Speech- Age Guidelines

Don't wait. It's oh so much easier to manage this stuff earlier rather than later.

You should get an actual speech and language evaluation done. This will help the ped and you both.

The "th" sound is completely appropriate. My son worked on that sound in kindergarten, but many schools do not address that until 1st grade or later. Similarly, some schools address "r" sounds in kindergarten, and others wait until 1st grade or later.

So it's ok that he hasn't mastered the "th" sound yet.

Your local public school can do an assessment for you. I took our son there when he was 3, and he did qualify for speech. Not sure what other sounds, if any, your son does not have yet, but an assessment would be a good place to start.

If you mention it to your ped, he/she would have to refer you to a speech therapist. I would guess that would be covered by your health insurance, but going to the school is free.

I definitely wouldn't be in too much of a hurry. You could mention it to your ped at the next well visit. (I wouldn't worry about doing it sooner). And keep in mind the local school district may or may not be able to assess him until the fall. Our school offers some services in June but is closed in July and the beginning of August.

I'd wait. If you are superconcerned you can ask early intervention for a follow up. My DD still has problems here and there, but in the last year (she is 6) her speech has really cleared up. Some sounds, like L, aren't considered a problem til more like 8 yrs old, even. So I think he has time. You can try to teach him to make a hamburger with his tongue and teeth to get the sound right, and practice hard and soft TH words.

Kids go through stages with speech.
Often in elementary school they'll pull kids out of class for speech therapy.
Our son went through a year of it although I NEVER heard him have the problem they say he had.
They were recommending another year when he had braces put on and I just stopped it.
I said "He's got a mouth full of metal. No kidding it's going to take him a little while to learn how to talk around it - but he's not missing any more recess or class time for speech class anymore".

At 4 1/2, I wouldn't worry about it.

My 5yo had similar speech issues when younger due to fluid in her hears making her partially deaf for a couple of years. She now often uses an "f" sound instead of a "th" sound. But when we ask her to repeat it using the correct pronunciation, she can do it. She'll eventually start pronouncing it correctly, so we are not worried at all. Go ahead and practice the correct sounds, but give your kiddo some time.

Have you taught him the 'th' sound? My now 5 year old did that, and a few months ago, I simply explained and showed him how to make the sound. First I just did the sound and showed him (put your tongue on the back of your teeth..) then I used a few words as examples (with, both, that). After a few tries, he copied it, and he pronounces it fine ever since. It might be as easy to fix as that.

Mine got that sound later on.

We had a speech therapist come to the preschool and give a free assessment (with our youngest) and she made a big deal about it - but we knew from experience with our older ones that they will get it (Kindergarten - by the end of the year).

In the end, we didn't have to do anything. Just got it naturally in time. I would wait. I think anyone with speech therapy or ear troubles gets concerned about this stuff, just natural. I was same. I would wait till birthday visit.

Good luck :)

both my kids but especially my older had endless ear infections and some hearing loss. at this age there were charming mis-pronouncements that had some of my relatives freaking out and needing to 'correct' them all the time. i was confident that they'd grow out of them, and they did.
'boff' is very very common.
i think we're a little quick to demand that small children conform to the crowded median of 'norms' these days, and worry them with early interventions 'just in case'. i'm sure there are times it's helpful, but 90% of the time it's just individual timelines.
khairete
S.

My daughter is also 4.5 and I spent a lot of time in her preschool class. Most of the kids still have a few letter sounds to develop - "th" and "r" are among the most common. I wouldn't worry at all that he isn't saying "th" correctly yet, especially given the vast progress he has already made. My daughter is only just in the last few weeks figuring out the "r" sound - sometimes she gets it and sometimes she doesn't, but when she does it sounds really forced and unnatural, like she is clearly trying something new and hard for her.