Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision

Speech clarity in the early years

What is speech clarity?

Speech clarity is how easily and accurately spoken words can be understood by a listener. It includes pronunciation, pace, volume, intonation and enunciation.

In the early years it is important to bear in mind the child’s age and stage of development when identifying need.

  • Identification – what you may see in the child

    • Talking in short phrases or sentences which are made up of vowel sounds only, for example ‘eye uh eye a’ = ‘my mum likes cats’.
    • Replacing one vowel sound with another, for example, pig = ‘pog’, hat = ‘hut’.
    • Uses a limited range of sounds and a preferred sound, for example ‘de dod den dard’ (the dog went park).
    • Misses out the first or last sounds in words, for example ‘ig’ = pig, ‘og’ = dog, ‘ca’ = cat.
    • Uses sounds at the back of the mouth rather than the front, for example tea = key, doll = goll.

  • Planned provision in the setting

    Based on need, some of this provision will be effective.

    • Value and respond to the child’s attempts to speak.
    • Focus on what the child is saying, not how they say it.
    • Provide a good speech sound model by repeating back clearly what the child has said.
    • Do not correct a child if they cannot say a word properly.
    • Use a speech sound development chart to identify sounds the child can make and sounds they are having difficulty making.
    • Consider that the sound may not be in the child’s home language.
    • Play games which encourage playful sounds, for example, transport or animal noises.
    • Play listening and auditory discrimination games.
    • Play phonological awareness games. Allow the child time to share their ideas.
    • Speech and Language Therapy targets and strategies are planned for and carried out.