Did you say “tar or “car”?

Fronting is a pattern that you hear in the speech of young children; they might say “tar” instead of “car” or “det” instead of “get”. Find out exactly what fronting is, the sounds involved in fronting and when children typically stop fronting.

Before we dive into chatting about fronting lets start by thinking about speech sounds more generally…

Think about speech sounds as a motor skill. Like lots of motor skills, speech sounds also follow a developmental pattern. There are some speech sounds that you expect to hear from around two years of age, and then some speech sounds you don't typically expect to hear in children’s speech until much later, perhaps not even five or six years old. And all the sounds in between!

In this blog we are focusing on a couple of the sounds that are involved in the process or pattern known as fronting. The sounds we are talking about are the “k” and “g” sounds.

OK, so I want you to make the “k” sound now. Sit in front of a mirror if you have one, the visual feedback will help. Think about what you are doing to produce that sound.

It’s hard to describe it isn’t it? Don’t worry I’ll help!

Open your mouth, raise the back of your tongue but keep the front of your tongue lowered behind your bottom teeth. The air pressure will build up behind your tongue. Then you're going to release your tongue and release the sound.

When I talk to children about this sound, I talk to them about using a

big wide mouth.

We don't tend to do that when we're talking naturally, but it just helps them to learn how to make the sound. I also tend to put my

finger tips on my chin

to show them that the chin stays still and the mouth stays open. Sometimes I

tap my neck

to show the sound has come from the back of my mouth.

Pairs of sounds

Speech sounds are grouped in pairs. You have a quiet sound and a noisy sound. Both of the sounds are made in exactly the same way. It's just that for the noisy sound your vocal folds are vibrating, for the quiet one they are not. Speech therapists call them “voiced” and “voiceless” sounds. With the sounds we’re talking about today; “k” is the quiet or voiceless sound and the noisy partner sound or voiced sound is “g”.

In Speech Therapy we tend to focus on the quiet or voiceless sound. Once this sound has resolved - the noisy or voiced sound also usually resolves.

What age do the “k” and “g” sound develop?

In terms of ages and stages, the current evidence base tells us is that typically this sound develops between the ages of two and three (Mcleod, S. & Crowe, K. 2018). What I will add to that, is that in my clinical experience you tend to hear those back sounds “k” and “g” developing towards the end of this age bracket; around three and a half coming up to four years.

If you are interested in the ages and stages of Speech Sound development why not pop over to the shop to check out my handy digital download?

What is fronting?

Fronting is when children replace sounds that are made at the back of the mouth with sounds that are made at the front of the mouth. So for the “k” sound, it is replaced with a “t” sound and the “g” sound is replaced with the “d sound.

So the classic one is saying….

“tar” instead of “car” or “tup” instead of “cup”

I'm sure you will have heard a little one saying one of those before. Another example is instead of saying “ready, steady, go,” they would say

“ready, steady, do”

or instead of saying

“Girl” they say “Dirl”

What they are doing is replacing the sounds that would normally be made at the back of the mouth with sounds that you make at the front of the mouth - this is known as the speech sound process called fronting. Another way to describe a “speech sound process” is a “speech sound pattern”.

What's interesting to know about fronting is that it is a typical part of speech sound development. Lots of children use this process in their speech. It is developmental in nature and so for some children it will resolve by the age of four. However, lots of children continue to find these sounds difficult past the age of four and will need speech therapy to help them.

There are lots of speech sound processes that young children use, but I’ll save those for another blog! If you are interested in finding out more about typical speech sound patterns and the ages when speech processes resolve, why not check out my handy digital download over in the shop?

When would you expect fronting to resolve?

For the fronting process, we typically expect this to have resolved by the age of four (Dodd et all 2003, Bowen 2011, Bauman-Waengler 2012). HOWEVER - it is important that we consider the child’s development holistically. For example, if the child was late to start talking then this would impact on the ages and stages of speech sound development as well as speech sound processes.

Want to learn more about Speech Sounds?

Check out our Speech Sound Support Workshop next start dates are 21st June and 27th September.

What next?

If your child is approaching 4 years of age and is still fronting then please consider a referral to Speech and Language Therapy. Unresolved speech difficulties can have a far reaching impact on a child’s life from literacy skills, their ability to access the curriculum, to friendships and self esteem.

Evidence tells us that early identification and intervention is key. So, if you are an Early Years Professional please feel free to join our FREE Early Years SALT support group and if you are a parent please come and say “Hi” over on Facebook or Instagram.

Jane

PS If you are worried about your child’s speech sound development, I can help. I provide online Speech Therapy to support you. Feel free to book a free 15 minute chat to find out how we can work together!

PPS You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram