Speech in a Two Yesr Old.

sounds perfectly on track! I have 4 kids that age in my daycare. Three of them are doing that and one is going to get speech therapy cause he makes only throat constricted sounds.

It takes a while for all the phonemes to come in. Blended sounds (ie st, sn, br, bl, etc) don't come in until closer to 3 or later if I remember correctly. Also, the sounds at the ends of words come in at different ages -- some of these not until they're closer to 6 or 7. Honestly, I don't think it's time to worry. She's not even 3 yet and her speech has just come in (relately speaking). If you are still having difficulty understanding her at 3 or 4, then it may be tiime for speech therapy. Otherwise, I would say just to enjoy her for now.
http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/acquisition.html

I'm a speech/language pathologist and work with kids all the time. The errors in articulation that you are mentioning are developmental errors that your little one should outgrow with just more maturity. I'd not be real concerned for another year or so and by them I'm certain that you'll see (and hear!) a big difference.

Talk to and with your daughter as much as you can. Verbally label things when you use them. i.e. Mommy is sweeping the floor with the broom. Hear the broom go "swish swish". Also read to her DAILY. Play kids nursery rhymes and short stories on CD, and sing to her and with her.

When she says, "Want ligh", answer her with, "Ok, Mommy will turn on lighT" (slight emphasis on the final "t' sound. The same goes for when she is omitting part of the "s" blend, "Do you want your Snack now?": Emphasize the "s" and say other words that start with "sn".....sneeze, snore, snuggle..sss.ssss.sss.

Hope this is some help. If she has the language, the pronunciation will come. Relax, Mom.

A School SLP

Hi C.. Here's the information I was given by a Speech Therapist regarding the development of letter sounds. Many children will develop much earlier than this baseline. However, children who do not meet these baselines may need additional help.

AGE OF PHONEME DEVELOPMENT: These ages represent the year during which these sounds should be acquired.

Year 3 = b, p, m, n, h, w

Year 4 = k, g, t, d, y, ng

Year 5 = f

Year 6 = v, l

Year 7 = wh, sh, zh, s, r, th, j, z, ch

It's rather surprising your daughter can say the L sound ("ligh"). Most children are usually using the W sound instead of L for a couple more years. It sounds like your daughter is ahead of the curve.

I wouldn't worry about it just yet. You said she understands things just fine and has a large vocabulary. She is still little; enunciation will come with time, especially if you always enunciate clearly. She will mimic you. Also, don't be too concerned if she struggles with certain words, or certain sounds. My brother said "orf" instead of "off" until he was almost eight, and then suddenly he could hear the difference and switched to saying "off." As an adult he is now one of the most perfect enunciators I have ever met (a trait that is sometimes VERY annoying!). :-)

I have a nephew the same age as your daughter, and he is exceptionally advanced in his language skills, according to the doctor; but he doesn't have perfect enunciation, either. It's normal.

If you are still concerned, you can always ask your doctor at your daughter's next appointment; but I wouldn't worry.

God bless!
M.

I would check with your local school district and see if they have screening for early childhood. It is not a huge problem, but sometimes little things we think are cute in speech development, really require some assistance. If your school district doesn't do anything, maybe check with her doctor and see if they know of a program. Many of these situations clear themselves up alone, but someone trained in the area would really know if it is something to worry about or not.

I have a 22 month old daughter as well, and I really wouldn't be worried. Like your daugther, mine understands everything we say and has a huge vocabulary. Some sounds are just hard to make! For instance, my daughter still has trouble with her "k" sound. For some reason, she replaces it with the "sh" sound instead. You can imagine my husband's and my reaction when she tried to call the "kitty".... a very different word came out instead! It has now become a source of entertainment in our household, and we even made sure to catch it on video! So... just relax and enjoy that your little one is still a baby in a lot of ways.... the time will fly by quickly!

Not yet!

Don't worry about it...they are supposed to sound this way...she is still ity-bity...I wish my older kids still said all that cute stuff..."papcorn, blackbuster, nogurt, pansghetti" are just a few of the cute things my lil' guys used to say...before they went and got all grown up on me!

Funny, a mom at my daughters preschool was just talking about this with her son (same age) and our speech therapist said it's very age appropriate and just to continue to repeat the words back to them correctly. Until she's in school I wouldn't worry.

Both my daughters did the same thing for a while. I would help her to know the correct pronunciation, and if it continues as she gets closer to preschool/kindergarten age then I would talk with your doctor. I don't think it is abnormal at her age.

I'm not sure if you need to be concerned right now but, if you are, then ask your pediatrician about it and see if he/she will give your a referral to a speech therapist to have your child evaluated. My son did have a problem with oral motor planning issues and getting him into speech therapy at a young age definitely helped. One of the ways that we knew he had issues with his mouth was the fact that he was having a lot of trouble with chewing and swallowing his food as well, more so than normal for a 2-year old.

I hope this helps.

One of my sons does this when he's excited or has a lot to say. He gets talking so fast that he drops off the end of his words and sometimes the entire word. If this is the case with your daughter, remind her to slow down. Someone told me to use a code word with the child to slow down...turtle. Even give the child a small turtle or other reminder to keep in her pocket.

Hopefully she doesn't have a problem but if she does it would be good to get on it asap. The sooner you start trying to get help, the better for her and the better you'll feel. Call Early Childhood Intervention for an evaluation. Your pediatrician, local hospital, IL Dept. of Education, nursery school or local school department should be able to point you in the right direction. (In Mass., every child under age of 3 is guaranteed a free evaluation by ECI professionals if the parent believes the child is not developing properly.) If the evaluation finds that services would help, then a schedule is set up. After age three, the child's case is transferred to the local elementary school where she'd receive services (paid for by your town) until it's deemed she no longer needs them.

Good luck with this.

Best to have an evaluation just to be sure it's normal. My son started speech therapy at 18 months. If she needs it the sooner the better. It's not a bad thing to need the therapy. In Missouri there are ways to get speech therapy for free if she qualifies.

My goodness! Your daughter isn't even 2 years old! Why would anyone think she should talk perfectly? I can't believe they even start speech therapy on babies (18 mo old).

Just ride it out. Someone suggested speech intervention when my daughter was 2, and I chose to ignore it. By the time she turned 4, all speech issues had disappeared on their own.

Give it another year, and then reevaluate. For now, get out the video camera and record those cute mispronounciations.

My son is about the same age. All children develop at different rates. I certainly wouldn't be concerned yet. My oldest started speaking very early on, it took my daughter a bit longer, and my youngest is workin on it! He has a decent sized vocabulary. For light he says "ight", so I am surprised that your daughter can say L, it took my daughter who is now 4 quite awhile to get the "l" sound. My son also has trouble with "t"'s, for kitty he says "kiggy". It is totally normal for them to replace a sound that is difficult for them with another sound. Eventually, she will get it! I'd say if she is still talking like this at 3 than maybe you can start to be concerned..but she isn't even 2 yet. It is very normal :)

Hi,

My little girl is 22 months as well and she does some of the same things. I think the question to ask is if her pronunciation is improving. There are still words that our daughter doesn't say correctly, but there are other words that she has corrected her own pronunciation of over time. (Ex: Bobby for Mommy is now Mommy)

Hi C.,

It may be totally normal, or not. 2 things; first, has your daughter had a lot of ear infections? This can affect the way she hears words. Both of my children had numerous ear infections; one even had tubes, but both have auditory processing issues now; they are 6 and 8, and neither hears speech accurately.
Second, if you are concerned, you can always call Early Intervention and make a referral. It is a state program and the evaluation is free; This program is the one that deals with children up until the age of 3, when the local school district becomes responsible. From my personal experience, Early Intervention is generally easier to deal with than most districts. Good luck!

M.

My daughter is the same age and does the same thing. I'm not concerned at all. I'm not an expert, but I think it's normal. She's still just learning to talk. Also, some words she used to mispronounce she can now pronounce correctly. She used to say "she" for "shoe." Now she says it correctly. If you keep pronouncing the words correctly, she will eventually model you. Enjoy these words.

It's one thing when a sound doesn't sound the way it should. That's somewhat normal...There's a list of sounds that a child develops by age...But your child seems like she is leaving off letters entirely or moving them around....My son did this and had articulation speech therapy for a year....He's all caught up now...I'd recommend it.....But I can't recommend where to go since you in IL...We found an excellent program through one of the University that had grad students as teachers...One on One for 2 hours 2 days per week. Good Luck!

She sounds normal to me! Like others have said, a lot of those blended sounds don't come until they are older. The palate is too soft or something like that.

I wouldn't worry about it now, but if you're still concerned in a year or so, get her screened.

Two of my girls weren't even understandable at that age (we said they spoke "Kira", which is my middle daughter's name). We had them tested and they had early intervention speech therapy (provided and paid for by the school district). Worked wonders and both speak fine now, but are still in speech during school. Still working on those blends!

This sounds just like my 2 1/2 year old son. He can be hard to understand. He's been getting speech therapy for a year. I have also had his hearing checked several times. He does have some hearing issues we are exploring. SEDOL (if you are in Lake county) will test at no charge.