Phonology

Phonological processes describe what children do in the typical development process of speech to simplify standard adult productions. When a child uses many different processes or uses processes that are not typically present during speech acquisition, intelligibility may be impaired. A few examples of phonological processes may include but are not limited to the following:

• Stopping is when a child uses his or her articulators to stop the airflow emitted during the production of a sound that requires a continuous stream of air during its production. For example, a child will replace the /s/ in /something/ with a /t/, or the /y/ in /yes/ becomes a /d/ as in /des/.
• Initial Consonant Deletion is when a child omits the first sound of a word or a syllable. For example, a child may produce /abbit/ rather than /rabbit/, omitting the /r/ in the initial position.
• Final Consonant Deletion is when a child omits the final consonant in a word or a syllable. For example, s/he may omit the final /t/ in /cat/ producine /ca/ instead
• Weak Syllable Reduction is when a child reduces a multisyllabic word to simplify it production. For example, /elephant/ may become /efant/.
• Consonant Cluster Reduction is when a child reduces a blended sound to approximate its production, such as; /pl/ becomes /p/, /plate/ becomes /pate/.

As children develop the correct production of speech they shed their phonological processes, making for more intelligible speech. All children demonstrate phonological processes of some sort during the development of speech. When their intelligibility is impaired and they continue to use the processes beyond the age when it is appropriate an SLP should be contacted. As with all developmental language and speech concerns, I recommend that a parent contact a certified speech pathologist if they feel uncomfortable with their child's development.