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First Sounds

Written By: Kaitlin Bednarz M.S., CCC-SLP


As children get older, they will start learning and producing new sounds! Did you know that specific sounds develop at various ages? This is partly due to how we produce the individual sound with our articulators (i.e., tongue, lips, teeth). Let’s take a dive into the English language sounds that typically develop first!


In 2020, a review article by Crowe and McLeod showed that the following sounds are typically acquired by ages 2;0–2;11 in English language:

  • B

  • N

  • M

  • P

  • H

  • W

  • D

You can model simple words that start and end with the sounds listed above. Some examples include:

  • B= baby, boo boo, bye, ball, bottle (baba)

  • N= no, night, nana

  • M= mama, more, milk, my, me

  • P= pop, papa, pee/poop, up

  • H= hi, help

  • W= woof, water (wawa)

  • D= dada, done, down


When talking to your child, model words with these age-appropriate sounds!










Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English Consonant Acquisition in the United States: A Review. American Journal of Speech–Language Pathology.


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