At school entry, what is the best estimate of the prevalence of speech sound disorder among children?

• A. 2%
• B. 11%
• C. 18%
• D. 25%

Answer: (B)

What is being estimated is how common persistent speech sound disorders are when kids start school. Across studies, roughly one in ten children show a speech sound disorder that continues into the school-entry years, which is around 10–12% and often summarized as about 11%. This means that while many early articulation issues clear up as children develop, a meaningful minority still have errors that can affect how clearly they are understood and may relate to later literacy risk. The other figures are less in line with typical findings: 2% tends to underestimate persistent SSD at this age, whereas 18% or 25% would imply a much larger prevalence than most research reports. So 11% is a reasonable, commonly cited estimate for school-entry prevalence.