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.