Misarticulating /k/ and /g/

Many kiddos go through a stage when they use /t/ for /k/ and /d/ for /g/. Most sources say that this is a normal transition time from 18-29 months. My little guy is still doing it and he is 30 months old. I'm not worried about it now. He Does say both the /k/ and /g/ sounds but not all the time. So that tells me he is slowly learning them and he will just slowly start using them more and more in the correct placements. If he didn't have /k/ or /g/ in his sound bank then I would worry more.

Ways I encourage correct pronunciation are- over emphasizing /k/ and /g/ when he uses the /t/ or /d/ sound. For example if he would say "mommy look at the tat", I'd respond with "Oh yes, I see that black Cat" and make the /k/ very obvious so that he is hearing the correct sound.

I will also say words that start with /t/ sounds and others that start with /k/ sounds and ask him to tell me which ones are /t/ sounds and which ones are /k/ sounds. This is teaching him to hear the difference and hopefully help him to realize that when he says "tat" he isn't saying it in a way that people can understand him very well.

Another one that works pretty well with him is acting confused. If he says "look at the tar mommy", I will respond with "what you see black tar on the sidewalk?" to show him that he is saying something that means something else when he substitutes the wrong sound.

Like I said, if your little one is still pretty close to 2 and a half I wouldn't worry about it too much if they aren't always using /k/ and /g/ all the time. I would check and make sure they have that sound in their sound repitoure and if they do I would just take opportunities to reinforce using them correctly. This is a NORMAL sound substition though for a child under 3.