Does my DS need speech therapy?

[ClaireB83]

My DS in nearly 3 and will be staring nursery in September. He is quite forward in most areas of development and although he has a huge vocabulary and better comprehension than most children his age he has a bit of trouble making himself understood as his pronunciation is not good and he really struggles with quite a lot of the initial sounds of words.

It always seems such a shame to me when people don't understand what he is saying because he has such a lot to say. Does anyone have any experience of speech therapy? What should I do? Is it too early? Will he grow out of it? Should we wait until September when he goes to nursery school? I just don't know what to do. My DH thinks I'm worrying about nothing so I'm feeling a little bit on my own with this one.

Any advice/thoughts welcome

Claire

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If he's having difficulty, why wouldn't you want to get it sorted? You should be able to self refer to SLT and in all probability a few sessions should help him

[steppemum]

Is his hearing OK?
Could he have glue ear?
That can cause poor pronunciation due to not hearing the sounds

[TiddlerTiddler]

My son has had speech therapy. Starting at 3 and a half. The trigger for getting it sorted was that he went to nursery and couldn't make himself understood easily. I could understand him, but my parents couldn't easily. And people who had never met him before definitely struggled. Well worth it.

[mrspaddy]

Hi OP.. defo get a Speech Therapist to look at him but don't get too worried at this age. The therapist will be able to isolate the specific sounds / blends he is struggling with and recommend exercises to practise at home.
Nursery will help a lot, but why not give him a helping hand too. A lot of the exercises are really fun.

This is a nice article. Best of luck!

www.abramslearningtrends.com/articles/089551.pdf

[Timeforabiscuit]

My dd had what I thought was a slight problem mispronouncing "k" and "g", she was initially assessed by a health visitor in the nursery and now we are doing speech therapy - she's three and a half as well, getting hold of a health visitor was the hardest part tho!

[Morrigu]

Ds was put brought to the attention of SLT about two via HV but they wouldn't touch him until three and he still sees them at near 6yo. Comprehension has always been great just vocalising and pronouncing stuff was the problem (his nursery teacher couldn't really understand him) As Tiddler said, I had no bother understanding him just other people did. He has come on leaps and bounds now and everyone understands what he is saying. I definitely recommend for any children who are having problems. Go for it if you are worried.

[ClaireB83]

Thanks. I think I might try to get him to see the HV this week. Interesting point about his hearing. I think it might be worth a check. Just worried he'll find it frustrating at nursery if they can't understand him like we do at home. Thanks everyone x

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If your HV isn't available, ask at your children's centre, if you have one. My HV wasn't very useful at all with speech and language. You can self refer too, just phone your health centre and ask for the slt number

[AnathemaDevice]

DS1 is currently having speech therapy. He was initially referred by the health visitor and sent for a hearing test (though I was sure there was nothing wrong there-he could hear a packet of biscuits being opened from two rooms away)

He was having trouble with the sounds f, s, c/k and g. After 8 sessions you would never guess that f had been a problem. He can manage s about 90% of the time, and is showing real progress with c/k and g.

The therapy sessions are half an hour long, and he really enjoys them. We have to do a little bit of practice at home every day, but it isn't difficult.

I'm glad we got a referral, as it makes life so much nicer for all of us now he's easier to understand. I didn't want him to grow up like DH, who needed speech therapy as a child but didn't go Mil didn't want him labelled, whatever that means). As a result he was a painfully shy child and still has trouble talking to strangers as an adult, even though his speech is fine now.

[blueberryupsidedown]

I think that your child is very young, things might just settle. It would be worth having hearing checked, and go on waiting list with SaLT you might hhave to wait up to 6 months before you get your first appointment.

[ClaireB83]

Really reassuring to know you've had such sucess AnathemaDevice. DS is struggling mainly with combinations of consenents like 'cr' and 'sl'.

I'm a bit worried that we will have to wait a long time for SLT as I'm sure there are a lot of children out there with much bigger problems. Fingers crossed we can get him in and he gets his little difficulty sorted quickly without much fuss.

[KeepCoolCalmAndCollected]

You can also help him (I'm sure you do already), by repeating sentences back to him clearly and correctly.

Always keep it positive and start off by saying "that's right bla bla ........." You are basically parroting it back to him correctly so that it sinks in, but never show him you are actually 'teaching' him because obviously you don't want him to cotton on to the fact that there's a little problem as that could damage his enthusiasm and confidence ifyswim.

Good luck I am sure it will be fine!