By what age is gliding typically eliminated in children?

Gliding is a phonological process where children replace sounds like /r/ and /l/ with more accessible sounds such as /w/ and /j/. This process is common in early childhood language development. Typically, children begin to reduce or eliminate gliding by a certain age as their speech articulatory skills improve.

The elimination of gliding usually occurs between the ages of 6 and 7. By this age, children are generally developing more refined articulation skills and are typically able to produce the sounds correctly without reliance on substitutions. This is an important milestone in speech sound development, as clearer speech patterns are essential for effective communication and are often anticipated by educators and speech-language pathologists.

Younger children, such as those around ages 3 or 4, may still exhibit gliding as part of normal speech development, as many phonological processes can take time to resolve. Therefore, the correct age of 6-7 years reflects a more advanced level of speech development in which gliding is no longer a common characteristic.