Learning how to talk is tricky – how to help when your toddler says words incorrectly

Your toddler’s language journey began before they were born, and you’ll have seen them progress from crying and babbling to saying first words. As they use more words in their speech, you might notice they miss some sounds out of words or say some things incorrectly.  

There is a lot of variation in when toddlers start to put sentences together to talk [1], and there are a variety of reasons for this.   

Try to avoid getting pulled into comparing your toddler’s speech with other children, and think about their progress – are you confident they are learning and saying more over time? 

What your toddler is learning now 

They are now starting to form simple sentences and there are a lot of words, meanings and grammatical structures for them to take on board. 

To do this, your toddler must first understand the speech sounds they hear, then combine and produce them to form words and sentences, all while seeking to make sense of what the words mean.  

As your toddler’s ability to say sounds and words develops, you may notice that they have some cute ways of pronouncing sounds and words (these might be things you’d like to keep in your scrapbook). 

You may hear things like "biscetti" instead of "spaghetti," and you will probably understand these words despite their slight mispronunciations.  

You can help your toddler master these sounds by repeating incorrectly pronounced words correctly – don't ask them to say them again as this can lead to confusion or frustration and might make them reluctant to chat with you. 

So, if your toddler asks for, ‘biscetti’, you could reply by saying, “You’d like spaghetti, that’s a great idea!” 

Some incorrect sounds are an expected part of learning to talk (there is a lot for your toddler to learn so it’s not surprising some things take longer!).  

Some sounds take a few years to be mastered, so mispronouncing them can be perfectly normal for a while. If you’re concerned that your toddler is finding it difficult to make themselves understood, have a chat with a professional who is working with your family – this could someone at nursery, a health visitor or your doctor.  

Reference: 

[1] M. McGillion, J.S. Herbert, J. Pine, M. Vihman, R. dePaolis,T. Keren-Portnoy, D. Matthews. (2017) ‘What Paves the Way to Conventional Language? The Predictive Value of Babble, Pointing, and Socioeconomic Status’. Child Development, 88 (1). pp. 156-166. ISSN 0009-3920.