Do you know of any good resources to learn about speech development in a 3 yer old? Specifically which consonant sounds are learned at what age or in what order? My 3 year old is a great speaker, very clear with a high vocabulary, but he does have trouble with some consonant sounds. I feel that it is most likely just still his "baby talk" and that he will eventually outgrow this, but at the same time, I feel that is possibly a minor speech issue. I had come across an article a year or two ago that explained language development age by age, but I cant seem to find it now. I am not too concerned about it for now as I work on it with him, but n=more of a curiosity. Thanks!
Thanks! He is on the younger side of 3 and he is usually understood by most. He just has trouble with certain letters . . . especially at the beginning of a word. I think I will continue with what I am doing and see how he is doing at his 4 year check up!
Here is a great, clear table with when 75% of children have developed each sound by:
http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=c...
If he is talking and you are still able to understand him, he is probably fine. If family that doesn't see him every day or strangers have a hard time understanding him, that might be cause for concern, but not huge at this point. But you said he was "very clear"
You can always look up your local Birth to 3 program for resources. Or if he is older 3, almost 4, your school district.
So many kids make so many articulation (sound) errors in their preschool years. i.e. yellow=lellow If those errors are still happening later when the child is in school, THEN it becomes more of a problem/concern. At 3, he should be fine. Another person to ask would be his pediatrician.
Usually, articulation is not really a concern at this age. If he is almost 4 rather than just turned 3 the only sounds that he should be missing at R (pronounced as W at this age) and TH (pronounced like F). Those are totally normal. Pronouncing L like W is also normal at that age. As others said, people who don't speak to him on a regular basis understand most of what he says?
My daughter had some pronunciation issues at 3. She really struggled with s sounds infront of another consonant, so spoon was pronounced poon, start was tart and so on. That was the most noticeable issue, though she also had some fairly subtle r sound and th sound difficulties. Her vocabulary and understanding were great, and for the most part no one had problems understanding her. Her doctor said 3 was too early to start intervention. He said most kids grow out of those kinds of issues. We did have her speech evaluated later, and the therapist noted her struggles with different sounds but also advised a wait and see approach. She did stress that we needsd to continue modeling correct articlation for her. Now at almost 5, she sounds great, and speaks just as clearly and correctly as any of her peers. Part of me almost misses the itsy bitsy pider though! If you are concerned at all talk to her pediatrican.
http://www.babycenter.com/0_speech-problems_65591.bc
mine still has some 'baby' talk too but its getting better.. (mine 3.5 yrs)
they say k, g & multi consonants are the hardest for kids..
My 12 year old did speak until he was almost 3, started speech therapy at 2....had a disfluency problem(aka a stutter) because his mouth couldn't keep up w/ his thoughts when he finally started speaking and had a lot of artic issues... the "R" sound is one of the later ones to fully work out (Like about 5 or 6 -ish) according to his speech pathologists (yes, plural)....and multiconsonants can be tough too...doesn't sound like anything I'd worry about...Good luck
The best thing you can do is ask your ped for a referral to a speech therapist to have an evaluation done. You can't tell if he has baby talk issues or speech issues - a speech therapist can tell you this. Your insurance will cover the evaluation.
Truthfully, you will have so many people say "Oh, he's fine. You don't need to worry." Well, it's not their kid - you are the mother. There are kids who would have done SO well with a little early intervention, but end up with lisps and speech deficits that other kids make fun of. If only they would have gotten a little help EARLY on, they wouldn't have to go through this.
And then there are kids who have problems with speech not from their mouths, but from their brains. A mother can't help with this. A speech therapist needs to.
Did you google speech development? It's not all that hard to find it...
If your son is in a daycare/preschool, ask if they do an assessment. Even if not, you may contact an elementary school in your area and ask how you can have him assessed. Ours was done through the public school system, but was voluntary. I was really surprised to find out how many parents did NOT have their kids "tested." I mean, at that age, it just seems like a game to the child, and if some speech deficiencies are caught and corrected early, it's all the better for the child.
My daughter has been in speech therapy for almost 2 years (she was assessed and started at about 3y3mos and will be finished up at the end of this month 5y2mos). As her mom, I noticed some things (having her repeat what she was saying), but they picked up a lot of other things that I would never have noticed.
Now that she's finishing up, I feel very confident about her starting Kindergarten in the fall and being understood by the other kids, teachers, and faculty. I'm glad we started when we did, because I have lots of family who also went to "speech therapy," but didn't start until they were already in school and it was embarassing to be called out of class for "special ed" when in 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade.
The most important thing, from what dd's speech teacher says, is to demonstrate correct language skills and correct errors when you hear them.
