My 4 year old son has begun drawing his words out over the past week when talking. My husband thinks he is imitating his cousin or someone that he heard talking. He has always been very verbal and I know he can speak "normally" Sometimes it is one or two of the words in his sentences, sometimes more. Anyone have a child that did this? And how long will it last? It gets really annoying! I have started to tell him that I can't understand what he is saying...but I don't want to make a big deal out of it since that too could contribute to him continuing to do it. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Be patient. It won't last. He's just trying it out. You might ask him if someone he knows talks that way or whether he has made it up himself. There are lots worse things a four-year-old could be doing!
My son did that. I didn't pay it any attention. I miss the days when they called skunks stunks and marshmallows farfellows. I still can't pick up a banana without hearing numbina in my head. It all goes to fast. Someday you will look back and miss it.
Yes - my son, also 4, went through this (how-ess for house, toe-esssst for toast). He, too, has always been very verbal and after a month or two of this, he started reading a lot more words. I think this was his way of playing with the words and seeing how to sound them out. He's always been into letters and sounds - finding rhymes and word play hilarious. Maybe your son, too? One thing my husband and I did was model the correct way of saying the word, when it got to be too much. "House, not how-ess, right kiddo?" (I honestly don't think he was aware he was doing it) Hang in there - it does pass.
My son went through that at about 3.5 to 4 years also (he's 4.5 now). I couldn't figure it out because he has always spoken clearly and has only a few mispronunciations in his daily vocabular. Then I asked his teacher about it and she told me they were working on word sounds at school and they were drawing out the sounds to help the children learn. So at home I would ask him to pronounce the words without drawing them out, which he would. When they stopped working on sounds so intensely at school, he stopped the drawing-out of his words.
So, I'm wondering if your boy goes to school and if something similar is happening. Like the others said, just remind him how the words sound "normally" and keep reinforcing it. He'll likely stop and you won't even notice.
He is exploring language. Is he reading? Could be a good time to start working on it or see if he can already read.. Our daughter used to do this a lot.. We would also all do rhyming words..
I purchased the first set of "BOB" books to begin working on reading with our daughter.. On the way home she read the entire set! I had to turn the car around and trade it out for the second set..
I had no idea she could read..
It's likely a verbal tic. Almost all kids have them at some point or another. It's just something they "have" to do. Look for other signs he is having tics, like finger flicking, skin picking, eye-blinking, hair-pulling (self,) or sniffing. Those are the ones most often overlooked.
If he starts doing other things, like OCD tendencies, fears, having separation anxiety, aggression, a fever w/no symptoms, bed-wetting or urinary urgency/frequency, then I would have him checked for strep. There is a disorder called PANDAS that is associated with asymptomatic strep throat that kids can get, that often presents with tics as the first sign.
I would ignore it and hope it's just a phase, like everyone said, but definitely keep a watchful eye on his behavior overall to make sure it's nothing more.
M.
Is he watching any educational tv shows where they sound out the words and he is copying what they are teaching?
