Needing Advice for a 3 Year Olds Speech.

Hi A.,
My now 11 year old had a similar situation (minus the tubes). Her doctor recommended taking her to a speech pathologist. I arranged it through the school district (in Tempe, Az). They evaluated her and found that her vocabulary a motor skills were great, she just needed some help with her speech.
Before she started speech therapy, even at 3years old, she was very self concious about talking to people because she was unable to speak clearly, so she would just shut down and not talk at all. About a month into it she was a different child. Once she started school she still needed some extra help until about the third grade. Now at 11 (and a half) she is in the fifth grade and excelling!

I noticed you have a 5yr old too. One thing I've noticed with my children(6,4,3, and 7mos) the older ones spend more time talking for the younger ones. So my 3yr old doesn't talk the greatest either, but she's had two people talking for her for almost 4 years. I have even took her to have her hearing tested and then see a speech pathologist. While one ear was borderline and needs retested, the speech lady said that she's right on track with her speech. She needs some work on the 'sp' and 'sm' sounds because she doesn't get the s on there. But just a suggestion that he might not be behind, just used to having someone do the work for him. My oldest has always talked fine because she had too. Until the three girls got seperated in different rooms at daycare based upon age, my second daughter didn't talk the greatest either. But being forced to talk all day everyday for herself she developed her speech rather quickly.

When the tubes were placed, did the doctor run a hearing test? It is important to rule out any possible hearing loss. If you doctor did not, give the office a call and schedule a hearing, speech, and language screening.

If they will not, you should contact your public school district (even if you don't send your older child there). They will have an early childhood center and are required to run developmental screenings, including hearing and speech development, free of cost! That will determine if the reason your son is difficult to understand is because of an actual speech DELAY or just because he is 3. There is a huge range of normal development.

I agree with the advice given from a mom to practice. Listen for the words you understand and determine what sounds right and wrong. Are the vowels pronounced correctly? Is he using 'p, b, m, n, w, and h' correctly? Don't worry about sounds like 'r, j, l, ch'. They come later.

After he says something incorrectly, repeat what he said only use the correct sound and emphasize it. It's not necessary to have him repeat it. Just let him hear it (understand why hearing is the first concern?).

Let me know if you have any other questions.

R.

In Olathe, we have free hearing/speech screening through our school district. They are wonderful, in every regard. You can contact either Harmony Learning Center or Heartland Learning Center.

I would take him to the doctor first and speak to them about it. If they think there is a delay they can put you in contact with the right people.

Because of his past medical problems with his ears it has delayed him from talking. This is why he is why he is delayed in talking more clearly. It is just that he had a late start. I would definitely get his hearing screened, discuss his speech with his doctor, and then see about free programs that is offered in your area. TARC can reccommend a special preschool that you can enroll him that will focus on his speech. Call Marth Palmer at ###-###-#### ext 378. She is an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher. She will give you the name of a preschool in your district. Also you can work with your son with flash cards and just simply picking pictures out of your story books and having him repeat it back. The most important thing though for now is making sure that the words that he hears are not distorted. That is why the screening test is so crucial. Good Luck

my youngest is just like your 3 year old. One day he just started speaking clearly. But we had his hearing tested 3 times and he was seeing a speech therapist last year until he turned 3.

Even with the medical background you have cause to worry if a stranger like your pediatrician can't understand 75% of what your 3 year old says.

If you feel there might be a problem, take him. If there is a problem, the sooner it's found the better off he is. I would recommend seeing your dr. first though.
Good Luck!

Hi A.,
I have a couple suggestions first you don't say wether you are a stay at home mom or you work, my suggestion is if you are a stay at home mom try to give him more intereaction with other children. (not just his sibling's they sometimes can understand each other where other kids can't they have their own language) And different age groups if possible kids vocabilary soars with different age groups that they are around, also when you speak to him speak in clear and pronounced words and when he asks you a question and you understand it but it's not pronounced correctly go over these words it takes a minute or 2 but you will be better of in the long run.
If he goes to daycare make sure they are trying to work with him also on pronouncing words correctly.
My now 6 yr old, when he would talk at the same age your son is, we couldn't understand anything he said (he has never had an ear infection so that wasn't the issue in his case) once I decided to stay home and provide child care for other people his language development just took off (grandma was watching him with little interaction between the two of them, one of the reasons I started staying home). I would probably have it checked out but also see if these ideas work also. Goodluck W. mom of 4

The same thing happened with my son. I discussed it with my pediatrician at his 3 year well check. Because of my concerns she referred us to Children's Mercy and they did a hearing and speech evaluation. My son is very active so it was difficult for him to be attentive during the entire evaluation. We also had him tested through our school district (free service). They do screenings once a month. I'd recommend that you have him tested so that services can be provided early if needed. If your school district recognizes that your son does have a delay they will be able to provide services, typically free of charge. Or another option would be to enroll him in a developmental preschool program. I was afraid that our son was 'behind' as well, especially when compared to my nieces that are the same age. But he was actually developing at an average pace. Good luck!

I used to work for a speech therapist and the earlier you can get your child into speech therapy the better.

i know coming in late on the question been out of town do you know according to federal law all children from birth thru 21 are required to assist in matters such as yours with the speech. ny son went to half day pre-k at age 3 for speech matters in the regular school building because of the IDEA law protection for our children. the school districts have to pay for a speech pathologist to help your child. call the diractor of special education in your school district

I'm not sure if this helps since it sounds like he may have a good vocabulary and it is just his pronunciation that is off, but a friend of mine took her 3 year old twins to a speech pathologist when they weren't talking much, and she suggested they speak "caveman" at home. Just talk without all the articles, helping verbs, prepositions, etc.

Hi A.,
It wouldn't hurt to have him evaluated. Speak to his pediatrician and voice your concerns.

I would recommend you take him to a speech therapist at least for an evaluation. One of the red flags for possible speech delay is a history of chronic otitis media. If he had tubes placed, that means fluid in the ears. Fluid in the ears means hearing is muffled. That being said, it is possible that during his first 2 years, he was not able to hear clearly and therefore may need a little boost to get his sounds on target. By the end of age 3, his speech should be intelligible with only a few sounds missing (mainly r, th, sh, ch, j, and maybe l).

As for a speech therapist, you have a couple of options. Your son is considered school aged by federal law, so your school district is responsible to provide services for him--free ones! You can contact your local school district and find out how to get in touch with the early childhood speech therapist in your area. Another option is to talk to your pediatrician about a referral to a speech therapist in the rehab setting. Your doctor can write a referral and get you pointed in the right direction. Insurance doesn't usually cover these services, but if you are on state insurance (medicaid, etc...) they will usually pay. I will say again that I would at least recommend an evaluation. If nothing else, that can put your mind at ease as to whether or not he is on target. Best of luck to you and shoot me a message if I can help further!

A.,

Hi there my name is N. and I'm the mother of two boys, ages 3 years and 6 months. I'm up in the northland as well and a stay at home/work at home mom.

My three year old is actually dealing with a severe speech deficit right now. Although he has never had ear infections or tubes in his ears.

We started getting him evaluated when he was almost 21/2 and the only reason we waited that long was because my husband and I both were late talkers.

The first eval was by First Steps, which is a state funded program. They said he didn't qualify at the time for the therapy. It's pretty difficult to get into that program.

We waited a few months to see if he'd improve and since he didn't we headed to Childrens Mercy for an eval where he was given a big long diognosis of a severe speech deficit.

They recommended therapy each week, but our insurance wouldn't cover it. I have since learned this isn't abnormal. :( So the speech therapist was kind enough to refer us to the local school district.

We are getting him evaluated by the school in May. If he pre-qualifies he'll go back in August for a full eval and should he "pass" that one and qualifies he'll get FREE therapy with the school district.

So, needless to say we're hopeful he'll qualify because speech therapy is SO expensive!

If you do have any concerns about speech I'd contact your local school district and see about their free evaluations. It wouldn't hurt anything and it's free. If it's a weight on your shoulders then I'd get that weight lifted.

I know in my situation it weighed heavy on me every single day until we finally started the ball rolling with evals and a plan of action.

I wish you the very best with it and if you ever want to connect just shoot me a message and I'd love to chat.

N.

My friend went through this same thing with her son. He had tubes and still at age 3 wasn't talking any better. Then the doctors decided to take out his adnoids (not sure on the spelling) and once they did the little guy talked clear and like he had been talking forever! It really was amazing. I couldn't believe it. I am not saying this is your sons problem but maybe if they haven't brought this up you could ask them about it.