Int. Adv. Otol. 2009; 6(1); 60-66

The Ages of Speech Sounds Acquisition and Completion in Turkish-Speaking Children
Fulya Yalcinkaya, Nuray Bayar Muluk, Bilgehan Budak
Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Audiology and Speech Pathology  nbayarmuluk@yahoo.com

The aim of this study is to provide normative data regarding the age of consonant-acquisition in normally developing children.
A total of 753 children between 1 and 7 years of age were selected from seven different regions throughout Turkey. For 1-year
old children, the spontaneous sound expressed (spontaneous speech) was recorded. The Speech Sound Development Test
(SSDT) was applied to children within the age-range of 2-7 years old. Classifications of ‘acquiring tested sound’ and ‘completing
development’ were based on ‘pass criteria 75%’ and ‘criteria 90%’, respectively. It was determined that children between 1 and
2 years of age acquired the sounds of /b, d?,tƒ,d,g,?,k,l,m,n,p,s, ?,t,j,z/, children at 3 years of age acquired the sounds of /h,f,v/,
and children at 4 years of age acquired the sounds of /r,?/. However, it was revealed that the development of all sounds was
being completed when the children were 5 or 6 years old.