An articulation study of 15,255 Seattle first grade children with and without kindergarten

This study attempted to determine articulation differences between two large groups of first grade children—those who did and did not have kindergarten experience. When these two groups entered first grade, their articulation errors were essentially the same. However, kindergarten experience appeared to be a factor in the reduction of sound errors of the children who were not enrolled in speech therapy. Normative data regarding the articulation of first grade children were obtained and compared with that of previous studies.