At What Age Should Babies Talk Clearly

There is nothing more precious than a sweet baby exercising their skills in talking with their high-pitched baby voice. With W’s in place of R’s “FWOG” for Frog and L’s in place Y’s “Lellow” for Yellow, it is a darling time of developing language skills. While “baby talk” is so cute and charming, how does a parent know when it should be replaced by clear and correct pronunciation?

Language Milestones for your Baby

Starting at the age of about three years, regular caregivers and parents should understand about three-quarters of what a child is saying. By four-years-old, a child should be mostly understood by people who don’t know the child.

 A general rule of thumb for the common mispronunciations knowns as “baby talk” is that they should begin to phase out for correct sounds in pre-school and in kindergarten. When a child is five and still saying Umbwella instead of Umbrella, it is time to seek assistance in assessing if they need speech therapy intervention. 

What to Do if Baby Talk Continues

While every child develops at a different pace, if your child is still baby talking at age 4 and 5, it is a good time to seek a speech therapist for an evaluation. The evaluation will include a hearing test and the speech-language pathologist will be able to tell you if the challenge requires speech therapy, another professional, or just a little bit more time. 

If you’re not sure whether your child’s speech and language development is on track or could use a little intervention, please give us a call. Our expert staff can guide you in the right direction. 704-845-0561