Speech development is a process that begins early in childhood. For many children, this process begins early in infancy and unfolds at an appropriate rate. The result, for these typically developing children, is articulate speech by approximately 6 years of age. However, there is a group of children for whom speech does not develop typically. There are a wide range of etiologies for this atypical development. This entry provides information about typical speech development as well as several possible explanations for difficulty acquiring articulate speech.