preschool speech

What sounds do 3 yo's have a hard time making? DS has a hard time with the
"r" and the "th" and the "l" and the "n" and the "sl" and the "f" (at the
end of "Jeff") and the "s" (like in "sign") and the "m". He drops sounds at
the beginning and end of words. Some of the sounds he'll make in some words
but not others. He can speak in sentences. I can understand what he says a
lot of times because of the context. He can't tell me what he did today or
any other story. It will come out in gibberish with a few words thrown in.
If he tries to tell me over the phone, I'm completely lost. Sometimes,
people ask me what he just said, and I don't know, either.

Some phrases he says: "Come on" becomes "Mon." "Happy birthday" is "Ah ah
birday." "I love you" is "I uh you."

I wasn't worried much about it before, but he's getting a bit old for it.
We're getting his hearing tested, what with all the ear infections and all.
I just wonder how normal this is for this ng.

toypup wrote in message
news:YC84d.232200$Fg5.225980@attbi_s53...
What sounds do 3 yo's have a hard time making? DS has a hard time with
the
"r" and the "th" and the "l" and the "n" and the "sl" and the "f" (at the
end of "Jeff") and the "s" (like in "sign") and the "m". He drops sounds
at
the beginning and end of words. Some of the sounds he'll make in some
words
but not others. He can speak in sentences. I can understand what he says
a
lot of times because of the context. He can't tell me what he did today
or
any other story. It will come out in gibberish with a few words thrown
in.
If he tries to tell me over the phone, I'm completely lost. Sometimes,
people ask me what he just said, and I don't know, either.

Some phrases he says: "Come on" becomes "Mon." "Happy birthday" is "Ah ah
birday." "I love you" is "I uh you."

I wasn't worried much about it before, but he's getting a bit old for it.
We're getting his hearing tested, what with all the ear infections and
all.
I just wonder how normal this is for this ng.


#1 is pretty good on speaking but she doesn't have all the sounds by any
means. I can understand her, most other people can understand her unless she
says something completely off topic.
She drops sounds at particularly the end of words, but also in middle and at
beginning.
Her main one is "l" she says "w" instead, but there are others.
Just recently I've started reminding her to say things and if i pronounce it
carefully she sometimes picks it up and then will say it properly.
I think it's pretty normal at this age. I find the phone harder too. I know
5 year olds that have blips on speech still. He certainly sounds as though
he is much better than my brother was at this age, and he talks normally
now. (apart from "x" sound)
Debbie

When in doubt, get the child screened-a good speech path doesn't scare or
intimidate the child, and early intervention really helps. If you're in the
USA, the local school district is responsible under law for doing this, so
if you contact them, they'll either have ways to do it themselves or to
contract it out.

Having said that, there are sounds which develop all the way up until age 7
before they're considered delayed (r, for example) , so it may just be 3 yr
old speech.

One of my fears is that since I have a pretty severe speech impediment
myself (my speech sounds are on about a 3-5 yr old level, but with adult
vocabulary and syntax, plus years of therapy to improve them as much as
possible) that my child will pick them up and just be imitating me. One of
the biggest concerns in a child's name is picking one where I can say it
correctly, so that hopefully the child will at least learn their own name
right~

"toypup" wrote in message news:YC84d.232200$Fg5.225980@attbi_s53...
What sounds do 3 yo's have a hard time making? DS has a hard time with the
"r" and the "th" and the "l" and the "n" and the "sl" and the "f" (at the
end of "Jeff") and the "s" (like in "sign") and the "m". He drops sounds at
the beginning and end of words. Some of the sounds he'll make in some words
but not others. He can speak in sentences. I can understand what he says a
lot of times because of the context. He can't tell me what he did today or
any other story. It will come out in gibberish with a few words thrown in.
If he tries to tell me over the phone, I'm completely lost. Sometimes,
people ask me what he just said, and I don't know, either.

Some phrases he says: "Come on" becomes "Mon." "Happy birthday" is "Ah ah
birday." "I love you" is "I uh you."

I wasn't worried much about it before, but he's getting a bit old for it.
We're getting his hearing tested, what with all the ear infections and all.
I just wonder how normal this is for this ng.


If YOU are concerned, and YOU think that something may be out of the
ordinary, I urge you to have him tested. If you are in the US, I'm
pretty sure that the Early Intervention program would pay for a speech
and language evaluation AND for services, if warranted; I believe the
cutoff is age 3. IMHO, don't rely on what others say as to whether
this is *normal* or not. (And note that I'm not expressing an opinion
one way or another -- please don't think that I am suggesting that I
think his speech is out of the ordinary.) You know your son best.

I probably sound like a broken record on this topic, so I'll tell my
story, briefly. I had questions about One's speech when he was a bit
younger than your son. My family told me that he was fine. My
friends and acquaintances told me he was fine. One's preschool
teachers told me he was fine. My doubts continued over the next
couple of years, but I kept them quiet for the most part because,
frankly, I think that people were starting to think I was some kind of
a kook. Until kindergarten. By then, of course, we had to pay for
the pscyh-ed and audiological evaluations ourselves. With proper
diagnosis and treatment, One is doing tremendously well now, thank
goodness. But I can't help but beat myself up over those lost years,
when he should have been receiving help.

Go with your gut.


Mom_2_One

toypup wrote:
What sounds do 3 yo's have a hard time making? DS has a hard time
with the "r" and the "th" and the "l" and the "n" and the "sl" and
the "f" (at the end of "Jeff") and the "s" (like in "sign") and the
"m". He drops sounds at the beginning and end of words. Some of the
sounds he'll make in some words but not others. He can speak in
sentences. I can understand what he says a lot of times because of
the context. He can't tell me what he did today or any other story.
It will come out in gibberish with a few words thrown in. If he tries
to tell me over the phone, I'm completely lost. Sometimes, people
ask me what he just said, and I don't know, either.

If it were me, I would take him in to get a speech evalution.

From the "National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders":

Between 3-4 years a child should be able to:

Group objects such as food, clothes etc,

Identify colors,

Use most speech sounds but may distort some of the more difficult sounds
such as l, r, s, sh, ch, y, v, z, th. Those may not be fully mastered until
7 or 8

Use consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Some of the
more difficult consonants may be distorted, but attempts to say them.

Strangers are able to understand much of what is said.

Able to describe the use of objects such as 'fork' 'car' etc.

Has fun with language. Enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities.

Expresses ideas and feelings rather then just talking about the world around
him.

Uses verbs that end in 'ing' such as 'walking'.

Answers simple questions

Repeats sentences.

Hunter had speech therepy at 3yo and it really made a big difference in his
articulation, which was way below the norm. He was hard to work with too so
I imagine an easier client would make even more progress. His other
language skills really improved as well. They were also way below the norm.

I still suspect some language based difficulties but it is hard to put you
finger on them. He still has some articulation errors but they are in the
normal range now. I'll pursue further language testing within the next year
I think.

The eval and therapy was just like play time for him. The only down side
was adding in yet one more thing to go to ;-)

--
Nikki

"Nikki" wrote in message
...
If it were me, I would take him in to get a speech evalution.

Thanks. I think I'll do that, but after the hearing test.


From the "National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders":

Between 3-4 years a child should be able to:

Group objects such as food, clothes etc,

He can do that.


Identify colors,

Yes.


Use most speech sounds but may distort some of the more difficult sounds
such as l, r, s, sh, ch, y, v, z, th. Those may not be fully mastered
until
7 or 8

Can't do those difficult sounds.

Use consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words. Some of the
more difficult consonants may be distorted, but attempts to say them.

Drops some consonants off the beginning and end, doesn't attempt to say
them.


Strangers are able to understand much of what is said.

Not really sure how much they understand of him.


Able to describe the use of objects such as 'fork' 'car' etc.

No. He would mix in action and words to get his point across.


Has fun with language. Enjoys poems and recognizes language absurdities.

Yes.

Expresses ideas and feelings rather then just talking about the world
around
him.

Starting to say, "I'm mad," but that's about it.

Uses verbs that end in 'ing' such as 'walking'.

He says, "Mommy walk," instead of "Mommy's walking."

Answers simple questions

Yes.

Repeats sentences.

Yes.

Thanks all. I will get him evaluated. I just wonder what other people's
children do at this age. I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid or not but will
get him tested anyway.

toypup wrote:
"Nikki"

If it were me, I would take him in to get a speech evalution.

Thanks. I think I'll do that, but after the hearing test.

That is a good idea. They will want one.

Actually I was worried about Hunter for awhile but everyone kept assuring me
that he was just going at his own pace etc. The University came in to do a
hearing screening on all the daycare kids which he totally flunked. His
hearing is fine he just wouldn't respond ;-) Anyway - that is what prompted
the referral. We went in for a seconds screening and I had a chance to
visit with an actual speech therapist who immediately recommended an
evaluation after talking with me.

I will get him evaluated. I just wonder what other
people's children do at this age.

It sounds like he may be a slightly ahead of where Hunter was at that age
but behind Luke. Luke can do all those things and he is 3y5m.

Hunter never repeated anything and he could not answer any questions about a
story. Like if I read "Mary put the cup on the table" and then immediately
asked him what Mary put on the table, he didn't know. If I asked Luke that
he'd look at me like I'd lost my mind and say 'a CUP', lol. He did not
enjoy poems or have fun with langauge. Dr. Suess was not interesting to him
at all. I'm rambling on now, with no benifit for you so I'll stop :-) I've
read a lot about speech and langauge since then and it is really very
intesting to me. I'm in the wrong line of work, lol.

I've never spoken to or read about a single person that regretted getting
the evaluation, even when it turned out that their child was right on
schedule!

Good luck!

--
Nikki

toypup wrote:



I wasn't worried much about it before, but he's getting a bit old for it.
We're getting his hearing tested, what with all the ear infections and all.
I just wonder how normal this is for this ng.

At my daughter's 3 year well visit, the doctor said that people outside the
family should be able to understand about 75% of what a 3yo is saying.

Laura

"toypup" wrote in message
news:YC84d.232200$Fg5.225980@attbi_s53...
What sounds do 3 yo's have a hard time making? DS has a hard time with
the
"r" and the "th" and the "l" and the "n" and the "sl" and the "f" (at the
end of "Jeff") and the "s" (like in "sign") and the "m". He drops sounds
at
the beginning and end of words. Some of the sounds he'll make in some
words
but not others. He can speak in sentences. I can understand what he says
a
lot of times because of the context. He can't tell me what he did today
or
any other story. It will come out in gibberish with a few words thrown
in.
If he tries to tell me over the phone, I'm completely lost. Sometimes,
people ask me what he just said, and I don't know, either.

Some phrases he says: "Come on" becomes "Mon." "Happy birthday" is "Ah ah
birday." "I love you" is "I uh you."

I wasn't worried much about it before, but he's getting a bit old for it.
We're getting his hearing tested, what with all the ear infections and
all.
I just wonder how normal this is for this ng.



When my younger daughter was 2 (she's 4 now), the nurse at her 2-year
well-child checkup asked how many words she can say and say most 2 year olds
should be able to say 20-50 words. Mine said 5-10. So a hearing test was
done, which she passed so speech therapy was the next step. Early on, my
older daughter would translate some of what my younger one was trying to say
and still translates today, though a lot less than before. My daughter
attended a speech therapy preschool through the school district which really
helped a lot. She's now receiving one-on-one speech therapy twice a week
for a half-hour each time. I can understand her most of the time and when I
can't, I tell her and she tries harder to get her words/meaning out.
Sometimes it takes her 3-4 times before I understand and sometimes I just
pretend I understand her so we both don't get to the point of frustration.
Anyway, she tends to mix up letters--T/K, G/D, S/T, Z/G, F/K, for example.
She'll say "tit" instead of "kiss," "cawk" instead of "cough," both of which
have raised some eyebrows and laughs at times. ) She'll say "cug" for
"because."
I wonder though if it might be somewhat genetic or just the fact that
younger children "don't need" to talk because the older kids do it for them.
My mom, youngest of my grandmother's had a speech-delay problem. Her cousin
often translated for her. My sister-in-law, also the youngest, had the same
problem. A brother-on-law, same thing. I'm the oldest of my siblings, but
would get F & H sounds mixed up, so "fork" came out "hork," and "heart" came
out "fart."
Anyway, I'm rambling. Ask your school district about speech therapy for
your child.
~Peggy

Peggy wrote in message
...
"toypup" wrote in message
news:YC84d.232200$Fg5.225980@attbi_s53...
or just the fact that
younger children "don't need" to talk because the older kids do it for
them.
I thought generally it was considered that younger siblings talk better (on
average) as they've got more speech round them.
Debbie