Speech Issues

[auroara78]

My DS1 has articulation problems and says "l" with the "w" sound so instead of "love you" it's "wuv you" and he sticks his tongue out when he says "S". He has some other issues of just running his words together.

He starts preschool this fall (he will be 5 in Oct, but he missed the cut off for Kindergarten since the cutoff is Sept. 30th and he'll still be 4 then.) My DS1 is a very sweet, very loving, works hard at puzzles etc, he does not have a short attention span, but whenever I try to practice with him speech for a few mins a day, he won't look me in the eye (I ask him to look at my face and watch what mommy's mouth and tongue are doing). In a minute or two of practice, he'll fall apart, won't look in the mirror to practice, wont' look at me, won't sit still, and I try to make it fun, I think.

Any suggestions on how to get him settled into it? I know the preschool will definitely make him do therapy, but I want to get him used to the idea of practicing and I'm hoping he will get a little more clear before Sept. because I know how mean kids can be. I don't want him to have a big bullseye on his back from the very beginning.

I had speech problems too growing up, and I know first-hand how vicious kids can be about these things.

So any ideas of making it fun or making him listen to him? When I get firm with him, and say that he has to do the lesson or go to bed, he'll just saunter off and go to his room and lie down on his bed, pouting.

[Mochagirl]

My twins are turning 6 in a month and still have trouble with several sounds: 'th', 'sh', and 'ch' are particularly hard for them. While their teacher doesn't think it's bad enough to require therapy (no one has trouble understanding them), I'm keeping a close eye on them to make sure it improves on its own. The funny part is they have a vocabulary far greater than most 6 years olds, so they often have very sophisticated conversations in their 'baby-talk'. I've never heard any kids make fun of them, and they're in Senior Kindergarten now.

Your son doesn't sound like he's very far behind for his age, so try not to worry.

[begonia]

Have you looked into speech therapy thru the schools? My friend's son is 3.5 and through the public elementary already receives free speech therapy. They did the evaluation there and he goes 1x a week.

And FWIW, he does MUCH better for his therapist than he did for his mama. They have all kinds of tricks to make it fun (hopefully someone here has ideas!)... and you know kids... they'll be total stinkers for their parents but compliant for others. So maybe he would respond better to someone else working with him?

Hugs though... I KWYM re: kids teasing and how it makes a mom's heart ache.

[Hobbermittens]

My DS had speech therapy starting from about 18 months old. He had a feeding issue as a baby, and had therapy for that, so I was told to be on alert for speech issues, as the two often go hand in hand. He NEVER liked practicing his speech with me, but did great for his speech therapist, and he has graduated out of therapy already (just before he turned 5). He still has a few sounds he can't quite say, but they are "normal" for his age, and I am hoping he grows out of them on his own. If not, he will continue his therapy at school next year. (He can't say "th" and says it more like "w", like "muh-wer" rather than "mother", etc).

I say get your DS into therapy sooner rather than later. It really makes a difference, and if he won't practice with you, I bet he will for his teacher. I agree, kids can be mean and tease, but I don't think it will be an issue for several years--there are probably lots of kindergarteners that can't say their sounds super clearly yet.

[atomic sagebrush]

My 4 year old also has less than perfect speech and uses very big words so it sounds hilariously cute - "Absowutewy not, muvver!"

I am of a different mind frame than most in that I wouldn't worry until he was a bit older because my younger brother and older boys had their verbal quirks that def. lasted into the 4th year and all eventually outgrew them - agressive, early speech therapy is something of a new phenomenon. 100% for sure (and take for whatever it's worth) I would not work with him on this myself. If you think he needs therapy I would take him to someone else because I think he'd prob. respond better. Good luck!

[Hobbermittens]

I saw my son's speech teacher the other day and asked about the sounds he has trouble with ("th" mostly) and she said that he has until he's 8 to catch up on that. So, some sounds are perfectly okay to let go until they are older than kindergarten.

[auroara78]

That's really reaassuring everyone!! Thank you!! I guess because I had speech issues that lasted through middle school, I was prone to a freak-out! DS1 is such an awesome little kid I didn't want him to get his self-confidence destroyed by mean kids, you know?

[PeonyPrincess]

Yep Hobber, I remember when I went to a parents night before DS1 started school, the speech therapist spoke to everyone and said that there are some sounds that some children won't manage until they are 8.
She said the best thing you can do is read to them every day and make it a fun time. And that rhyming books are the best. She suggested going back to a lot of nursery rhymes as children love them even if we think they are for babies.

Auroara, lucky you didn't call him Lucas like my DS1!

[auroara78]

LOL, Peony, he is literally stumbling over trying to say the upcoming baby's name "Lillian" that is 3 L's in it lol!

I think that is awesome advice, Peony, I have kind of fallen off the whole reading to him a bedtime story. I started closing my eyes and just creating a story out of my head, he likes those a lot because he likes to hear about dinosaurs fighting each other, and in my made-up stories the dinosaurs (Tricertops and T-Rex) are always after each other! But I think finding rhyming books woudl be good, and reading would be a much more structured activity and he could enjoy the pictures.

[lisa3delta]

all 3 of my girls had lisps until about 5 or 6 years of age, my youngest is now almost 6 and has juuuust started kind of getting out of it, its like, they just learn how, i dont know how it works, with each passing year the tongue would stick out a little less with the S sound lol.

as for the w, my niece did the exact same thing until she was about 5 also, she also replaced z with r lol. that was a wierd one! i know it was shortly after starting school and my sister in law tried everything to get her out of it much to the childs frustration but it was a kid at school who taught her how to say it properly i dont know the full story, but apparently something just clicked. i guess the kid taught it in a way a young child could understand.

i remember when i wouldve been about 4 and my mother was trying to get me to say 'three' instead of 'free' and i honestly couldnt hear any difference in the way she said and how i was saying it. there wasnt anything wrong with my hearing, i think it was just my young brain, of course i naturally grew out of saying 'free' sometime in kindergarten.

what im trying to say is dont stress! a lot of kids having little speech quirks and most the time theyll grow out of them, id wait til he was a bit older to start worrying about it.