How can I improve my 2 yr olds speech?

Question

She has a very big vocabulary, and speaks in sentences. the problem is everything ends in a 'ph' sound, and sometimes starts with it. word that start with 'f' come out starting with a 'b'. I try to correct her, but nothing seems to help

Answer 1

You should have your doctor refer you to a speech language pathologist (speech therapist) to have your daughter evaluated. Some sound errors are appropriate at certain ages and some are not. Only a speech pathologist can tell you for sure. If there are things that are not ok for your daughter then the therapist can give you activities and exercises to work on correcting it. They may also recommend a hearing evaluation to make sure that she can hear the sounds ok.

Just correcting your daughter isnt a good idea. She can probably understand that she is doing something that you disapprove of but not how to correct it. This can lead to emotional problems like low self esteem and behavioral problems. If she says a word that you dont understand or is said wrong instead of overtly correcting her (no - say spaghetti) try repeating the word back to her the correct way so she can hear it (oh, did you want more spaghetti).

If you are in the US - every state has an infant/toddler early intervention program that can do an assessment at NO COST to you ... check with your state department of education or goto www.NECTAS.unc.edu and look up your state. If you are not in the US check with your doctor about where you can go.

Its good that you are looking into this now while sheis young and before she enters school. Just dont panic too much, if she senses that you are nervous or worried it may scare her.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi, Mom. Even though she may be substituting incorrect sounds, it's great that she speaks in sentences and has a wide vocabulary. The posters here are right in pointing out that many kids don't have a good vocabulary at this age; some barely talk at all. Continue to correct your child as kindly as you can, so you are at least showing her the right pronunciation for words.

You didn't say if your little one has had any health issues that might explain her speech. Our daughter, now 3 1/2, had trouble with pronunciation of words, and still does to some extent although her speech has improved dramatically. She also had a chronic history of ear infections, which we learned later made her hear most everything through fluid and so probably affected how she heard most things. If you are worried about your daughter's hearing, schedule an appointment with a local ear, nose and throat specialist to have her hearing checked. I would also definitely recommend doing what we did for our daughter, which will probably be available to you in another year. Contact the closest Elementary school and ask them for the number to their Educational Services that assist parents and children who may have speech issues prior to entering school. Usually they take kids from about age 3 on, but you can at least get started finding out the requirements so you'll have handy when she's old enough. These services are free and are usually paid for by monies set aside for the schools, since they are to made to prepare all kids for school. They will evaluate her and decide whether she qualifies for therapy. Plus they are a great resource for just finding out if your child is hitting all of the marks she needs to speech-wise. Hope this info helps, and good luck to you, Mom!

Answer 3

At 2 yrs old, a child can have many "speech problems" that you see but in fact, most, if not all of them will work themselves out on there own. Correcting her constantly will probably not help. The best thing you can do is to model proper speech and make sure everyone around her is modeling proper speech as well. As she hears the words from you, she will start to form them correctly. It may be something as simple as her mouth and tongue are still growing or the introduction of new teeth. I would say you have nothing to worry about at her age. If the problem persists after age 4 then perhaps you should go see a speech pathologist.

Answer 4

She's two... seriously, don't worry about it! (I've got three kids, ages 6,8 and 10, and my youngest was a late-talker, now he won't shut up!! LOL)

If you start her with a speech pathologist/therapist too early, then talking becomes an 'issue' and a power struggle.

I work as a music teacher at a preschool (kids aged 2.5 to 6), and one thing I've noticed is how much music and singing really help with speech development!

Rather than spending your money on a speech therapist right now (that can wait until later!), why not enroll in some 'mommy and me' music classes! Musikgarten is a great curriculum that really helps kids develop their skills ( http://www.musikgarten.org ) In addition to helping her develop her speech, it will be a WONDERFUL bonding experience for the both of you.

If you don't have any classes near you, just start singing with her! It doesn't matter if you can't hold a tune, she doesn't care if you're tone deaf!

The other thing that really helped my kids with their speech was reading out loud to them. I read to them constantly! It really helps with hearing the proper sounds and vocabulary development.

Also, talk to her a lot. Have conversations with her. While you're making dinner, tell her what you're doing. And, when you're doing this, talk like a grownup (sometimes we have a tendancy to 'talk down' to kids... this should be avoided, because then kids don't hear the proper sounds of the language)

Hope that helps :)

Answer 5

Don't worry yet, at this age it's okay to not be aboe to pronounce certain sounds. A speech therapist will tell you that, but they might be able to give you techniqques on helping her understand how to make the right sounds.
My niece is 4 years old, and has had a lot of trouble with speech, same thing huge vocablulary, speaks in sentences, but has trouble with certain letters, and letter combinations. She has been to a speech therapist, and very slowly she improving.

Answer 6

Take her to a speech pathologist. Although honestly, if she is talking in sentences at 2 years old, count your blessings, most kids don't speak in sentences until 3 or so.

Answer 7

I actually have the same problem with my three year old. Just keep correcting, encouraging, and praising her. She'll get it eventually and if you are still worried about it talk to your doctor and maybe they'll set you up with a speech therapist. Does she take a pacifier or anything cause that can cause problems.? Good luck.

Answer 8

The fact that she has a large vocabulary is great! Way to go Mom! You have a smart one. Most kids have trouble with consonants. We went to speech therapy for our sons issues and after evaluating him they said he was normal. They gave us some exercises to do with him.

Have her drink out of a variety of different cups, mugs and sippy cups - she'll use different muscles with each cup.

Drinking thick liquid through straws helps kids build up their speech muscles, too. Liquid yogurt and milkshakes are actually part of speech therapy!

Chewy things like gummy bears, raisins and dried fruits help build up even more groups of talking muscles.

Blowing bubbles is HUGE in the development of the speech muscle groups, and it's loads of fun!

You may want to get a stool for her to stand on so she can see herself in the bathroom mirror. Stand with her and let her see what she looks like as she talks. Show her what your mouth, teeth and tongue do when you say words.

She sounds very bright and I'm sure her little muscles will be ready to say words properly very soon.

Answer 9

she's doing great, so stop correcting her. when you can use the word yourself in a natural sounding way, use it. however, mostly this is physical limitations which no one can do anything about. she just needs to grow. she's doing great, so don't give her a complex. work on continuing to build her vocabulary by giving her synonymns for lots of words and don't talk down to her. use long complex sentences about everything. she sounds very smart.
don't demand perfection. and don't expect age-inappropriate things.

Answer 10

My physician said my daughter is tongue tied. I was worried because even now she sounds as if she has an accent. When she tries to say bird she sounds like she is saying boad.

The doctor said it is because she has the little muscle string part under the tongue closer to the tip of her tongue. I don't know if that may the concern your little one. You can ask her to say "L" and look under her tongue. If you see the little string/muscle attached closer to the tip you can ask your physician for a diagnosis. I refused the treatment they suggested for her when she was 2 because I thought it would be painful. The physician said they would snip a little to loosen the tongue from the string/muscle. I kind of regret it because she is 7 now and still has that problem. She is self-conscious but it doesn't stop her from talking All day. good luck