Our 3-1/2 year old son is hyper verbal, but not always understandable. He seems to have a bit of a lisp, and often garbles all his words. When we finally figure out what he's saying, he has good sentence structure and some big ideas for a 3-year-old. His older brother was speech delayed so we're not certain if our younger son is having speech problems. There is a nephew in the family who had pronunciation issues, and now at 14 is still hard to understand.
At what ages is speech pronunciation of concern? Do we just wait until school? Not sure if 3-1/2 is too young to test for it. Any ideas?
Thanks,
B.
Thank you everybody for the responses! I will get him assessed in January. Several people tell me his speech is normal, but others have said it is hard to understand. I think there's a pronunciation problem, but DH does not. It's much better to be safe than sorry, especially with a history of speech problems in the family. Besides, speech therapy has always been fun for our extra son, so it's not like it's a bad thing if our younger one has to go too. I really appreciate the input and support! This site is such a great way to get feedback. Thanks!
Most schools will take a child much earlier than five years old for speech. I took my son to the primary school for speech at 3 years of age. It is also free. It did help him a lot. Now he is able to speak normal.
Check with his md A. no hills
Hi Bonni I have two Children about the same age difference as your 2 My lodest is also Special needs. She is very speech delayed. When ever you concerned about you childs speech or health I vfeel is a good time to be concerned if it bother you then chances are it might bother others around you and your child and if the child can't be understood they become frustarted as well. If your truly concerned look into speech therapy. There are some leter combinations and even letters alone that take long to be pronouned correctly. and a trained professional can tell you more.
Get him assessed immediately, so he can get started on therapy now. The school district will take months to organize this, and with recent budget cuts they aren't paying for speech therapy like they used to. Check with your insurance provider, but even if you need to go privately, early intervention is always the way to go.
S. Eiges, M.S.W.
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My son is 5 and has been in speech therapy for 1 year already and he has improved a whole lot. I blamed myself because I thought I should have read to him a lot more than I did. He has a lisp and a speech problem that his father had too. He is doing better every day. I think you should look into it. It will help and go a long way. :) Good Luck.
It may also be a good idea to have his hearing checked. Something as simple as a wax build up can prevent him from hearing proper pronunciations thus delaying his development.
Take him to get a Preschool Assessment, asap
I agree that you should first have his hearing checked. If you take him to his regular doctor, they can check and do a work-up and give you a referral out to have his speech tested. (Ask if they don't offer.) My son was younger than yours (around 2 1/2) when he got his referral. He was tested at the speech pathology department at the local university and got services there until he started kindergarten (when the school district will give you an IEP and become responsible for getting him speech services). We got exceptional help through the university (student interns under Dr supervision) which our insurance paid for (I believe you can get discounts and scholarships through the university system if you don't have insurance or if it only pays a portion).
Definitely have him checked. Getting early intervention was the best thing we did for my son. Even though he still struggles on some sounds, we gave him the ability to be able to communicate confidently.
Contact your local school and have him evaluated. My son started at 4 and I was told I waited too long. He is now almost 7 and still in speech getting better but the earlier you start the better. Good luck. Plus it is a lot easier to get him in before they are in kindergarten then he automaticly will be enrolled when school does start
Although he may not be speech delayed he may have issues with possible oral motor planning issues that interfere with his ability to articulate and make all of the sounds that he should be making at this age. Contact your school district and see if they can have one of their speech therapists evaluate him.
Hello, Our 10 year old grandson lived with my husband and I when he was 5 months to 3 1/2 years old. I was also concerned about some of his pronunciations. I was volunteering at our older grandson's school at the time (and still do) and stopped and talked to the speech teacher about my concerns. She assured me that his speech was quite normal and to just wait and see how it developed. He is just fine. However, since your older son was speech delayed and has pronunciation problems, I would at least talk to the speech teacher at his school and see what he/she thinks. It is not too early, and in fact, he may be able to be assessed in your school district. I may be wrong and it might be when children are 4 years old, but it won't hurt to check.
Good luck with your precious family.
K. K.
Have him screened by the preschool assessment team as soon as possible. They can rule out any developmental concerns, including speech problems.
B.,
I am an SLP with CCSD. There is a developmental chart/scale that we use as a guide. Boys tend to be a bit slower than girls, but we ALWAYS love concerned/involved parents. If you are concerned, call Child Find ###-###-####.
B.,
You should definitely contact your local school district for elementary education. They have programs that will start little ones in speech as early as your son. They will test him and you should be able to start him maybe 2-3 days a weeks. Hope this helps.
~~D.
