Should I worry about my son's speech?

Question

My (nearly) 3 year olds son's vocabulary is sound but his annunciatiion is poor so that sometimes even I can not understand him. His nursery is not worried but my mother who was a primary school teacher says that I should see a speech therapist. Any advice?

Answer 1

I am in a very similar position to you - I have a little boy of similar age, and he speaks, in my opinion, quite poorly. I am in the bad position of always comparing him to my daughter who spoke prolifically from the age of 18 months, so it's hard! However, I have been to get him assessed at a speech therapist, and whilst they agree that he is not doing fabulously, it is REALLY common in boys (3/4 of those referred are boys) and he will get there - they noticed a diference in the 4 months between appointments. It is hard not to worry, but trying phrases with him might help, as it will trigger his mind that that is the way he needs to be responding - my little one repeats them back to me willingly and eventually has starting usung them himself, ie " wait for me!", or " this is mine", which might not sound like much but is a million miles from where he was a few months ago. Last Christmas we were wondering if he would ever say Mama. I think it will come slowly, but if you are worried, get a health visitor to refer you - your peace of mind is important too!
Love
Amanda

Answer 2

I agree that there's not much to worry about at this stage, it's fairly common for children to have a speech delay.

The vast majority of children with speech delays do 'catch up' by 5 or 6 years old but do take him to see a speech therapist, she (or he) will be able to assess whether it's simply a speech delay or if there's abnormal sounds that he should not be using when he speaks, and also to see whether if it's just his speech or if there are other problems (such as comprehension problem) as well.

Answer 3

Hi. I agree that maybe you should take him to see your pediatrician and get his/her opinion. It could be that he's just a tiny bit behind and will soon catch up. You might also just check into a consultation with a speech therapist just to get him evaluated and be on the safe side. Going with the odds though, I think he will catch up soon and the worrying will be for nothing.
Our then 18 month old son was slower to walk on his own and I was obsessed about it and now he's about to turn 2 and he's running around just like every other toddler I know.
Good Luck!

Answer 4

He's not even 3 yet so unless he is still poor with speech coming on for 5 then I wouldn't worry in the slightest. My middle child had a bit of a speech impediment - nothing serious - when he was 3 and it cleared itself up. Keep talking to your son and encourage him at all times, be patient when he is speaking to you and try not to prompt him too much even if you are struggling to understand him. He needs to knows you value what he is saying and you're not getting frustrated so he gets worked up and anxious about not being able to communicate as freely as he'd like. Converse as much as you can with him (practice makes perfect!) and reads lots with him and get him to point out things in the pictures so you know what he's speaking about, eg, if he speaking at a bird flying in the sky then you know what he's on about and you can praise him for his words and join in the conversation with him. If you are asking him if he wants something to eat then offer him 2 things to choose from, eg, toast or cereal then he can say what he wants and you will be able to reply saying 'toast. Good chioce!' or something like that and he'll be happy you've understood first time and maybe become more confident with his speech.
He is still so young and I feel getting a therapist in at this stage would just make him worry about something being 'wrong' with him. I answered a question a while ago and used the Child of our Time programme as the example. The people running all the progress tests were very concerned about the progress of one boy and were trying to convince the mother to get him seen to professionally but the mother refused and said she knew in her heart he'd come on fine and she saw him far more capable of what he was showing the programme purely because she spent more time with him. The programme was a bit annoyed with her but she was right - he turned out to to be one of the brightest, confident and capable child of the lot. So go with your heart. I think the fact you are asking for advice suggests you aren't really wanting to go down that road so trust your instinct and if, when he's coming on for school you have any concerns, then have a re think.

Mother of 3 boys.
Trained primary teacher.

Answer 5

Your mother is right; arrange for your son to see a speech therapist. Look up speech therapy services in the phone book or speak to a health visitor.
There may be no problem at all but you need to be sure of that.
Afasic is a charity which supports children with impaired or delayed speech

Answer 6

My son was alomst 3 when i woke up and said WAIT I GOTTA DO SOMETHING! My son's ped. never thought my son had any delays because she said boys are late bloomers. BULLS**T! I had her refer me to a Speech Therapist because my son was going to be 3 and he could barely express himself,ask questions or answer anything. After that push i gave her, my son started expanding his speech ,now he is in pre school where he gets his speech tehrapy and he is improving so much and fast that i cant have taken a better choice!

Answer 7

I would seek help from your school district or early intervention services. This could be part of some Dev. Delay. My son also had speech problems at around 2 yrs. He is now 3 and is diagnosed with PDD-NOS which is in the Autism Spectrum

Answer 8

See a speech therapist right away!

My daughter exhibited speech issues at an early age but we attributed it to cute baby talk.

She suffered from final consonant deletion. She would say "bow" for "boat".

The school counselor recommended that she repeat kindergarten.

We got her into speech therapy and the problem resolved itself.

If the speech therapist says no problem, then great. But they are trained to recognize issues that parents are not.

Answer 9

this can be common with children and for now I wouldnt worry. my wifes little brother called her aura instead of laura as he couldnt say the 'l' however by the age of 5 he was fine and there is no problems he is 7 now and doing great at school. if your worried then speak to your gp or health visitor for advice. good luck

Answer 10

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