Dealing with Possible Articulation Disorders?

Hi Jen:
My daughter had the same problem at about that age (3 I think) Off the charts with other things, but speech related problems. We went to OSU Speech and Hearing dept. They use grad students to work with the kids and my daughter really responded to someone younger. They are hard to get into because you have to get in on the 1/4, semester or whatever. But they are worth it. They staff is very good at making the program fit the child. It is a fun atmosphere for the child and my daughter always looked forward to going to the sessions.

As a word of encouragement, get it done ASAP because it is so much easier to get it fixed when they are young. My daughter is now in 4th grade, no speech issues and in the gifted program. It all works out in the end! Good Luck!

I responded to someone before with similar concern and I will say this again: there is absolutely no harm or stigma in getting your child evaluated and in speech therapy. Both are done in such a way your daughter will not even suspect this game has a serious purpose. And nothing is done in a pushy way. So really, nothing to loose other than money that eval may cost, but then it may be covered by your insurance. If the kid qualifies for speech therapy it can be free too.

Get her evaluated! Call your local elementary school and ask for the Early Childhood coordinator. The Early Childhood Development program picks up where First Steps stops - it's for ages 3-5. She'll be evaluated by the speech therapist at the local school and if she qualifies for services (ie, it's bad enough to require therapy) then she can get speech therapy free through the local school.

My son was evaluated soon after he turned 3. He was in speech for 2 years before starting school and was almost 'normal' by kindergarten. He continued to be in speech twice a week in kindergarten and by the end of the year was all caught up. We didn't pay anything for 3 years of speech therapy.

Even if your child doesn't qualify now, the therapist can give you good guidelines. There are certain sounds children aren't expected to master until 2nd or even 3rd grade. So if your daughter isn't making them now, she won't qualify. But if she still doesn't make them in 2nd grade (or at the appropriate age/grade level) then she may get therapy then.

A very good book on articulation issues is "Teach Me to Say It Right" It gives a good guideline on what sounds are expected at different ages. It also has pages and pages of sound-specific exercises to do with your child to help them learn and practice those specific sounds. http://tinyurl.com/cax6v7 (link to the book on amazon.com... I used tinyurl because it was a very long link)

You are doing the right thing in working with her.
I had these same problems with my son and that is what I did and it worked out well.
I have a granddaughter with the same and her parents are doing the same.
It will probably resolve itself with your help.
And if she gets mad, so what!
Just keep at it.

Hi Jen,

Our son is three and we have the same problem... very bright, ahead of his age group but cannot pronounce certain sounds/letters. Mainly he drops the end of words so they all sound alike. We had him evaluated and he was right on the border. Everyone involved said it would be better to get him started with speech therapy now and by the time he went to school, he probably will not have any problems. We contacted our local school district and they have a county preschool that we entered him in. They would like him to continue there all the way to kindergarden. It is a great program and free since they idetified a "development problem". I would research it now.

Good Luck,

C

My daughter was the same at that age. When I took her for her preschool screening, I asked them about it and I was told she was borderline, but they would watch her. I spoke to one of my friends who is a speech pathologist and she said that she was a little behind, but would be fine. So she did improve but was still a bit behind to start kindergarten. I spoke to the speech pathologist at the school at kindergarten screening and she talked with her for just a few minutes, showed her a few pictures and told me, basically that she was just lazy. She could say the sounds when they occurred in the middle of the words or the end; she just didn't say the beginning sounds correctly. She said to let it go, don't draw attention to it, and it would work out as she got older. She is now in the 1st grade and you would never know that she had a problem. She sounds like all the other kids now and she has no problems. She's also in the top of her class and is a leader in her classroom. If your dr. isn't concerned, and you're working with her and see improvement, I would just keep doing what you're doing. As long as you understand what she says and she's not saying the same sounds incorrectly all the time, then it just sounds like its more of a behavior issue than an actual physical or developmental issue. Good luck.

My niece Krystina had the same problem and we took her to a speech therapist at our loal hospital. She went for around a year and since my sister couldn't afford it I paid for it. Krystina's problem was that my family spoke to her in baby talk all of the time so she spoke in baby talk.And also that she had many ear infections before her 3 rd birthday so she wasn't hearing things properly. You might want to take her to a ENT Dr. first and see if she has blockages, Krystina did and it was easily removed .

Hi Jen-
My first thought when I read your post was that your Dr. shouldn't be hinting at anything. I am a firm believer that doctors need to be as clear as possible when it comes to our childrens health & if they aren't ask ALOT of questions. But be ready to be brushed off as a "overprotective" worrysome parent. My oldest son had alot of speech delays & mispronuciations & I mentioned it at his 2 yr check up. The Dr. said not to worry about it, that he would catch up. Long story short, my DS was diagnosed with High functioning Autism at 3 1/2. My point here is, listen to your Mommy voice. If it's telling to to have your daughter evaluated DO IT! My 2 yr old son is now getting speech services through first steps & is doing wonderfully.

If your daughter is not in pre-school/head start try getting her in. They do wonders. My Gdaughter had problems like yours, but after a yr. in pre-school she straightened up. Her kindergarten teacher said it's perfectly normal to sound things wrong or write their letters backwards and upside down ,even into 1st grade. By the way, my Gdaughter is in the top 10% of her class. They even tested her because she's smart in math and language. Most doctors think that all kids should be at the same level, they like to put everyone into brackets.
Just help your daughter as much as you can.

Haven't read the other responses so I may be repeating here...I would take her to get evaluated. To me speech is something that as she gets into school, if other kids can't understand her or they think she talks "babyish" they're going to make fun of her. So, why do that to a child. Both of my kids (twins) need speech and it was no big deal, however I'm glad I did it. My neighbors daughter (1st grader) her speech has been so bad and they just thought she'd "grow out of it" well, guess what she hasn't and it's only making for some tough times. Also, yes you can work with her, but you are mom and we all think we can be the ones to help our kids through something like this, especially if you have the back ground, but it's not like that... kids are always going to give their own parents a hard time and do much better with someone else when it come to something like this. Goodluck

I would get her evaluated.

Much like the others, my DS was observed as having "something going on" at an early age in PreSchool. He was diagnosed PDD-NOS and went on to have delayed speech. He is dyslexic and has other things going on as well. While his speech articulation was cute for awhile, it became clear that he needed speech therapy to work on certain phonemes. It helped a lot. Early detection and intervention is definitely the key. I would also stay on the lookout for dyslexia as there is a correlation of phonemic awareness, speech delays, etc. You can learn more on that at diaohio.org.

Jen,

If you think that it is out of the typical range, then take her to be evaluated. It is always better to err on the side of too much and too soon when it comes to developmental issues. The earlier you catch it, the better the outcome. You could take her to your school district, they serve preschool children begining at age 3, she may qualify but because it is just articulation and they do not think that it will effect her educational performance, she may not qualify. Even if she does qualify, you will always want your own evaluation and more therapy than the school is required to give her.

M.

Hi Jen.

I'm a speech therapist by training (now a stay at home mom) and I would recommend you have your daughter evaluated. Early intervention is very helpful! The sooner she starts getting therapy (if she qualifies) the easier it will be to correct her speech errors. I don't know where you live, but in Indiana the public schools provide free therapy, even if your daughter is not in preschool yet. If you have her evaluated at a school the therapist would also do a hearing screening. If she doesn't pass that, then you'd be referred to a doctor to have her hearing checked more thoroughly. If you decide to go that route, just call the main office and ask them how to get in touch with the preschool speech therapist. Sometimes kids don't qualify in the schools (depends on the severity of the problem) but will in a private practice/hospital setting. If that happens, I'd encourage you to seek out that option so she gets the help she needs. Good luck!

My 4-year-old also mispronounces some words, such as saying "re-sgusting instead of disgusting. She often puts "re" at the beginning of words in that way. I would just keep modeling the correct pronunciation, and it will come in time. Don't make it obvious you are correcting her, as you mentioned that she gets angry when you point out her mistakes. I wouldn't worry about having her evaluated at this time.

My oldest son had trouble pronouncing alot of his first consonants up until he was about 4 1/2 years old. I worried that he might need help with his speech. I talked once with a friend of mine who was a speech teacher and she told me not to worry about it. She said that kids are still developing speech control until age 6. For the longest time he called himself "Tameron" when his name is Cameron. We kept working with him and now he can say all of his words right. I think pre-school also helped him alot too. Sometimes its just easier for kids to take instruction from someone other than their parents.

I think you should have her checked. It could be part of a inherited thing it could also be physical. My youngest grandson we thought was coping a cousin who sturtered but when he went to preschool it was found he had a tied tongue and had to have it clipped and when to speak for years to correct it. Took what seemed like forever to understand him. He cried allot because we didn't understand him.I would try to get him to slow down thnking he was just speaking to fast and I do have trouble understand the best of times but it only made him worse. He's 13 now and doing great. So my advice would be taker her it would not hurt and could help the sooner she goes.