Q & A

Hi
I have just arrived home from two therpay sessions with my daughter today and becoming increasingly concerned about her speech. Annie is 4 years old and has hypernasality so can't say s/sh/z/f/t(sometimes/nch. She pushes all the air through her nose so at times cannot be understood. She does not have submucous palate and has taught hreself to talk this way when she had some periods of deafness through ear infections between 12-24 months old. I know she will probably catch on eventually but as she has to understand why she talks like this is may take sometime, whoch she does not have as she starts mainstream school in September. it also appears that the school system may notbe able to refer for speech (she has had it for two years) and I am worreid without the extra help her speech will become increasingly more difficult to understand. She alread cries at times when people cannot understand her and her brother (8 years old) is also becoming anxious when peolple do not understand her. Any ideas?

Hi Sarah

I would continue taking her for therapy and if you have insurance to cover it, I would probably increase the frequency to 2x per week. If she is that difficult to understand, she should qualify for services through the public school district. I would recommend supplementing that with private speech therapy. I'm sure her current therapist is working on air flow with her and because this has become such a habit to her, it will take some time to improve significantly. Be patient. Also, if you practice at home with her (a little every day) this will help tremendously.

I hope this has helped a little.
Tami

I'm looking for ideas to help my almost 5 yr old daughter. Sometimes she seems to cut off the end of all her words in a sentence especially if she is excited. Also her preschool teachers say that her peers can't understand her. And only at school she speaks really softly and she is timid and shy (but not so anywhere else).

Also I'm looking for any storybooks that I could read to her about having a speech problem like Berenstein Bears have about different social issues.

Thanks!!
Dee

Hi Dee,

First of all, have you tried to get physically down on her level so she can see your mouth and model for her the correct way to say a specific word and emphasize the ending? And if so, can she imitate it correctly? If she slows down, does she still cut off the ends of words?

As far as her not being understood by her peers at preschool, is it because she is just speaking so softly or is it also because she is cutting off the endings of words? It is not so uncommon for little ones to be shy and talk softly in school, especially if this is her first school experience.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any storybooks that address difficulty speaking. If she is aware that people are having difficulty understanding her and she is bothered by it or gets frustrated, I would strongly encourage you to take her for a speech evaluation. You can ask your local public elementary school for the district's Child Find program's contact information.

I hope this helps.
Tami

I have an 8 year old daugther that I have been concerned about her speech since she was a toddler. She has always been difficult to understand, lacking enunciation. Now that she is older, she speaks much better, but still has trouble enunciating and also speaks very fast with the occassional stutter. It has not affected her learning (she is actually a top student) and has also not affected her socially (she was voted for student council rep in her class by all her peers) although her friends do have trouble understanding her. I feel like her mind goes so much faster than her words so she tries to keep up. When I was a kid I had a similar problem but stuttered more. I adventually grew out of it as an adult. I would like to have seen her in speech therapy at an earlier age, but her dad (whom I am divorced from) disagrees and thinks she is "just a kid". She has good health insurance, but I have never checked if it covers speech. Is this something that would benefit from therapy? Or am I just overreacting like her dad thinks? How can her dad and I as parents help her without hurting her feelings (she is very sensitive)? Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Lesley,

Thanks so much for posting this question here. My first thought while I was reading this was - yes, absolutely take her in for at least an evaluation with a speech pathologist and consult with that person. After reading to the bottom of your email though and hearing from you that she is very sensitive, I immediately wondered if she was at all bothered by her speech. If she is aware and bothered that her friends don't always understand her than she would probably be open and receptive to seeing a therapist to have it checked out. And I would make very light of it because you don't want her to feel ashamed.

If she is not aware and not bothered at all by her speech, than you approach obviously needs to be a little different. I would still recommend that she be evaluated. Because this has not effected her academically or socially is a good thing, but she will not qualify for services through the schools (and this may be too much of a stigma for her anyways). You will need to find a clinic or private speech pathologist in your area. She is still young enough that therapy can make a difference. The older she gets, the more her habits will be ingrained and the harder it will be to make a change.

I hope this helps.
Tami

My son Mason is 2 1/2 now. No sickness other than a few colds or fever, he i think is just being a boy and doesnt concentrate. We have him doing 2x weekly private speech therapy with a local place that gears towards apraxia however the therapist we have is kinda new to it all, but my son loves her and they are making some head way. I do not know how to tell if he is breathing through his nose alot causing speech issues? i would be happy to record some of his talking if you would like to hear it to see if you have any hints. We have been told to use ALOT of the old books by dr suess to get him listening to red, green, blue, one, two, three, a,b,c kinda stuff. Doing some flash cards with him and have slowed down on all of the dvd videos and trying to sit and read with him more for we have failed on that a bit i must admit.

When he turns 3 he will go into the school system speech therapy stuff, not sure how that is going to go, we may continue to use the private stuff too, its being covered by in insurance now soooo well have to see.

We have yet to have his hearing checked but he hears everything, planes, cars, dogs, cats, people, tv, etc doesnt seem to ever be lacking there. I know it is frustrating when he will not sit and read or try and do sessions cause hes all over the place sometimes, makes me feel like a failure most times, my wife as well.

Oh yea were also not talking for him anymore, letting him tell us what he wants and needs.

He can say words fine most times like:
Done, yes, blue, momma, green, meow, eat, poo poo,hot, night night, hot
But not words like:
No(sounds like ooooo), daddy(sounds like daeeee), red(ed), fish(fisshhhhhhhie), plane(cant quite get any of that), food(fooooooooeeeed), phone(o'ne), drink(dink)

any thoughts, ideas, concerns, comments, suggestions?

Jeremy,

Sorry for not getting back with you sooner. I've been on vacation. Anyhow, I think you are on the right track with some of the things you are now doing (reading more books and watching less tv, not talking for him anymore…). And of course having him in speech therapy twice a week is great and I'm sure you will start to see great progress. I would encourage you to ask his speech therapist about his breathing if you still think that might be an issue. From what you are describing, it sounds like he may be apraxic, but the therapist he is seeing will let you know about this.

You are on the right track with your son. (my son's name is Mason too - I love that name!) Thanks for visiting my site.

Tami

Hello. I was wondering if anyone had some tips on how to work with toddlers to produce words with more clarity? I have a child that I work with that used to articulate the words in his vocabulary very well, now he is lacking that clarity. Any suggestions?

Hi Sarah, My name is Tina & i live in NY. My daughter is 3 yrs (born 21st may, 2005). She is a very active & cheerful kid. Usually picks up things very quickly. She knows her alphabets numbers colors shapes poems songs with actions, parts of the body & she has learnt most of these since she was 2 yrs old. She has also learnt to write most of the alphabets all by herself & can trace well. She can identify almost all the things animals birds around her. She actively participates in pretend play & can almost make believe things. That day she stuffed a cup with cotton & pretended it to be an ice cream. She follows most of the instuctions, goes for ballet & is able to follow her teacher. But even after all this… I am somehow not convinced with her communication. She is not able to carry an ongoing converstaion. Wat i am trying to say is that she talks… but doesnt converse. There is no To & Fro communication. If somebody will ask her something… she wont answer back.. & will pretend as if she has not understood anything. I am really confused by this. She often confuses with you I me.. eg.. she will often say.. You want milk & if i ask her wat… she will correctly say i want milk. Abt her temperament.. she sometimes gets inconsolable if we dont give her wat she wants… & she will throw up a tantrum really loud.. She mixes around quiet well.. will be shy towards strangers but not for too long.. She goes to a community school for 3 hrs 3 days… & as per her teacher she is really good.. Pls help me .. I am not sure if this is an underlying problem… or just a speech delay… Another important thing is that she is with me all thoroughout the day. We dont have any family around.. So she spends most of the time only with me & her dad.. I am not sure if this is the reason for her speech delay…
Pls. help

Tami, thanks for your helpful blog! I have a two-month old son who is having difficulty developing a good latch for breastfeeding. A lactation consultant suggested that I consider taking him to a speech therapist to engage him in exercises that would help. I did a quick search for info on infant speech therapy and was not able to get an idea of what to expect during a session and if it is worthwhile. Can you tell me more about this type of speech therapy?

I guess i got the name wrong. I aplogise. The comment posted for the following was actually meant for Tami…

September 22, 2008
Tina DSilva @ 8:42 pm

Hi Tina,

Well it sounds like you have a very smart little girl. I apologize for not responding sooner, I didn't see this until now. Has her communication improved at all since being in preschool? Usually this makes a huge difference in that area. It's important that you give her a reason to communicate. I have one or two posts talking about this. She needs to understand that communicating and using her words will get her something that she wants. Also, when you ask her a question, try to give her choices (probably 2) instead of asking her an open ended question. She might find it easier to answer if she is given choices.

If you try these suggestions and still there is no improvement, you might want to take her in to your local school district for a speech/language evaluation. They very well may say she doesn't need therapy and they'll give you suggestions to work with her at home. Or of course they may suggest some therapy. After the age of 3 the public school district will evaluate for free and should provide therapy for free within the school district. I have a link to this service (Child Find) under the category Speech/Language Evaluation.

I hope this helps. Let me know how she is doing.
Tami

Hi Anne,

You want to look for a speech therapist that specializes in oral/motor therapy and of course one that specializes in infants/babies. Is there a Children's Hospital near you? That is definitely where I would start. If you do find a specialist in your area, their evaluation will consist of a thorough assessment of his oral musculature and structures. And depending on what they find, they may just send you home with some strengthening exercises to work on with your baby.

What city to you live in? Maybe I can help find a specialist in your area.

Tami

I was wondering if anyone can help me with a question I have concerning my 3 year old. He is in preschool and is doing great! The problem that he is having is that he drops the first letter or letters of a word. He has problems saying G and J. He can't say either one. If someone has any help or even what this would be considered that would be helpful. Thank you so much!

Hi Holly,

For your child's age, having difficulty with the G and J sounds are common. They will probably self correct in a year or so. As far as dropping the first sounds of words - this is not quite as common. Can he repeat the would correctly after you say it for him? If he can, that's a great sign and probably within time he will develop this on his own. If he can't say it correctly after you say it first and if he is getting very frustrated because he is not understood, you may want to have him evaluated.

I don't know where you live, but most school districts will evaluate a child between the ages of 3-5 and even provide therapy if necessary. I would contact your local elementary school and ask them about this.

Hope this helps.
Tami

Hi Tami,

I am actually a parent aide, working with a client who is concerned about her 4 yo daughter. The daughter can speak in sentences, but frequently repeats the last few words of the sentence a few times before finishing her thought. The client asked if I could research this for her, and I haven't had much luck elsewhere. Is this something to be concerned about? Thank you for your time…cathy

We have a son going to be five on July 10 is having difficulty in expressing. He understands sometimes but response is sometimes weak. I take him for speech therapy at Ramachandra Hospital at Chennai. He goes to school for his UKG. Kindly give us some advise in this regard.

Thanking you.

Jena

Hi Tami,
I love your site, very informative. I am especially interested in the information about receptive language delays. I was pleased to see more information about "late talkers" versus receptive language delays. I work with children birth to five years old. I think there is the myth that because a child can physically hear and may perform some familiar tasks when asked, the he/she does not have an issue with receptive language. I see a lot of children who seem to have a language delay and also have behavior issues. I think a receptive delay may address both of these issues. Do you know where I can find out more about receptive language delays? Also, can I use your article in a parent workshop on language development? Thanks so much!

Hi Tonya,

Thanks for the wonderful comments. I agree that this topic/disability is very overlooked. You can probably find more information on receptive language delay at http://asha.org or by just doing a google search.

And, yes you can absolutely use my article in your parent workshop. In fact if you would like to promote my site too at your workshop - that would be great.

Thanks again!
Tami

My 3 3/4 year old grandson continues to say me instead of I when speaking. His expressive language is developing but this has developed into a habit. We are reluctant to correct him constantly because we don't want it interfere with his expressive language and thought processes. Is there a technique to address this?Thank you for any responses.

Hi Chris,

Saying "me" instead of "I" is not so uncommon at that age. It should correct itself soon, but you're right that the longer he uses this substitution, the more of a habit it will become. Instead of correcting him, give him the correct "model" of how he should say it. For example, if he says "Me want juice", you (and the other adults around him) can say "I want juice." You are not correcting him and asking him to say it the right way, however, you are letting him hear how it is supposed to sound. And when you do this, it's ok and even a good idea to put a little more stress on the "I".

At this age we always want to first try to "correct" in an indirect way. That is by just saying it the correct way ourselves and letting them hear this and hopefully they will pick it up on their own.

I hope this helps.
Tami

Hi Tami,
I can't find an answer to this question, I hope you can help. Our daughter (just turned 4 in October) is starting to narrate her own experience. If I ask her a question such as, "Do you want some milk?" Her answer will be "No, she says". Is this normal?
Thanks,
Suzie

Hi Suzie,

Well, I can't say this is too common. But I would give it some time and see if it doesn't go away on it's own. I would not call attention to it and make her aware of it. It sounds like one of those things that will just go away by itself - just give it some time.

If it doesn't go away by itself in a few months, you may want to consult a speech therapist in your area to get their take on it.

Good luck,
Tami

Hi Tami,

My daughter is 2 1/2 and I've noticed that when she refers to something that belongs to her she says, "my Addisen's_____ or that's Addisen's." I'm not sure how to correct her without interfering with her speech development. In addition, she has a slight lisp when she says her "S's" or "Th" sounds. I have been trying for some time to break her of the pacifier, as she only uses it when we put her to sleep. She is so attached to it at night and won't take another soothie alternative. Is it very crucial that I remove the pacifier ASAP? Could you please give me some helpful tips? Your help is greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Stacy

Hi Stacy,

As far as her lisp goes, this is not something you should even be concerned about at 2 1/2 years old. This is developmentally age appropriate and something she will most likely outgrow by the time she is 4. And as for her grammar issues - referring to herself in the 3rd person - at the age of 2 1/2 she is really just learning how to put it all together. So it's normal for language at this age to not come out perfect. What she needs mostly, is NOT to be corrected, but rather just to hear good language models around her. After she says "my Addisen's___" you can just simply give her the correct phrase by saying it back to her but not "correcting" her ("Oh, My baby") and you can even emphasize the correct pronoun. But at that age you don't need or want her to have to repeat it the right way or in any way feel that she has said something wrong.

And as far as the pacifier, in my opinion it's a habit that's just harder to get rid of as your child gets older. There is a link from this post http://speechtherapyweb.com/will-using-a-pacifier-interfere-with-my-toddlers-speech-development
to an article that I think will help you with the pacifier issue.

I hope this information has been helpful.
Tami

Hi Tami! My son just turned 4. He has had some speech issues. I have corrected most of them myself. The only thing I'm not able to change, The "Elmer Fud R Sound." "Instead of the word RUN he says WUN.The others were visually on the exterior like the sounds f and th. With work, he was able to see and then copy.

I was just wondering if you had any tips on how to correct this problem. I am starting the process of an evaluation. They are telling me it is very long process. When really this is the only thing that is left. I was so happy to find you…an actual therapist that answers questions! Thank you so much for this blog site.

Hi Darci,

Well, I hate to tell you this, but "r" is actually in my opinion the most difficult sound to teach. Because, like you said, you can't SEE what to do with your tongue. A trained therapist can sometimes work on different lip positions to help correct this sound. Some kids can hear the difference and are able to figure out correct tongue placement after a lot of auditory discrimination kinds of exercises. But I think most kids need to be taught and "told" and even shown pictures of what their tongue needs to do, and this can't be done with a 4 year old.

So, what I'm saying is that there are some kids who can figure it out with a little bit of guidance at 4 or 5 years, but many kids won't be able to correct tongue placement on this particular sound until a bit older - 6 or even 7.

It's great that you're going in for an evaluation. Hopefully that therapist can give you some helpful strategies or maybe she'll just say that he's too young to work on this sound. Either way, it's good to go for an evaluation early rather than later.

Good luck and I'd love to know what you find out from the therapist after his evaluation.

Tami

Thanks, Tami. We are starting to see an improvement. He is using both now.

Hi, my son will be turning 2 in a few days and I'm concerned that his speech is not progressing as it should be. He doesn't say any sentences except ones that were learned together as a phrase like "thank you" and "I love you"- He cannot copy after me when I say something, and if he manages to say a word, I might not hear it again. Its like he forgets. He also adds an "L" into his words all the time. The only question he asks is "Whatsthat" and it sounds like "wahdah" run together, no inflection at all. He doesn't actually converse at all, it's mostly just yelling at his sisters or saying random things from his favorite thing "Go Diego Go", For instance, if I ask him his name he'll say "Diego!" He has no response to asking him to make animal sounds. He can point them out if I ask him, "Show me the cow" but he doesn't imitate me saying them or tell me what they sound like. (with the exception of Llama. He does say that because he sees that one on Diego of course.)

Some examples of his speech are:

soda= glah
glakin= Micheal Jackson (my 6 year old is on the spectrum and her obsession at the moment is Michel Jackson)
Whee! (the exclamation)= ee!
pone= phone
g-low= playdough
et-ee= empty
klee= keys
nay nuP (hard p sound)= thank you
tloy= toy (he's never said this before but I finally got him to today.. and again the L sneaks in)
et cho clat= santa claus

If he doesn't know what something is, he responds with either something else, like exclaiming "Day go!" (diego) or by saying "Doh Doh" or making a hissing sound.

He does say some words correctly. Ball, Mama, Daddy (sometimes… other times daddy is said with that "L" as in DLaddy"

He does get upset when we don't understand him, but it does no good because he simply repeats the word over and over again. If we ask him if he wants milk, he's just scream and keep saying "eeuck eeuck" which is what milk is I guess.

He says "yes" and "no" and they sound so much the same that I'm never sure. Most of the time unless its something about his tv show, I have no idea what he's saying until we go through the list of things he could want.

Am I right to be a little concerned? He is my first boy and I have 4 other girls that talked in sentences by now. Could you advise me as to if these errors are normal for a 24 month old boy?

Hi Ana,

From your description, I would recommend you take him for a speech/language evaluation. It is true that boys' language typically develops a little slower than girls, but since he is not yet combing words and he seems to be very difficult to understand, I would take him for an evaluation.

Hi Tami

We have 2 year old girl/boy twins. Our daughter is communicating very well and has a vocab of between 40 and 60 words. Our son on the other hand has maybe 12 words and is a very frustrated little guy. By our reckoning he's delayed by about 4 months on his peers for most of the other milestones. He is not one for reading - and is only happy when watching tv (which we cap at 30 minutes a day). When is the right time to get concerned with his speech development? Is there any games/activities that could help to get him talking? My husband very rarely reads to our son and I wondered if this would be part of the reason behind the delay (and other part is twin speak with his sister)?

hi tammy my son is 2.4 he has glue ear ever since he was 15 month he has glueear his glue gone down his hearing loss was modrate now its mild .he can sing twinkle twinkle lil star abc 123 but not so cleary he recegnises cartoons some alphabets .he dozn,t respond to his name but great in pretend play he points to dolls eyes nose and teeth makes it drink milk make it talk on phone he is nice in recognising colours ans pix but his receptive laung is not so good he understand few things like lets go out want juice . thr were other kids like him in my faimly who started talking at four will he too ?he plays ringa ringa roses tryes to sing too but not talking much i live in karachi pakistan where i cant find a good therapist

pls respond i,m very worried can u give online therapy he has great eye contact and love to play with kids loves to read book pretends to read book all the time loves nursery ryhums and songs he is exposed to four laugauges can that be the reason

My son will be turning 5 in three months. He is a twin and was born at 34 weeks. He used to collect spit in his mouth and needed verbal reminders to swallow when talking or when he was distracted playing. THis problem has improved greatly and I rarely notice it anymore but in the last 2 weeks I have noticed he is really talking out of one corner of his mouth. Is this normal? or is there something I could do to help him correct this?

Hi Kelly,

This does not sound real normal to me and I would consult your pediatrician regarding this. If not a physician, maybe make an appointment with a speech pathologist for an evaluation for this.

My daughter turned 3 in February and she does talk in sentence but is still a little messy.You can understand her but not as well as a regular 3 year old. I have been told is because she is a only child and not much interaction with kids. I was told she is making speech sound and her /l/sounds is good. "cat" is tat. "cake" is tate. "car" is tar. Her main ones are k,r,g,. She also speaks Spanish and has the same issues there. I am sure she will need some help when she goes to preschool in September but I wanted to know if those were common mistakes or if she is way behind? Thanks

Hi!

I have a 3 year old son, who has not yet developed speech.
He hardly speeks 20 to 25 words that also not clear.
Like POW for COW, etc. He understands almost everything. expresses his needs etc. I have been consulting speech therepist since last 1 year with no marked difference. kindly help me, i am worried what to do.

My son is 2 years old and is very nasal when he speaks, snorting and snuffling through words, especially 'sh' sounds. We think he has enlarged adenoids. I had this as a child and recently found out I had my adenoids tonsils removed and gromits fitted.I thought I only ever had speech therapy.

I hope to talk to a doctor or someone about this soon, but am in a foreign country and am having problems accessing health care just now.

Is there anything I can do to help him around this to avoid surgery?

My elder son is 3.5 years and has trouble pronouncing 'k' and 'g' sounds. I wasn't worried about it until it seems his little brother is also having problems with speech, possibly enlarged adenoids making it difficult to pronounce certain sounds.

He says 'tar' for 'car' and 'dod' for 'dog'. He seems to be able to sometimes make the 'k' sound if it's connected to 'l' like 'cluck'.

Should I be worried about this or will he grow out of it?

Hi
my nephew is 5 years old, but his speaking is not clear, he cant pronounce a word clearly like a child of his age. So please any one suggest me what should we do?? Should we go for any surgery??
jakariaaims@gmail.com

Have a 6 month old that squeals very often…when happy, excited, fussy…laughs and interacts but squealing is her mode of communication. Should I be concerned?

I am a foster parent that has dealt with different speech problems with kids. One little boy who was 3 and did not talk was tongue tied, the piece of skin under his tongue was too short and had to be clipped. He also had a lot of fluid in his ears and needed tubes put in to drain them. He now talks a lot better and is improving every day.

Thank you for this blog - this looks so helpful!

I was hoping you could clarify something for me, because I seem to be getting very inconsistent advice. My son is 15 months old and has not said any words yet. I think I heard him say "doggie" twice, and actually when he was near the dog, but that's really it. I got some developmental charts and other info from a speech-language pathologist that I do research with, and according to those, my son is quite behind. His receptive language skills seem fine - he can respond to simple "commands" ("do stomp", "give mommy a kiss", "say night night" (he waves to daddy at bedtime)), and actually, all of those skills developed in the last week. Socially, he's a tiny bit shy when he first sees people, but he always warms up. My pediatrician says if he's not talking by 18 months, we need to get speech therapy, but is that still too soon to really worry?

Thank you!

Hello,

I am a public school speech therapist with a new twelve year old student. This young man appears to be physically and cognitively normal, but cannot make the /k/ or /g/ sound in isolation. Instead he substitutes /h/ in all positions. As you can imagine, this makes his speech almost unintelligible to most listeners. He is such a sweet boy, and I've tried everything I know to try. Any suggestions other than an appointment with an ENT Dr.? His previous therapists have had no luck either.

Sincerely,
Janie

Thank you for this supportive and enlightening website.

My son was born 32 weeks 1/6/2009, he was in an incubator for 23 days but thankfully along the past year and 9 months he has caught up and his pediatrician is very pleased with his development and she sees no problem at all with his overall development.

My problem is that he does not speak yet; he babbles all the time with a variety of tones, i heard him say all the alphabet pronunciation well but he just doesn't want to say any words. He has good eye contact, smiles and knows the difference between me, his papa, his caregiver and other people. He responds to his name and acts professionally when he is told off. He understands well when i say 'NO' and he cooperates when i say 'pick it up and put it in its place'. I have the alphabet stickers on the wall and when i ask him where are ur abc he goes to it and say a b. He hates to use his hands in feeding, waving or clapping even though he uses his hands perfectly in playing with his toys and cubes. Lately he started to say one, two, three and a, b, he loves his books so so much and adores being read to. I am taking him tomorrow to a speech therapist but i am so worried of a wrong assessment.

I need your advice or if there is any online tests/evaluation that i can do at home to release my worry.

Hello Tami,

My son Ayden is 2.3yrs old and was born with a congential heart defect that required open heart surgery at 4 mos old.
His cardiologist expressed they may be a higher risk for a developmental delay, because of his condition. At 18 mos, I notice no really words had formed. My husband and several family members said I was overreacting. I accepted this until my 6yr old said, Mom I think Ayden needs to go to baby school. So I told the pederatin my concerns, he gave us a referral for early invetration in our county. Ayden was evaulated in September and began reciveing speech therapy 2X a week and special ed therapy 3x a week as well. Ayden was diagonise with having no interset in language, due to lack of exposure. We resenlty had his 3 month meeting and I was a little concerned because the speech therapist did not send me a copy of her report . During the meeting the corrdinator expressed that the speech therapist was concerned and if I'd like further testing done. I feel a little blind sided. The therapist comes to my home 2x a week, why would she express her concerns to me ? I'm a very upfront person and always interseted in my children's well being first and formost.
When this process began I was given the impression that Ayden would flourish quickly and I thought things were going smoothly. Althought the speech is moving along slowly, the special ed going great, I see a great improvement . He's more social and full of life. My question is what can I do increase Ayden's speech development and how to I brooch the subject with the therapist?

Thanks in Advance,

Brenda

Hi Brenda,

If the speech therapist has done formal testing, she should be sharing those results with you and if she hasn't you may want to ask her to do some formal testing so you know what level he is at with his speech and language skills. She should also be providing you with tips and suggestions for you to work on with your son at home and in your everyday life. At the age your son is - only 2, you are your son's best speech model because of the amount of time you spend with him. If she hasn't given you things to work on at home with him, I would encourage you to ask.

You can look at some of my articles for suggestions:

http://speechtherapyweb.com/10-tips-to-promote-speech-and-language-skills-in-your-child

http://speechtherapyweb.com/using-everyday-activities-to-enhance-language-development

http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play

Good Luck,
Tami

Can stuttering or developmental disfluency happen at the end of a sentence by repeating the last word, syllable/s, or phrase?

Hi Amanda,

Usually dysfluencies occur in the beginning of words, sentences. I have not seen what you are describing. But perhaps you can find some helpful information from
The National Stuttering Foundation.

Hope this helps,
Tami

Hi!My daughter is 4yrs (born 8th may, 2007,India)
She is a very active & cheerful kid. Usually picks up things very quickly. She knows her alphabets numbers colors shapes poems songs with actions, parts of the body & she has learnt most of these since she was 2yrs.

I am somehow not convinced with her communication.

for instance,if i ask her"what do you want?",she replies by repeating the same question,seldom answering correctly.the same goes for other questions too:(wht is ur name,school name,mom/dad's name,should poo in the loo,,etc..).

Another major problem is,she does her poo poo in her pants.i tried(still)telling her not to-do so an n-number of times,yet.

Pls help as am really worried for her lack of grasping questions and responding properly to them.

She takes time to mix around.. will be shy towards strangers and cries if i compel her to go to them.She attends pre-school& as per her teacher she is really calm and keeps to herself most of the time but, when she interacted with my child she was responding in a good fashion.

Pls help me. I am not sure if there is a problem… or just a speech delay… Also,she is with me all thoroughout the day,after a few hours in pre-school.We dont have any family around..So she spends most of the time only with me & her father.

her pre-school grades are better in 2ndterm though,not able to do the story telling part and gelling with her peers.
any concerns, comments, suggestions?
Thanks!
Sai.

Hi Sai,
I don't know what kind of resources you have in India, but I do think that you should have your daughter evaluated by a speech therapist. If there is a problem, it is best to get therapy for your daughter earlier rather than later.

Good Luck,
Tami

Tami,
I am new to this blog, I am hoping to get a little guidance from you… My son is 21 months (born July 4th 2009) and he is very very active and very smart. He point a lot and says "uhh" if he wants something, he shakes his head either yes or no and he also says "NO" a lot. I am beginning to think I should have him evaluated for speech, he does have words but they aren't all so clear, if he pooped he'll hold his diaper and say "poo" and please is "peas"- he doesn't finish the word. He hasn't put two words together yet either which Ive been told that he should be at his age. I try to help him and say the words to him really clear and then he tries again but he just gets frustrated. He says dada and daddy well, and used to say mom and mommmy but i havent heard it in a while ( i guess because im always with him so he has no need to call me). He does attend day care and I wasnt happy with his original day care because they were giving him more bad habits than good, so I switched him. Since i have switched him Ive notice a slight difference, he tries to say things clearer and he learned wheels on the bus in less than 2 weeks. He had ear infection and fluid issues with his ears and had tubes put in May 2010. Any advice would be really appreciated. Thanks so much.

Jamie
NJ

Hi Jamie,
It sounds like your son does have some words, but by 21 months he should have more words, probably 50+ words and should be starting to combine 2 words together. The fact that he is leaving out sounds and his words aren't clear, is ok. At 21 months, that is expected. Having had ear infections and fluid issues when he was younger has most definitely contributed to both issues above. It doesn't hurt to get an evaluation and that way you can either rest your concerns or start him in therapy. Look into ChildFind through the public schools in your area and it will be free.

Good Luck,
Tami

Hi Tami! My daughter is almost 17 months old and says no words. Her hearing is fine and she seems to understand most of what we say in regards to simple commands, however her own speech is just babbling. She does not say mama or dada. In her babbles she will say some repetative sound like baba, didi, shaggy, googa, ish, (but is not referring to anything, appears random). She also doesn't nod her head or point when she wants things (unless reaching for it an whinning counts!) I called EI and have an appointment with service coordinator. My husband feels I am overreacting and feels that a speech delay means I am saying she is not smart. What are your thoughts? Am I jumping the gun here?

Hi Jennifer,
No, I don't feel like you are jumping the gun at all. If she truly has a speech/language delay (and tell your husband this has absolutely nothing to do with being smart or not!) then early intervention is really important. I would go to the appointment that you've already scheduled and they might say to give it some more time and they may give you some suggestions on how to help stimulate her language.

Have you tried any of the suggestions in any of my articles on language development? Here are 4 good articles with useful suggestions that you can try with your daughter.

http://speechtherapyweb.com/using-everyday-activities-to-enhance-language-development

http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play

http://speechtherapyweb.com/give-your-child-motivation-to-communicate

http://speechtherapyweb.com/tips-to-help-your-child-learn-new-words

Good luck!
Tami

hi i have a son who will be 4 on April 27th and since 6 months now has been going to speech therapy where he is once a week with 5 other children.He has improved a bit but still its very difficult to understand him both in English or Spanish(we are bilingual).
Today they told us at school that they would like to call in the goverment Psychologist to evaluate our son.
In the current school there are 23 pupils per teacher and they find it difficult to dedicate time to him.The current teachers see the option of changing schools better as there is a school nearby were the classes are much smaller 8 per teacher and they say could help our son more.
Its really hard for us as apart from hes speech problems he is a normal child in all aspects,he is not slow,but it makes us all very sad to see him this way.
We have been told he will talk well one day as they have seen children much worse than him that have passed this problem stage.
It is just so difficult sometimes to understand him at all that its fustrating as a parent especialy when we have a daughter who mis 8 this month and has never had this problems.

will he get better?Will having more time with a teacher for 8 kids be better for him?

Thaank you all.

Hi Sarah,

Your daughter Annie's symptoms seem very similar to my 3 yr old daughter. I am just wondering since you posted this about 3 yrs ago how things progressed?? As I am starting to be concerned myself.

Dear Tami: Thanks so much for such an informative site! I've got a boy who is almost 3. At daycare, the teachers observed that he is not able to blow well. The other kids can blow wads of paper across a table and use a straw to blow bubbles in a cup. They suggested this is something we might work on at home. I am grateful they are observant and communicate with us.

What I'm not clear on is how exactly difficulty blowing impacts speech and whether it is a major concern. His voice seems rather nasal. We (his parents) can understand almost everything he says but others not so much. He talks a lot and is quite outgoing, but people can only understand words here and there.

Hi there,

My sons is nearly 6 and still battles to say his 'r's' and he has a lot of saliva in his mouth. Sometimes he spits while talking and his teacher has suggested that I contact a speech therapist to have him assessed. What causes the saliva and is it a speech therapy problem or would it be a medical problem?

Thanks

Hi Tiara,

Sorry for not getting back with you sooner. So, the reason why having difficulty blowing may impact speech is because many of the same muscles are used for both, Having difficulty blowing may indicate he has slightly low oral muscle tone or it may indicate more of a problem with coordination of the muscles in his mouth. Either way (low muscle tone or poor coordination), this would interfere with understanding his speech as well.

If he is still having a hard time blowing even after you try to do it with him, you my want to have him evaluated by a speech therapist. If it's not severe enough to warrant therapy, then maybe the therapist could give you exercises to work on at home with your son. You can refer to this article for more information on who to contact - http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process

Hope that helps,
Tami

Hi Leanne,

An accumulation of saliva is often an indication of low oral tone (low muscle tone). A speech therapist can give him exercises to help increase his oral muscle tone which would probably help with the accumulation of saliva. And it might be a good time to correct his /r/'s also. So, having him evaluated is a good idea. You can talk to your son's school speech therapist for outside references if they are not able to do just a speech evaluation at school.

Good luck,
Tami

hi
i am mailing from india.my daughter is 17 months old and she says 4 to 5 words like mama dada but not frequently.she is very brilliant enough 2 get what she wants by saying it in action.she also follows simple instructions like go and pick that toy and give it to me.if i ask her who am i(exoecting her to say mama) she doesnt say..she also watches television.she says mama or dada on her own very rarely and doesnt say that when we ask her.is there anything to worry about?

Hello,
My stepson will be 7 in a couple of months. I have noticed he replaces his R's with W's, the elmer fudd syndrome and he also has a hard time speaking. It's almost as if he is stuttering but not the typical stutter like ssssskip; it's more like repeats of words until he gets out what he is trying to say. His mom does not think this is a problem so she has not tried to work with him. I have only been involved in his life for almost a year now and i noticed it immediately and brought it to his dad's attention so now he and I are trying to work on it even though we only see him everyother weekend. Is this normal for young boys or do we need to check into more?

Hi,

The "r" is one of the last sounds to be mastered, but it is typically mastered by about this age. And I commend you for trying to work with him, but it's really hard to work on the 'r' if you are not trained as a speech therapist. I have found it the most difficult sound as a speech therapist to teach.

You can have him evaluated at his school, but if it's really only the "r", chances are he won't qualify for school speech therapy services. I have noticed that if the incorrect production of "r" continues past age 7 or so, it is much more difficult to correct. Maybe you can have him evaluated privately and just see what the therapist suggests. Maybe she can even offer some suggestions for you and your husband to work at home with him.

Good luck,
Tami

Thank you for your help. Unfortunately his mom will not let us get him help so I am trying to do more research and help him as much as I can. Do you think i should be worried about his stutter and try and work on that with him as well?

Do you have any experience with apraxia/verbal dyspraxia? We are waiting for a Occupational Therapist to give us some idea of whether our 3 year old son has dyspraxia, but he definitely has some speech problems which seem related to his physical issues.

He is not consistent with any of his problems, it's not any specific sounds like I originally thought, one minute he can say a word perfectly and the next it becomes a garbled mess, usually when he thinks about what he is saying, like when asked to repeat or respond to a question he's not expecting.

He talks a lot, has a good vocabulary but the speech therapist said he speaks like a younger child in terms of how he responds.

Any suggestions for what I can do to help him learn how to use his tongue and mouth muscles better?

Hi Tammy
I have a son, Egidio, who is 3 1/2 years old. He is having a hard time pronouncing his S's. When an S is in the beginning of a word, he will say it as a D or not say is at all. For ex. Sal he says dal. When S sound is in the middle as in juice. He will say joop. Now when the S is at the end of a word it where I find the strangest part of all this. He will push the S sound out of his nose. And it will just sound like air coming through. For ex the word SIX he will say DI(then the rest will get pushed as air though his nose. I am a teacher and I have never seen this before. I have tried researching on the Internet and have not found anything about this. I have also taken him to an ENT to see if there was anything wrong that was preventing him from making that S sound and pushing that air though his nose when trying to say it. The dr said that his adenoids were actually small and that could be part of it. He told me to wait a liitle while and see what happens with him. I would like to know if you have ever heard of this before , what it is and how I can help my son. He gets frustrated sometimes when I try to work with him. Please help. I worry that there is something I should be doing to help him and I'm not doing it.

Hi Terri-Ann,

I would suggest taking him to a speech/language pathologist for an evaluation. The other option is to have this evaluated through Child Find through your local school district. Although, your insurance might cover a private speech evaluation.

Hope this helps.
Tami

I need your help!! My almost 20 month old boy really doesn't say much at all. When I posed my concern with his pediatrician at his 18 month check up she asked if he can say 8-10 words. The answer to that is not a simple one. He "has" said 8-10 words but really he choses not to use them. The only real words he uses regularly is Mum (for mom), Da (for dad), Ba (for brother), Call call (for phone, and Bye. He has said but not often, tracka (cracker), ushus(delicious), go, peas (please), and dog. He does however babble just about constantly. Needless to say the pediatrician said that she wasn't concerned as of yet.

Well, I am concerned. I only have my older son as a guide and he was using short sentences at this age. I know every child is different but my mother instincts are telling me that there is something wrong.

I think I would feel better if when he learned a word he would continue to use it. I prompt him to all the time but he doesn't. He has done this with other things sometimes as well. He learned how to blow kisses and wave, but only did it for about a week and I have almost died trying to get him to do it again.

He is fine everywhere else. He can climb Mt. Kilimangaro, go up and down stairs regularly, flip thru books, dance, feed himself, drink from a regular cup, and on! It is really only his speech that give me concern.

I am sure that the pediatrician knows best but I am looking for a second opinion.

Hi Rachel,

Well, unfortunately many pediatricians will say they are not concerned yet and to give it more time. If there truly is a delay, then early intervention is best. As a speech pathologist, it is concerning that your son is not retaining or not using the words and skills that he does learn - as you described. As a parent, I think your instincts are very important and should not be ignored. Have you seen my article on typical guidelines for language development? It's here: http://speechtherapyweb.com/language-development-typical-guidelines.

I don't know where you live, but your local public school district should have a Child Find Program, which serves children from birth to 3 years. He can receive an evaluation through that program and therapy, if indicated. You can follow this link to learn more about this process: http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process.

(Follow your instincts. If nothing else, an evaluation will relieve some of your anxiety about this).

Good luck and I hope this has been helpful!
Tami

Thank you for validating my feelings. I did see your article on guidlines and that was what prompted me to leave you a message. He has the understanding words down. He will follow commands and knows exactly what you are saying to him. He just cannot communicate back to me. I am going to check out the early intervention evaluation. Thank you again. I will pass this website on to other moms.

Thank you Rachel. I really wish you well with this whole process. Enjoy your little guy - they grow up so fast!

Tami

Hi,

My son is 14 months; he doesn't really consistenly use any words now. Several months ago he would practice "ma-ma" and "ya-ya" (for his aunt) but seems to be a lot more infrequent now (I might have heard "ma-ma" once this week); around the same time he would imitate saying doggie or kittie but not anymore.
One meal this week he did say "num-num" for food after a lot of prompting, along with the sign for food. Mostly he will just say "uuuuuuuuuuuh!", either loud or really LOUD, when he wants something. He doesn't seem to be interested in trying to practice words. He will babble occasionally, with lots of g's and b's. He will wave and shake his head, but doesn't point or clap. He likes looking at books though, and will turn the page and pat the pictures. He comprehension seems good too (he'll look at the dog when you say doggie).
He's very active, started walking at 11 months. He loves to play "peek-a-bo" and "gonna get you" games. He's very social, and always smiles and laughs at the waitresses when we go out to eat.
I'm worried that his verbal skills seemed to be stalled or going backwards a bit. Do you think I need to get him into speech therapy?

Hi Linnea,

Sometimes at this age, children's brains are so busy working on one area of development that other areas of development may appear to be lagging behind. This may be what is happening with your son. If he has no health concerns (chronic ear infections) that may be contributing to his lack of speech/language development, I think I would give it another few of months before taking him in for a speech/language evaluation.

In the meantime, there are numerous ways you can work with your son to help encourage and stimulate his language development. There are several articles under the category of "Birth to 3 years" that can help you with some ideas of how to use everyday situations to help stimulate your child's language.

Good luck and I hope this helps.
Tami

Hi, My daughter whjo is almost 2 1/2 is very bright. She knows all her colours, body parts, and a few letters. She has many words that she can saw but a few family members say they can't understand her. She has a hard time with s but I know that is a letter that takes a long time to learn. My concern is she can say words is we reapeat them like orange orange (our cat) but if you ask her to say orange on it's own it's ter as is red but I'll have her say red juice and she can say that. Millk also comes out as book. Is there anything I can do at home to help her be able to say these words without having to get her to say them with a word after it.

Hi tami, my son just turned 2. He doesn't respond to simple instructions and still babbles. I am so worried. Do you think something might be wring with hm?

Hi,
my little Girl has been using full sentences since she was about one years old. She is three now,and still does great! By lately we have been really been able to notice that she can't really pronounce the "t"or "g" sounds. I'm not sure if this is normal for a toddler or not. Is there any way we could work with her to improve these sounds?Her name is Kya but people are starting to call her "Tya" because this is how she introduce herself!
Any advise would be helpful. Thanks!
Ashley

Hi Aysha,

It sounds like from what you describe that perhaps you should take your son for a speech/language evaluation. You can go through Child Find through your local school district and have him evaluated. At least then you will know for sure and you won't be as worried.

Tami

Hi Ashley,

The sounds that your 3 year old is having difficulty with are typical sounds that three year old's mispronounce. It's unfortunate that her name begins with a "k", but oh well! Usually by 4 they are starting to say these sounds correctly, but not always. It sounds like her language is great and she pronounces her other sounds correctly. I think it's safe to say that she will probably learn the correct way to say these sounds on her own. If she is just 3, I would give it until she is at least 4 and then maybe get her some speech therapy if it hasn't self corrected.

Hope this helps and eases your worries.
Tami

Hi Tami,
My 8 year old son still repeats the last word or the last syllable of many of his sentances, especially when he gets tired or excited. He is highly talkative child!!! and has to explain in great detail to everyone, everything! He needs a captive audience or he gets frustrated. He was an early speaker, and even at an early age he would repeat his words..he would say up up up or more more more….which we thought was part of his quirky start to life!! we even joked that he would one day make a great director!!! It has never really bothered us and it certainly does not seem to bother him, however I would like to get it checked out, since he does not seem to be growing out of it. We have just moved to Isreal for 1 year and are interested to see if it will happen once he learns hebrew! Is there a particular field of speech therapy that you could recommend??

Hi Tami,

i have a baby boy ,he will be 3 years old afte 2 Month on 1st March 2012.

he is very active n naughty but he specks onle few words like ma ,papa,de,mum,baher ,aao & explain everything with expresion.but not able to speck.

can you help me on this……..what i have to do.

My grandson is 4. He has problems with C's & G's. Any suggestions ways we can help him at home?

Hi Abi,
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. It sounds like your son just has so much to say and that maybe his brain is working faster than his mouth and so his mouth stumbles at times. It could never hurt to have him evaluated by a speech therapist. Although any speech therapist who works with kids would be fine, you might want to find a therapist who specializes in fluency (stuttering). Not sure if that is what's going on or not, but a therapist who sees him and does an evaluation would be able to tell you more. It will be interesting to see if he does this in Hebrew too. My guess would be no - because his brain will be working slower I think to translate into Hebrew. But I really don't know.

Where in Israel did you move to? I have family there and lived there myself for a few months back when I was in college.

Good luck and I'd love to hear how your son is doing once he learns Hebrew.
Tami

Hi Barkha,
My advise to you would be to have your son evaluated. Even if he doesn't qualify for therapy, they will provide you with suggestions on ways to help him learn new words. You can refer to this article
http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process/ and find your local Child Find program. If he does qualify for speech therapy services, it will be provided through your school district free of charge to you.

Good luck,
Tami

Hi Darlene,
Those sounds are often not pronounced correctly by children who are your grandsons age. All you can really do is model for him the correct way to pronounce those sounds, emphasize the sound and even clue him into where it is produced (which is the back of the throat) by putting a finger on the back of your lower jaw. You can use some pictures on this page
http://speechtherapyweb.com/articulation-printables and just do a few words/pictures at a time and see if he can imitate you. If he can't and gets frustrated then stop because that means that he's not ready.

Good luck,
Tami

Hi,
I have exact same problem with my son he is 5 year old in Kg. his teacher said that he need speech theraphy so i talk to his doctor first she ignored that i dont think your insurance cover for private theraphy.but i explained and cry to her that you know my feeling its really effect on my son social life and loose his confidence because he is doing great in his class even he is younger than other. so i beg to her than she took step with insurance company so i got private speech theraphy my insurance is covring for that even i have hmo. i hope it helps for my son.good luck to you.

For some reason my 4yo son cannot say certain sounds (b, p, s, f, +more) if they are at the beginning of a word, but will use these sounds if they are at the end or in the middle. How can I help him be able to use the sounds at the beginning too?? My oldest son was in speech therapy for 5 years, so I'm familiar with it all, but was hoping this is something I could remediate at home with my 4 yo. He has improved much in the last year as in using more sounds, it's just that for beginning sounds he almost exclusively uses (d) or (w).

Hi Cindy,

Will your son try to say these initial sounds after imitating you. Sometimes it really helps to have them look at your mouth while you say the word and then have him repeat it.

You can go to this page:
http://speechtherapyweb.com/articulation-printables
and print any of the pages you would like. You can use these pictures to practice with him. But again, I would say the word and have him look at you while you say it and then have him repeat it.

Good luck and I hope this helps!
Tami

I'm not sure if I'm putting this in the right place or not but… My son is 7 years old and has had speech since right before he was 2 years old. He then went to preschool and got extra help with speech since his third birthday. They all said he had severe apraxia since almost the beginning and they recently did testing to confirm this. My concern is that since he is 7 and this is his 5th year of going to school full time, he only knows half the alphabet and is having problems in other areas. He also can't tell you which is right or left with body parts or directions. He already goes to a special class everyday for an hour and a half to give him more help with learning and he also has speech everyday. He's beginning to notice that other kids can do things that he can't yet do and asking a lot of questions about why they can and he can't. He is really sensitive and it's starting to hurt his self-esteem. I've considered homeschooling but I don't think I can help him as much as the professionals can since they are experienced and educated to help him compared to me. If someone could give some input it would be helpful.

Hello
It seems this is an appropriate place to ask a question, if I am incorrect I apologize. .

I have been googling to get a couple ideas of how I can help my son, but so far haven't seen much but if your child does not A, B, C then contact your ped or a speech therapist. I told my ped at 12 months, 15 months 18 months that I was concern about my son's speech. At 2 years she said she would refer for a hearing test….whole bunch of confusion later and I finally changed peds…who on our 1st appt said yes there is reason to be concerned and refer'd for evaluation…. I got a call that the therapist did receive my referral but that she would call me back in a month or two to set up an appointment and the earliest we would be seen was probraby an additional month or two after that ;-( …. What can I do in the mean time??

My son is 27 months old
He says "yep" all the time but clearly doesn't understand it's meaning
no other words just sounds things make like

ooomm- ooomm (vroom) while driving his cars

ooof (woof) for dog

eeeoow (meow) for cat

hoo hoo for train

No momma, daddy, cat, ball, bye-bye…….

He doesn't use the sounds he knows to ask for stuff (he doesn't say oom oom when he wants a car)
he just whines and gets super frustrated that I don't understand what he wants

He has very recently started grabbing my hands when he wants something and will pull me over to the pantry door or fridge door. Or he will get behind me and push my legs to make me go over to the kitchen counter …when he wants a sandwich or his vitamins or something he has seen on the counter he wants…even something he seen days ago like cookies but are no longer there…he remembers that they were there and wants them now…. He will stand on his tip toes when he wants to be picked up and grab what he wants.

I try to get him to point at what he wants..he sorta does sometimes…he will make a pointing gesture with his hand/finger but kinda wave it around not specifically an object. He will look at what he wants more than point and often it turns in to me pulling a whole bunch of things out 1 at a time saying there name asking if he wants the 'juice', the 'milk', a 'cookie'……and him getting more and more upset, ending up in a meltdown heap on the floor that I haven't gotten it right yet.

I have tried signing eat, drink, more, milk with him for over a year…he is not interested….sometimes he thinks I am funny making hand gestures but mostly he won't even look at my hand while I am trying to show him.

He is very sociable. he loves going places and playing with friends at the park. He laughs, smiles. He does make eye contact and will "talk" but gets frustrated no one understands his babble. It's not that he is just saying words incorrectly and we just don't understand..he is really just babbling….like an 8 month old. He gets really serious about it, looks right at me, will grab my chin and force me to look at him in the face and "babalalawhaalalada" ??? and then get mad I don't get it.

He doesn't seem to know his body parts….he will not point at specific ones if I ask….he will match like objects together but not if I initiate it….Like if I pull out color cards and try to get him to put a red car on the red card…he won't…but while he is playing and thinks I'm not paying attention he will put the red cars together….or the trucks together (regardless of color). If the Disnesy CARS movie is on he will get his McQueen and Mater toy cars. He just yesterday figured out how to use a camera, which button to push, how to set things in front of the lens, push the button, then look and see the picture on the screen…he's very observant, likes to explore. He's met all his physical milestones on time or slightly early…rolling over, walking, jumping, climbing…..

I don't think it's autism or a major learning disability..?? just my mom thoughts I'm not an expert…..but he's not talking and certainly is quite frustrated with his lack of being able to communicate.

I narrate all day long…I repeat…"Milk You want some milk, you are thirsty, drink some milk"…."thats a car…you like cars…yes cars go vroom vroom"…..

so….I'd totally appreciate any thoughts, suggestions, advice, links of things to read….?? I'm getting quite anxious/concerned about it…and to wait 4 more months…aaagggg!

Thank you!!!

Hello,

I have a 3.5 yr old boy and he has a delay that his speech therapist has not come across in his 20+ years experience. He has been tested and does not have a language delay, just speech. His biggest problem is the inability to annunciate the letter E. There are other delays but this is the obvious one. The letter E comes out sounding like an N. if he says the word cheese it will sound like ch-nn-se. We have him in speech twice a week through the school system and supplement that once per week with a specialist through our insurance. He has an appt at the ENT at months end. He is very social and advanced in his motor skills. Any suggestions? Thank you

Noel

Hi Tammi, I am hoping you can help me help my friend. My friend's 3 year old son does not speak. He babbles and does not make eye contact often. He knows his ABCs and can identify a letter if you ask him to and he wants to play along. She taught him the ABC song and he will sing it very low or hum it but we can't get him to say words. If you ask him to say things he acts like he didn't hear you. He is very intelligent, you can tell, but just won't talk. He plays video games a lot and I am concerned about that. Could the games be part of the problem? He just got the DS in Dec and wasn't speaking before then either. When he wants things he pulls on her and takes her to where he wants her. I am not a parent so I hesitate to stick my nose in too much but I do think that there are things that we can all be doing to entice him to speak. She has had him checked and the Dr's say his hearing is good and he does not seem to be autistic. Do you have any advice? Thank you so much!

Hi Tamie,

I have a 16 month old boy who was induced at 37 weeks as to sga. He has not said one word yet and he doesnt point. He just screams if he wants something. I am sure his hearing is good as he hears things that are in another room like when im in the kitchen and i get a packet of chips he crawls to me to eat with me. I feel like his motor skills are delayed he didnt crawl till 1 year and he still hasnt walked yet. He is still taking the dummy i dont know if that has delayed him in talking. When I tell him to say mama or dada he just screams. Can you tell me what i can do to encourage him to talk?

Hi Mirna,
From what you describe here, I think I would take him for an evaluation. His screaming could be because he is frustrated because he is not able to communicate. You can take him to be evaluated for free from Child Find in your local school district.This article may help:
http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process

Good luck to you.
Tami

Hi Tami,
My son is 4 1/2 years old and he has some trouble pronouncing the "s" sound. He seems to be inhaling through his mouth to make the sound — almost as if he's sucking in air, rather than blowing out. He does produce an s-like sound; but it's a little more exaggerated than a regular s. It's particularly noticeable at the end of words. He started speaking at a very young age and, other than "s," his speech is very clear and his vocabulary is great. It doesn't interfere with his communication at all, and strangers can clearly understand him. I'm just concerned that it will continue and become an issue later on. But I don't want to have him go for speech therapy if it's something that may self-correct. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you so much for your time and for creating such a helpful and informative site!

Jenny

Hi tami

Thanks for getting back to me I wanted to know how would a speech therapist help my son to talk and can I do any thing to help him

Hi,
After suspecting it for more than a year, I finally had my 3 1/2 year old's hearing tested and they found moderate to severe hearing loss. We took him for tube surgery and the next day we had our outgoing, active, fun little boy back. Except, his articulation is way off and it's hard for him that people don't understand much of what he's saying. He goes to a private preschool and his friends are very patient. We also tried a few speech therapists and finally found one he really responds to and he's starting to make great progress. We will be having a meeting with the school district to see how they can help and I really believe it would be most effective to stay with the private therapist. Is there any research or articles you can point me to to back up that one on one therapy is the most effective (especially for a kid who needs to catch up) and also one about how peer modeling is important? and anything about how the specific relationship between child and therapist is one that should remain continuous? Anything you can think of would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hello, We have a son who is almost 29 months old. He has struggled with speech from the beginning. We took him for a speech eval and hearing exam (which was normal) @ 24 months. The speech therapist diagnosed him with apraxia.

Unforunately,our insurance will not cover speech therapy and my husband is completely against it so it's not an option right now. My husband didn't talk until age 3 according to his mom and he thinks this is something that our son will simply grow out of.

I'm really worried about his lack of progress lately and I'm not sure where to turn. He will say something correctly one time and then doesn't seem to be able to say it again. His sister is an early talker and only 13 1/2 months younger so she is starting to talk almost as much as he is @ this point. He seems very hesitant to talk and wants her to answer for him @ times. He also tends to imitate her in her speech. He frequently does not finish his words and lately he has been ending all of his words with a "k" sound. I really want to get him the help he needs but my husband is not on board with it and will not allow me to spend any more money. Please help. Thank you!

Hi Chelle,

I just saw this post, sorry for the delay. My website isn't working right guess and I am not getting notified when I get posts. Really sorry.

Anyhow, that is crazy that you have to wait 4 months! Have you tried to contact other places? I know Childrens's Holsital usually has a long wait, but there are lots of other clinics and such. You can also go through your local school district (Child Find) and this is a free evaluation. It sounds like though from what you describe that your son would benefit from more therapy (one-on-one) than the school disctrict can usually provide.

It sounds like you are doing a great job with the signing (even if he is not interested) and with the narrating his play. Those are two things that I would suggest. I would really urge you to find a place that can get him in for an evaluation sooner.

Good luck,
Tami

Hi Noel,

I would be curious to see if the ENT found anything structural that is causing this speech problem. It sounds like you certainly have your bases covered with speech therapy.

Please keep me posted after your ent appointment.
Thanks,
Tami

Hi Christina,
Has your friend taken her son for a speech evaluation yet. If not, I would suggest that. When he takes your hand to what he wants it's important that you also give him the words that he is not using (in short phrases), "juice please", "you want juice." Will he try to repeat if you get right in front of him so he can see your mouth?

The video games are probably not helping. There are lots of great educational games and shows on like PBS that may help encourage words, but I don't think that regular video games would do that.

It sounds like it would also be a good idea at this point to have him evaluated by a speech pathologist or whole developmental team.

I know this must be difficult because you are not the parent, but good luck anyways.

Tami

Hi Jenny,

I would not suggest speech therapy either since it's only the s. Will he try to say it more correctly if you show him how your mouth looks when you say that sound? Maybe if he puckered his lips a little the air would come out the middle more. It's so hard to give you suggestions without seeing him.

Maybe taking him for a speech evaluation would be a good idea because then you could get suggestions on how to work with him at home.

Do you live n Denver, by any chance?

Tami

Hi Erica,
I think there are benefits to both private speech therapy and therapy through a preschool program which is I'm sure what the school district would offer.Thee is a great benefit to peer modeling, however if he is making progress witht the private speech therapist, I would probably just keep him in that. You could do a combination of both and that would probably be the best.

Good luck,
Tami

Hi Jennifer,

Wow, this is a difficult situation. If he really does have apraxia, this is not something that he will outrgow and he really does need therapy. And unfortunately the earlier he gets intervention, the better. It sounds like from what you describe, that it is very likely that this diagnosis is accurate.

Have you thought about going through your local school district (Child Find). The school district has a program that serves kids until they are preschool age (and then they are setviced in the preschool setting once they are 3). This service, if your son qualifies, is a free service to you.

It's worth looking into. I hope this helps.
Tami

Hi Tami,

Thanks so much for your response. When I show him how I make the s sound and ask him to try to copy me and blow out, it comes out as more of a "sh" sound. He also gets very frustrated if I ask him to try it more than a couple of times (even when I try to make it fun).

I did notice that, when he says words with "s" at the beginning/middle, he's not inhaling like he does when "s" is at the end of word; but he's making more of an "f" sound (e.g., "fnow" for "snow," etc.) It's not quite an f or an s sound … I watched his mouth and I think he's using his upper teeth on his lower lip. I noticed that my two year-old daughter also makes her "s" sounds this way, so is it something they will both outgrow?

It's really confusing because very few people have even noticed other than my husband and myself — yet I want to help him, if he needs it. Thank you so much for your advice. I'm going to try asking him to pucker his lips a little, as you suggested. And maybe take him for an evaluation to learn how I can work with him at home.

Thanks again!
Jenny

p.s.~ No, unfortunately, I don't live in Denver — I'm all the way in New Jersey

Hi Jenny,

To make you feel a little better about it, the "s" is a later developing sound. And especially 's' blends (like snow) are later developing as well. By later, I mean like 5 1/2 or so. With knowing that, I would probably say leave it alone for a little while and see if it doesn't self correct. It sounds like it's not interfering with your ability to understand what he is saying, so I would just wait a while - like 6-9 months or so and see if it doesn't just self correct.

Thanks,
Tami

Hi Tammy,

My son had difficult breathing and had 3 seizures in one month when he was about 6 months. When we saw a GP, he referred us to an ENT specialist who said that my son had enlarged adenoids and subsequently, an operation was done within the following 3 weeks.

Between 2-3y.o, my son would drool a lot but between 4-6, he stopped. Now he is 7 but has started keeping a lot of saliva in his mouth for the past 2months. I am worried and while trying to get a solution, I staggered into this link. I hope, I'll get some relief.

Hi Veronica,

I really don't have any ideas of why your son is doing what you describe. Have you asked your pediatrician about it. I think that's where I would start to find a solution.

Good luck.
Tami

Hi Tami,

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old and she speaks clearly, in full sentences, she knows her numbers till 12 and sings her abc's. But a lot of times she switches her syllables when she is speaking specially two syllables words. Is this normal? Just wondering. Thanks.

Hi Tami,

My daughter is 26 month old. She doesn't speak that much. Currently, she can only say two syllables word and cannot form sentence with two or more words. She understands what I am saying (she can respond to my instructions, like: put your bottle on the table, etc).
I haven't taken her to see a therapist yet, coz it's difficult to find one in my place. I just want to know if her situation is normal? or when should I be worried?
Thanks

I've been searching the Internet and can't find any reference to the problem my 2 1/2 year old son has. He has delayed speech but seems to be picking up lots of new words all of a sudden. The problem is he has started extending the sound "ss" at the end of a word so "yes" becomes…yes..sss..sss but he actually pauses in between making the extra ssss noises as opposed to just yessssssss (I hope that makes sense) I'm not sure if he is just experimenting with sounds or whether there is an underlying speech problem. At first we tried correcting him but we have decided to ignore it now in the hope he stops on his own. He's only been doing it for a week or so but it's every word with an s on all throughout the day

Hi Tami,

Thank you so much for your advice. I will leave it alone for about 6 to 9 months and see if it self corrects, as you suggested. Thank you again for taking the time to help me and so many other parents — you've really helped to ease my mind

Jenny

Hi

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to write abt our problems. My son is 34 months old and he is not talking at all. he only says papa, dada, amma, koi and some ununderstandable words. but he recognises everything. he sense well. he goes to play school for last one month. what should i do to motivate him to speak.

Pls help

Regards
Aditya
8826561234

Hi Tami,
My son turned 5 in December and he had a speech delay, received speech therapy from 2 1/2 to 3 years and attended an early intervention school program through the state funded program here in FL. Now he will be entering kindergarten and I have concerns about this speech still. he will not pronounce the "s" at the beginning of words. It sounds like "d" or "c".. he just cuts it off completely. Should I be concerned? he is speech delay has caused him a delay in socializing as well, and he has always been kind of introverted, and I am afraid this speech problem will just exacerbate the problem. Suggestions?

~Kristen

Hi Tami,
Our son is almost 27 months old and does not speak yet. We talk Slovak but live in an English environment. Throughout the time there were words he was saying but he drops them and maybe repeats them a few times months later or never. I feel he didn't have the motivation to speak much yet. Plus, he doesn't like to be pushed to do something… He understands most everything and follows directions, his other development is normal. Physically he may be in advance even. Most of the time he uses:

da and dada - for showing us something or when pointing (sort of like "look!"
de and dede - when talking and explaining
na - for "no"
kdeje - for "where is" when looking for something or missing something
"nede" - when he can't do something or something broke
= these words are similar to orginal
his newest word is "bye" and he's starting to enjoy using it (he's learned it a few days ago)
…………….

-> at some point in time he said
mama
dada
woof (dog barking)
bac (falling object)
mnamnam (eating)
and probably several more
…………………..

Recently (past 2 weeks) he started imitating an enormous variety of sounds and gestures. But sounds are a novelty and he is learning new every day and it can even be sounds he never heard before. This includes animal sounds and human (e.g. snoring, yawning, coughing, crying, blowing kiss sound etc.) and non living things (car alarm, flash etc.). He loves to sing and is attempting to imitate melody. He remembers such details from his DVDs (Leapfrog, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and knows what will come next and does the sound in advance. At the same time he is imitating gestures and actions. Can be fairytale he's seen once or twice.

On top of this he is a VERY shy boy and needs time to warm up with people. We have started to go a Mummy and Me thing and enrolled in Music Academy (started last week). We are actively playing with him, reading, talking all the time .. and also follow tips on how to encourage him to talk. He seems to be doing SO MUCH BETTER now. Sometimes trying to give me the first letter of words now. We have started to focus on his language encouragement in the last couple of weeks really.

Should we still be concerned? Any more suggestions on what to do will be very, very appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Tamy
First of all, i wanna say you are doing very great by helping us out. My 3 yo son goes to preschool.I always been talking to him in english, we live in dominican republic.At his school they speak spanish. At his age, he isnt talking english, nor spanish. But he says english words to me,like juice. He doesnt want to say i want juice. i forced him to say it once, and he said it.Iknow he can say i want juice but he doesnt want to say it.So hes only telling me words. i bought him a learning toy, i see he can repeat the words in english, but he doesnt make sentences. He wanna speak spanish instead coz his friends speak spanish. But in spanish, hes not saying no sentences either only some words.At school, the teacher says he understands when she speaks to him, besides he passed the trimester. He understands english very well but he is only not making sentences to me.I dont know what to do.Please help me.Thanks.

Hi Betty,
Yes, this does sound within the normal range for your daughter's age to be switching around vowel sounds. It sounds like she is just experimenting and it's extremely likely that she will grow out of it. Especially given that she is already speaking in sentences.

Be patient
Tami

Hi Ayeesha,

At 26 months, it is typical for a child to have many words and this is when they are just beginning to put 2-words and 3 words together to form little sentences. There is a range, however, and some kids fall at the later end of that range. It's great that she seems to be understanding. Certainly I would try, as a parent, to work with her to expand her utterances and if her language has not progressed much in the next 6-8 months then I would have her evaluated.

Try some of the language stimulation techniques on this article and also take a look at other articles on this site for suggestions on how to work with your daughter.

http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play

Good luck and sorry it took so long to respond.
Tami

Hi Michelle,

I think you are right that your son is probably just experimenting with sounds. And you are also correct to just ignore it for now. It sounds like it will go away on it's own, especially if you don't call attention to it. If in a few months it hasn't gone away, maybe you could gently say something like "I wonder if you can say that word like me?" And then say the word and see if he'll copy you. But I would wait a few months and see if it doesn't go away on it own first.

Good luck.
Tami

Hi Aditya,

Does your son use the words he does have meaningfully or is he using them randomly? It is important to make sure that your son knows that words have meaning, like when he says "mama" that he is directing it to you and that you respond. He may need to also know that there is a reason he needs to use words and that reason is to communicate. So when he wants something, like milk or juice or a snack or more of something, that you don't just anticipate that need and give it to him, but rather you say the word and encourage him to imitate it. Maybe you are doing this already, but if not, this would be a good place to start. And his imitation doesn't have to sound exactly like the word. I would give him what he wants as long as he tries to say something.

If you have been doing this with no success or have tried some of the other language stimulation techniques on my website, then maybe you should take him for a speech/language evaluation. Have a look at this article -
http://speechtherapyweb.com/speech-language-evaluation-process. You can take him for a free evaluation through your local school district's Child Find Program.

Good luck to you
Tami

Hi Kristen,

It sounds like this speech problem that you describe is bothering him and that he is not socializing because of it. That's not good and it sounds like at this point, that's not a speech error that will self correct. He may be able to get speech therapy in school, but it's doubtful if that is the only error that he has. If he doesn't start kindergarten until the fall, I would encourage some private speech therapy over the summer. It probably won't take too many sessions and you do want him to start kindergarten with as much confidence as he can.

Thanks and good luck.
Tami

Hi Lynn,

It sounds like he is starting to do a lot better. It's great that you have him in Mommy and Me and also now a music class. The fact that he is now imitating is great. When he is giving you the first sound of a word, is that for something he wants? Always say the whole word for him so he can hear it. Try some of the techniques on this article - http://speechtherapyweb.com/learning-language-through-play.

Thanks for posting.
Tami

Hi Sanika,

It sounds like your son is using some words, but just not combining words. Have a look at some of this suggestions on this article.
http://speechtherapyweb.com/tips-to-help-your-child-learn-new-words

You want to expand his utterances in an indirect way. So when he says "juice" you want to add one to words to that by saying back to him "want juice", or "more juice" or "I want juice". He doesn't need to repeat you at first, but you just want him to hear what he should be saying and the hope is that eventually he will catch on to this. I would do this in English and in Spanish with him (or maybe his teacher can do this in Spanish). And after some time of just letting him hear the longer utterances, I would encourage him to imitate you. I hope this makes sense and that it eventually helps.

Good luck to you and your son.
Tami

Hi Tami,
Thank you so much for your reply. Your question as to if our son tried to use the first sound of words when he wanted something made me realize that he still doesn't. When he tries to be vocal it is usually when signing or playing, or we're reading. There probably still isn't a real communication purpose to it. How do I make him realize it is necessary for communication? He has his ways of communicating and we know what he wants.. if I give him a choice of two he would point and grunt, getting a little frustrated and annoyed if I am not giving him what he wants. His communication consists of pointing, saying different sounds in different situations and changing his voice intonation. Eventually he pushes me e.g. to the cabinet to open it and get him something if it is too high for him to reach, or gets me the computer mouse if he wants me to play some toddler song videos for him etc. How should we react to that? I am sooo incredibly thankful for your help.

Hi Tami,

I just ran across your blog as I am studying to be ready for my granddaughter's IEP conference next week. She is eight years old and is profoundly deaf. She lost her hearing (no reason has been determined) around 18 months and received a CI at about 30 mos. Prior to her hearing loss her speech was age appropriate. Now at eight, she is still hard to understand unless she speaks slowly, and even then she has problems. She is bussed 45 minutes away to be in a school that offers an HI teacher and she has made remarkable progress after a very disappointing year in which she repeated kindergarten but was denied an aide of any kind. She had speech therapy twice a week for 20 minutes during that year. Her teacher (gen ed) made no provisions for her at all - probably because of inexperience. At this year's school, she spends 80% of her time in the gen ed 1st grade room and her HI teacher said she is doing very well. She shares an interpreter with another child. She does well in reading but concepts frequently escape her. Science is difficult for her because it is so conceptual. Spelling is impossible and she dislikes it, probably because she knows she will fail. She has difficulty pronouncing certain consonants and was diagnosed as having a phonology disorder. This doesn't seem to cause her problems socially as she is well liked by her peers. My questions is whether her two half hour sessions of speech a week are enough. That is what is being proposed again for next year. Everything I have read indicates that much more intensive therapy is necessary to overcome this problem. I believe that her problem with pronouncing words directly affects her spelling and may also affect how well she is able to answer questions, especially on tests. The other recommendation that I question is that she does not need services (speech therapy) during the summer. This seems to me to be a great time to accomplish a great deal with her speech when there is not the burden of so much homework and two long bus rides.
The atmosphere during her two years in kindergarten in her home school district was somewhat adversarial but seems to be better now so I would like your opinion on my assessment of the situation. I would add that when she was tested last year it was after her half hour of speech therapy and/or at the end of the day. Many of the observations focused on her inability to stay on task or to try to turn the pages before the test giver was ready. Because it was someone unfamiliar with her they misunderstood some of the things she said (she called a cup a cuppy - she actually interpreted it as a coffee cup and was saying coffee) and pointed out how immature she was. She will use the incorrect word for an object, using instead its purpose or function. She also will think that a picture is something other than what the tester is looking for (such as calling a swingset a park or playground) and is not easily convinced that her interpretation is "wrong".

Her parents have asked me to be with them at several of the IEP conferences because I can remain calm but still speak firmly without being confrontational. She is a very bright girl who should be doing better than she is at school. Her intelligence is not being questioned by the school but I am not sure that they understand her problem as well as they should. If they have her in the gen ed classroom 80% of the time, isn't it reasonable to assume that speech is a large part of the problem. How can you learn to spell a word correctly or sound it out easily if you can't pronounce it? I also wonder about the problems with interpreters - it seems (from what I have read) that enough is missed by the student watching the interpreter that some extra reinforcement may be necessary. I have read up on this problem also and would appreciate your thoughts on this.
Thanks for your input.

Hi Tami

I wanted to consult you about my husbands twin sister who were born with profound mixed hearing loss. they turned 19 this month.they are now using digital hearing aid. we are trying to give them speech therapy but currently no doctor is hear now in Maldives. they do not use sign language to talk they read lips and use lip-sing to communicate. i wanted to know if it would work. .i really really want them to speak like i do

thanks

Hi.

My daughter is 4.5 yrs old. She has speech delay problem, at home we speah in Urdu, she is having her speech therapy sessions also, she just started to make 3,4 words sentences in Urdu, she is in Pre Kg, in English she just can say 1 word, her english vocabulory is hardly 10 words. How can she be helped out because she is 2 yrs late in her schools. Thanks

Hi Tami,

I have an 8 year old son. He reads a lot and has a wide range of vocabulary. However he struggles with putting together his sentences. I have brought him to a therapist when he was about 4 years old and she worked with him for a while. We have since stopped as I assumed he would get better as he gets older. But he still seems to struggle expressing himself. Sometimes it takes him a few minutes and several tries before he manages a sentence.

Our 4 year old daughter, on the other hand, prattles on effortlessly and he usually gets left behind in conversations. I am worried this will affect his self-esteem and affect his ability to communicate with his school mates. What should I do?

Dear Tami,

I have a daughter turning 4 in September 2012.
She was not talking much when she was 2 1/2 but has been improving since she was almost 3yo. Therefore, i delay in going to a sppech evaluation as i was told there is no result to it but to give the kid a good foundation.
She has been talking in sentences but many were not able to understand her at first but they are getting better per friends & family. I just feel that she is just a little slower eg she is coming 4 but talk at the rate of 3 yo maybe. I was told i talk late when i was a kid.

My question is she is gradually improving- do i need to worry? of cos there are certain words that is still unclear. Appreciate your kind advise.

I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter who seems to be developing normally. She has always had a large vocabulary but I have noticed over the past few months she is mispronouncing several words she previously had no trouble with. She is adding and "f" sound to the end of most words that end in vowels, such as "nof" for "no". Should I be correcting her when she does this or just ignore it? Is this concerning that she has just now developed this?

Tami, the question I have concerns my 3 1/2 year old grandson, who has what I call stammering issues and with starting sentences,.i.e., when asked to explain something he is talking about, he will say be…be…be several times, (his 'nana' and I think he's trying to say because), it doesn't sound like 'normal' stuttering to me… anyway, his mom and dad are divorced and he spends alternate weeks with my wife and me,(our daughter lives with us), and he's told us that his dad has told him he's retarded,(I don't think his dad is trying to be mean to my granson, Austin, when he calls him this, though I'm not sure why he does it, and my daughter has asked him,(his dad), to be more aware of how his words impact his son), he has some other speech issues, like saying his r's and t's, but other than the stammering and getting started he appears to be doing as well as can be expected under the circumstances… any advice, or help you can give us would certainly be appreciated… thanks Ken

Hi Tina Dsilva and Tami:

My son is 3.5 years old and has exactly the same problem as the daughter of Tina Dsilva had, as posted in sep 22, 2008. I hope her daughter has already overcomed the problem. Will you both please give me some tips for my son. This will be a great help for me. Being mother it really hurts.

Dear Tami, Thanks for your excellent website! This is a question asked more out of curiosity than concern.

My son, almost 4, likes to do what he calls "silly talk." He will change the first syllable of every word in a sentence. For example, instead of "Happy birthday to you," he will say "Pappy pirbay poo poo." He'll switch out different letters but it is often the letter P because then he has the added benefit of saying "bathroom words" that are so funny at his age.

I notice that his speech in general sounds a bit baby-like compared with kids his age, especially girls, but most people can understand parts of what he is saying. He also enjoys adding a rhyming word to someone's name (Jenny Benny, Sam Bam, Sonia Bonia, etc.)

Why do kids play with words in these ways? And why do they engage in baby talk even as they get older and are able to speak more clearly?

Here's a great iOS /s/ sound storybook game for children, parents and educators. Concept by a? speech language pathologist. Visit captaincal (dot) ca

HI Tammy-I have a niece that is 2 1/2 years old. She speaks very well, in sentences, not just words. She would have a conversation with you as if you were speaking with a 5 or 6 year old child. She would say that her food was "delicious, nutritious or scrumptious". All of a sudden she is struggling to speak. She is having difficulty saying I love you, she now says her food is yum yum. She has also started stuttering. I am really concerned about her because she spoke so well and now it appears that she is reverting back to speaking like an infant.

Hi Deirdre,
You are right to be concerned. This behavior or what seems to be a regression of skills is alarming. What comes to mind first though, is emotional. Is there anything going on in her family or extended family on an emotional level (divorce, new baby)? If not, I would encourage her parents to take her in to see her pediatrician or perhaps even a speech pathologist.

Hopefully it's just something emotional and it will not last.

Tami

my child is 5 years old but he did not speak.His bera test result is 90db.According to the docter i have to buy hearing aid but when we aid the machine in his ear he will cry due to loud sound but the machine is lowest frequency what can i do please help me.

Hello,
Just in the past week, our 17mo son has been dropping off the first consonant to "Mamma" and "Papa'", which he has said correctly since he was about 7 or 8 months old. He has been bilingual in Italian and English since birth, and he produces and understands words in both languages. What could be the cause of his sudden elimination of M and P when referring to us?
Thank you.

Rajesh,
This sounds like a problem or adjustment with the hearing aid. You might want to ask the doctor or the audiologist for help with this.

Best of luck.
Tami

Hi Valerie,
I really don't know. The only thing that comes to mind is that he is in a stage of experimenting with sounds and words and so perhaps that's all it is. Kids seem to go through one quirky stage after another and all do (in their own time) pass. Hopefully that's all that is going on.

Tami

Dear Tami,

My daughter is turning 4 in September. She was not talking much when she was 2 1/2 but has been improving since she was almost 3yo. Therefore, i delay in going to a speech evaluation as i was told there is no result to it but to give the kid a good foundation.
She has been talking in sentences but many were not able to understand her at first but they are getting better per friends & family. Mother instinct tells me that she is just slower EG she is coming 4 but talk at the rate of 3 yo maybe. I was told i talk late when i was a kid.

My question is she is gradually improving- do i need to worry? of cos there are still many words that are still unclear. Appreciate your kind advise if this is a red flag?

Many thanks in advance!

Best Regards,
Jerlyn Choy

Dear Tami,
My daughter is 8 and getting ready for 3rd grade. She has been in speech therapy since age 2. She still struggles to speak well, particularly with "r" sounds being replaced by "w." this past year she has mostly mastered "sh" and "th" sounds but can still struggle with these as well. Her 2nd grade teacher told us she was worried about her in 3rd grade getting teased because her speech still sounds "babyish." she struggles with spelling and writing in school, but otherwise excels, especially in math, science and music (we are reading about black holes this summer!). I am worried she is not progressing with speech as she should. She will often say to me, "I can't get the word" when there is something she is trying to say. Do you have any advice on next steps?
Thanks,
Patricia

Hi Jerlyn,
It's great that she has been improving over the last few months. And it is also very positive that she is now speaking in sentences. Does she get a chance to be around other kids her own age? Is she in preschool? These are things that will help her development in this area and all areas. If she still seems delayed to you midway through this school year then maybe ask her teacher what she thinks.

If she is not in school, you can still get an evaluation through the school district's Child Find program until age 5.

Thanks for visiting my website.
Tami

Hi Patricia,
Sometimes, speech therapy that is provided in the schools is just not enough. It sounds like she would benefit from some private speech therapy. She's at an age now where, unfortunately she may start to get teased a little and it is also very likely to interfere with reading and spelling and writing. The school speech therapist may even have some referrals for private therapists in the area.

Good luck!
Tami

Hi Tami,
My 29 month old daughter is pretty articulate for the most part. She does seem to have consistent difficulty with pronouncing the "s" sound before words "spider" becomes "pider", "school" becomes "cool." Interestingly enough, when I slow her down, she'll repeat the sound correctly, but when she's holding a conversation with me, she'll usually drop the "s".
Otherwise, she's pretty on top of things, has identified her letters (big and small) since she was 16 months old as well as sang the alphabet song; she knows all her shapes, colors, counts and identifies numbers up to 50, can do site math- adding and subtracting objects, reads/ identifies about 50 words, correctly identifies phonemes at the beginning of words.
I did notice though, when she mispronounces the word, she can sometimes mistake the phoneme at the beginning of the word– if she says "pider" for spider and you ask her what letter it starts with she'll say "p". Otherwise though, if you ask her what does "spider" start with, she'll correctly identify "s". She has been learning some Spanish, also, her whole life. She'll correctly spell, etc. in Spanish also. It doesn't seem like a hearing difficulty. Incidentally, no history of ear infections, nor does it vary with any colds.
I'm just wondering if I should be concerned, or should I just keep slowing her down to say the word correctly when she mispronounces it. Or, do I need to take her to a speech therapist.
Otherwise, she's a normally developing 2 year old, some shyness, some difficulty at times separating, occasional temper tantrums when tired, sick. Good sleeper and eater.
Thanks for your help,
Carrie

Hi

I have a 4 1/2 year old boy who seems to have problems with the letters g and k. for example if he is saying "bag" it sounds like "bad" and "track" sounds like "trap".

We have been working on him to try and speak clearer as he does tend it mumble. When he doesn't mumble he is very clear apart from those types of sounds. Are there any books that I can buy to help him practice these sounds?

We live in Ontario and he starts JK in a couple of weeks- I am not sure if they do speech evaluations or not. My older son didn't say any words until he was nearly 3 but when he did he was very clear. My 4 1/2 year old started talking a lot earlier but is not as clear.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated!

thanks
Ailsa

HI…
U r doing a gr8 job by helping out d parents who have kids having speech prbs…
i 've a daughter of 6 , she can't pronounce "f" sound , instead of "f" she alwaz says ''s". like if suppose she wants to say "fan" she ll says ''san"… hopefully u'll help me…
many many thnx in advance..

Regards,
Khadija.

hi there,
I was wondering. My son is not diagnosed with tourettes, but he consistently yells out sounds, also he repeats what he heres and more often than not YELLS the first word. Even if its a question coming from him. His voice is and always has been loud anyway - all test show he has perfect hearing however he is diagnosed auditory processing disorder.
Can you help on where to go for help?? It is most disruptive. I can't take him anywhere. His friends dont like it and its giving as all a headache!!

Hello
My friend's son around 5year old is not making conversations. he is able to learn new things and songs and has no problem with different sounds. he may not respond when you ask him. but he recites the poems or lessons taught earlier when by himself. he only points or tugs to get something or end up doing it himself but hesitates to converse. so i dont know which type of schoolto enrol him. he is already going to a therapist who says she cant understand why he doesnt converse. what could be his problem.

How to raise a kid (just turned 2 years and doesn't say any word) who has contact with 3 different languages? At kindergarten they are consistent with the Norwegian language, but at home is a mix between Portuguese and English (from TV shows and parents), although Portuguese is his parent's mother tongue (should we also be consistent using only Portuguese with him?). The kid understands our Portuguese, but doesn't look at our eyes while we are talking to him and he is more excited with the pictures and sounds that the animals make, than to say the animal's name, e.g. A month ago he started with his own language, but it feels like he is training and paying more attention in the new sounds his mouth can make, but with his parents he is still pointing out things he want instead of using words. Do you have any advices to me? Thanks.

Hi Tami,

My son is 18 months old. I know it is early to worry, but he has a friend who has so many words it makes him seem very far behind on language.

His comprehension is fantastic, but he can't repeat words after me very well. I taught him to ask me to "come" and he says "mlargh". Sometimes he repeats a word, but it remains inconsistent afterwards. He just doesn't seem to enjoy learning to speak like he enjoys learning so many other things.

I have been working with him more actively for a couple of weeks, asking him to say a word or trying to get him to vocalize a choice. He has about 30 words I can understand, but they are all poorly pronounced save maybe 6. And he lost "shoes" today which used to be a pretty regular word and well-enunciated (saying "glarmpf" instead all of a sudden).

I feel like I am putting too much pressure on him and me and would like some perspective on how much I should expect from him and how much I should be "on" him to talk. We were doing baby sign language and he would pick that up and it was fun. Now I am scared to teach him sign language and it all seems like we are fighting against the clock to get him to talk before he is ruined or something.

Your perspective would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

I have a 6 year old son and in the last few months he has developed a problem getting a sentence out without stopping and going back to the start, example "Noah has a" then he repeats "Noah has a" and he could repeat this 3/4 times before he finishes the sentence. Any ideas on how to overcome this please?
thanks

Hi,

My son is 3 and is struggling to say curtain sounds. Rather then cat he'll say tat and the similar with the letters g k q x (go kite quiet X-ray ) he'll supplement the first letter with "t" (to tite twiet ets ray). Why? What's wrong? What do we do to fix this? Other then this he's very confident social and pretty bright for the most part. He's healthy and is physically well. I'm very concerned. Thank you for your time.

Hi Tami,
I am 17 years old boy.I have a speach problem.When i am saying the lettes 's',it becomes as a low pitched non clear 's'.I want to make my 's' sharper and clearer.I am not attended any speech therappy yet.Now i am joined in a college for enggineering.What i do now.Please help me fastly
Thanks…..

Hi Tami,
My son has just turned 3 (17th october) and has just started speech therapy - second session today. He talks a lot and family and close friends can understand most of what he says - sometimes he's clearer than others. His school says he's behind in his speech and so does the speech therapist. She hasn't really said much except that it's nothing that can't be sorted out with therapy and that he makes some atypical substitutions for some words. That's it though so not really thrilled with the level of feedback so far. If you say a word to him he will say it perfectly but he struggles when you want him to then say the word with 2 or 3 other words. No other issues with him, no other red flags he just doesn't seem to have much grasp with actual language use. You can have a conversation with him and he'll answer you, folow directions no problem. We are working on potty training, he knows colours, can count to 10 and knows some letters by sight. He knows a lot of words - we read books and he'll point and say the object name but it's ennuciation of multiple words when stringing them together. will this come naturally on its own in his 3rd year? My daughter is 4 and a half and a great talker from 2 and a half. She does speak for him a lot. I was a later talker for the same reason - old sibling - and talked when i was 3. Any link? Thanks for your help,
Isobel

My daughter just turned three years old. She has a large vocabulary, knows the alphabet, can count to 70 and combines two word sentences like “go outside?” or “go home now?” She also puts together sentences like “Mommy has coffee” and “where are you?” when looking for something. She has a good attention span for activities so long as an adult is with her and has a terrific memory. She has memorized whole books and likes to “read” them out loud (with me repeating the phrases after her.) She will correct me with a quick “no” if I get a word wrong or if I turn the page at the wrong time! She also reads some words like “love” and “open” if she sees them written on a page or sign.

However, she does not respond to questions like – What is your name? or Do you like your shirt? She knows her name and definitely has opinions/preferences on her clothes, but will not respond to the questions about them. She simply doesn’t converse the way other kids do at her age. She also has outbursts (hitting and screaming) when you tell her something like “I’m sorry, there are no more crackers, do you want a banana?” But a moment later when you offer her an apple, she will say “banana?” and then smile as though relieved when you hand her the banana. We are very confused about what is going on with her and plan to have her evaluated quite soon. I’m wondering if you can help me figure out what is going on? How we can help her?

Our 26 month old speaks very few words. The ones he does say, he doesn't finish, like ma instead of mom, ye for yes, ba for ball, etc. He's not shy, he's our 4th child, but the only one with a speech delay. He says all his letters (the same way, only the beginning) What can I do to help him complete the sounds? We just started speech therapy 2 weeks ago, but I'm just looking for more advice. Thanks!

I have a 6 year old son that is months away from turning seven. He's been a great reader since kindergarden and is good at math. But he still has trouble forming sentences when speaking and has a hard time listening when people are talking to him. He is unable to remember what we tell him like seconds after we finish our sentences. We've tried repeating things to him , having him write sentences as to he will listen better, I've done visual examples of things instead of just telling him, but still he hasn't improved with either… What workbooks or exercises can I do to help him?

I have a 5 year old daughter and I can say that she is really a fast learner. She walked at 9mos,she talked with sentences at 1 year..She can read books at age 4, 32 pages of I mean reading at one sitting of her age book level without asking any single words from me. She talks and speaks clearly and be sometimes correcting my pronunciations. What it bothers me is, she never mention or say the names of the persons. For 1.e., she will say" my cousin", or "my friend" or " my cousin's mom","my friends in school" when I asked her why she is not saying their names, she will say " I don't know". Now, she is in Sk in school, and whenever I send her,other kids in her class will call her and say "Hi Sophia", and I will ask her if she knows their names, she will say "yes" then right after she will say "I forgot". I know she knows their names but the problem is she doesn't want or not saying it. They have the class picture, and when I pointed one by one and I say name and ask if its right she will say " yes ", and when I asked "who is this?", she will say " you say".
Please advise. Thank you.

Hi-

My son was assessed by a speech therapist two months into kindergarten, he is five. (all of the students are assessed in kindegarten) The speech therapist referred him for an evaluation. When I called her she was quick to say nevermind basically, that he was borderline. He didn't answer some of her questions and said "I don't know". He also had trouble with repeating words she said- he did not say them back to her inthe verbatim order she had asked for. Now I am worried about having him evaluated. I don't want him to be labeled or caught up in a system he can never test out of. Developmentally he appears fine- met all of his milestones. His teacher reports he is the highest readin group in her class and feels confident about his abilities. He does have a tendency to day dream, and fidget. Although I feel he can be redirected, and he can stay on task.

Hi Tami,

My son is 4 years old (born in May). He's been going to preschool twice a week since he was 2 (same school each year). He is incredibly bright, learns quickly, and has a passion for learning new things. His hearing has tested well as well as his vision. He is fairly good at understanding directions - if I ask him to do something for me, he does it as directed. However, he speaks very softly, mumbles, and tends to trail off or switch ideas while he talks. I can scarcely get him to answer an open-ended question. And, when he does, he doesn't make a lot of sense. He is learning to read really well and is able to identify things, actions, feelings, etc. His teacher feels that he's very advanced academically, but is concerned about his speech.

I was incredibly quiet when I was school-aged. I was terribly shy and terrified of speaking out of turn and getting into trouble, so I was quiet 100% of the time - even when asked to speak by the teacher. My teachers thought I had a hearing impairment or speech problem, but that all came as a surprise to my mother. I have anxiety disorders and his father and I both have ADD coupled with high IQs (meaning we have trouble concentrating, but never suffered for it academically). I'm not sure how much of my son's speech I can attribute to shyness, anxiety, and excitement and how much might actually be an issue. Do you have any suggestions? If there are any exercises he and I can do at home, that would be great. I work from home, but I take time out to teach him things like reading and math. We could just add it to our daily routine.

My most sincere thanks,

Casey

Hi i have a 5 yr old son which has always had trouble with speech but has gotten alot better since hes gone to school but he cant put words into sentences correctly at all!.i dont know why but its like he'll try and say somthing and its like its completely flip flopped. I try and correct him anf to which i do ALL the time and its like he doesnt pay attention what so ever cause he'll say it wrong again! Not only does he have really hard time putting words into senteces he repeats himself until someone tells him to quit or he finally gets answered. I seriously need some help cause iv tried getting some help and it slways seems to fail! I had a lady come to evaluate him and she came a couple times and she just stopped coming for no reason, never contacted me or nothing…I'VE TRIED!!!!

Hi!!! my son is 22 months old and we are receiving speech services from our local infant toddler program. At our last visit she said she is thinking he has weak facial muscles and his tongue placement is wrong. If this is the case what should I be doing with him. At this point he says: baby (one of his only clear word) dau (dog) gir (girl) gree(hungry) and so on. Should I also seek other services?

Hi Leslie,

Is the infant-toddler program that your son is attending working on strengthening his facial muscles? And if so, I'm sure they could give you some ideas (exercises) to do at home with him. And also, it's very typical at that age to not have correct tongue placement for many sounds. If the program he is in is an early intervention program for speech/language, I would ask them for exercises you can do at home with your son to help strengthen his muscles.

Hope this helps,
Tami

Hi Dezare,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Have you tried having him evaluated through the public school? If a parent requests this, the process is usually quite a bit quicker. I would encourage you to go through this route first. In the meantime. it is important for you to model correct language for him and to correct him (which is sounds like you are doing). I'm wondering if perhaps he is not responding to your efforts because he hears you correcting him all the time and so he just blocks it out. Try picking a couple times a day (maybe in the car on the way to school and then maybe after school - just suggestions) when you will correct his language and have him repeat you. I would talk with him before hand and let him know that these two times everyday, you are going to help him say his sentences better and that he needs to repeat what you say. (Maybe an incentive chart for him to comply with this will help??). So, when he says something (during these designated times only) and the words are not put together correctly, you should say "Oh you mean ….." and say the sentence correctly so that he can hear the way it is supposed to sound. Then say "Now you say it like that." Try very hard not to say "no, that's wrong", or "no, say it like this". If he feels he is wrong, he will be less likely to want to repeat the right way.

I really hope this helps. Feel free to let me know if this is working at all. And good luck with also going through the school district for an evaluation and hopefully if he qualifies for services, he will get speech therapy through the district.

Tami

Hi Casey,

Just to make you feel better, open ended questions are hard for most 4 year olds! As far as him speaking quietly and mumbling, it is hard to know, given his age, if he is just shy like you were or if there is something else going on. Will he speak louder if you ask him to? Maybe try playing a game with him where you both take turns saying something using different loudness levels. Perhaps you can make a chart with loudness levels from 1-5 (5 being yelling and 1 being whispering). Maybe something like this would help??

Is it possible to have him evaluated through his preschool or through the public school district's Child Find Program? If he is evaluated and does not qualify for services, often they will give you suggestions of how you can help him at home.

Hope this helps!
Tami

Hi Tami:
I have a 15 year old daughter that talks fast and when she makes her "s" sound there seems to be to much saliva in her mouth and sounds "slurpy". She has had the issue for a few years. We originally thought it was because she needed braces. Once she had them removed, the "s" sound never became better. Are there any exercises she can do to help correct this. She is embarrassed, and does not want help at school for it, although a teacher has never recommended any therapy, or mentioned it.

MY 16 MONTH OLD TRIES TO TALK BUT IT SOUND LIKE HER TONGUE IS CAUGHT ITS KIND OF SOUND LIKE UH EH AH LIKE IF SHE WAS MUTE AND WANTED TO TALK. PLEASE HELP AM I OVER REACTING IS IT TO SOON TO TELL SHE DOES SAY MOM AND DAD (IN SPANISH) STOP, SHE UNDERSTAND SO WELL IF I TELL HER TO DO SOMETHING SHE DOES IT RIGHT AWAY
THANKS

I am an Indian.
My child just turned 3 yrs.
He sings songs, poems , play music using any hard surface of home appliances. Read objects names very nicely(like "this is mango", even draw lines or circles. But does not frame any sentence. he goes to pre-school. should i consult doctor or wait for a bit of time.
He express himself by crying or by picking things.