groups just like the consonant sounds. 

Green Light Vowel Sounds

These are the green light vowels. 

For all of these, you can show your child exactly what you do with your mouth to make the sounds. Whether it's opening your mouth wide or moving your lips in a certain way. It's easier to copy someone when the movements are clear. So make sure they can see your mouth when you practice. If your child can't do the sounds on the green light list by the time they turn two, you might want to ask for some extra help from a speech therapist. 

Yellow Light Vowel Sounds

The yellow light vowel sounds are sounds that your child should be able to learn to say, but might be harder to teach because what you're doing with your mouth is subtler and harder for your child to see. 

*Work on “ai” after your child can do the other vowel sounds on the green light list

**Work on “A” after your child can do the other vowel sounds on the yellow light list

You can say the word as an example for your child but they have to figure out on their own how to move their mouth to replicate it. 
Work on these yellow light vowel sounds only after your child has shown you that they can accurately say the green light vowel sounds, and leave the A sound for last, after they've mastered all the other yellow light vowel sounds. 

Red Light Vowel Sounds

I don't recommend that you try teaching the sounds on the red light list. 

These are more complicated vowel sounds that are made together with the R or L sounds. These sounds are tricky to make and kids often learn them a little later. If your child can't make these sounds by the time they're in kindergarten or first grade, you can ask a speech therapist at school to work with them.

Get a copy of our at home guide to teaching vowel sounds ↓

Now let’s review the key takeaways about articulation therapy practice at home:

• If you are practicing articulation therapy at home, be sure to avoid practice with sounds that are too advanced for your child’s mouth right now.

• When practicing with consonant sounds, start with our green light sounds, then move onto yellow light consonant sounds, and finally red light sounds.

• Teaching vowel sounds is equally, if not more, important than teaching consonant sounds. Use our green, yellow, and red light vowel sounds list to guide your practice.

• When in doubt, always consult with a pediatric speech therapist in your area.

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References:

1. Crowe, Kate ; McLeod, Sharynne. / Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States : A review. In: American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. 2020 ; Vol. 29, No. 4. pp. 2155-2169.

2. McLeod S, Crowe K. Children's Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review. Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2018 Nov 21;27(4):1546-1571. doi: 10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100. PMID: 30177993.

Written by: Stephanie Keffer, MS, CCC-SLP

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

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