Phoneme Progression by Mean Age of Acquisition

Based on: Combined data from 15 studies of 18,907 children acquiring English in the United States

Data source:
Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020).
Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review.
American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155–2169.
https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168
Visualization by
Imran Musaji, PhD CCC-SLP, Wichita State University

Key: 🔴 Not yet acquired   🟠 50% of children   🟡 75% of children   🟢 90% of children



This animated chart shows when children typically master different English consonant sounds. Click the buttons to step through development in 3-month increments.