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OT - DD's verbal skills

ksmom14's picture

Submitted by ksmom14 on Wed, 11/14/2018 - 10:25am

So DD will be 3 in just a few more weeks. She has a good vocabulary, can understand everything I tell her, and she can communicate to me and DH well. The only problem is that her pronunciation of words is terrible. Most people who are not used to her would have a tough time figuring out what she's saying because she doesn't pronounce most words correctly (although she's consistent in the way she pronounces them).

I asked her doctor about this about 3 months ago when DD1 had a checkup and she said they start paying more attention to it around 3, so I'm not sure how worried I should be. A few months ago she made some major improvements, but it's plateaued again and hasn't seemed to make much progress recently.

Some examples:

Milk - "now"

School Bus - "scu-ba"

Yogurt - "yoyo"

Banana - "bana"

Breakfast - "bay - fay"

I know all kids develop at different ages, I'm just not sure where the "hard line" of her needing help is.

Comments

nengooseus's picture

Submitted by nengooseus on Wed, 11/14/2018 - 10:58am

And it made a world of difference for her.  You might request a speech evaluation to see if services are needed.  Even if they're not, the ST may have suggestions for you on how to work on it with her at home.

justmakingthebest's picture

Submitted by justmakingthebest on Wed, 11/14/2018 - 11:01am

I wouldn't stress about it. Some of the ways she is saying words are pretty common. If she needs to be seen for speach therapy, she isn't alone!! Ton's of kids go to speach therapy. There are so many resources out there for this Smile

If you are still worried in a couple of months, schedule an appointment to get her over to be evaluated, but don't put too much pressure on yourself Mom!! It will all be ok and I am sure she will start kindergarten with no issues at all :) 

advice.only2's picture

Submitted by advice.only2 on Wed, 11/14/2018 - 4:47pm

BD did this with some words, I would just tell her repeat after me and then I would break the words up...
MMMMMM.....ilk
stuff like that and I would over pronounce the words. She thought it was a great game we were playing and would mimic me and before you knew it she was getting better with her pronunciation.

I also agree get her ears checked, if she's got blockage sounds she hearing could be muffled and that's why she's not getting them down.

I think she's just a normal 3 year old still learning her vocabulary.

arjuna79's picture

Submitted by arjuna79 on Wed, 11/14/2018 - 6:39pm

Doctor of Physical Therapy here, I teach oralmotor neurophysiology to speech therapists and OTs (and MDs). Has she been screened for tongue tie? Did she have trouble nursing or bottle feeding? Can she chew/swallow ok now? Was she a thumb sucker?  Is she a mouth breather?  Pm me if you'd like to chat about this. And at the very least, get her checked by a speech therapist.

Livingoutloud's picture

Submitted by Livingoutloud on Thu, 11/15/2018 - 1:14am

My DD had her own words for a lot of things. It sounded actually similar to your examples.  She also  had some type of lisp. I did take her to a specialist. I was told it’s normal and give it a bit more time. It all completely went away. But I worried too. One of my DD’s younger brothers (her dad’s and SM’s) wouldn’t speak more than few words at 3 at all and my ex and SM worried he was developmentally delayed. Again was told to just give it time. He started speaking shortly after. No delays. In college now and doing great. 

If you worry though take her to a speech specialist just so you have piece of mind 

ksmom14's picture

Submitted by ksmom14 on Thu, 11/15/2018 - 8:34am

Thanks for all your advice! I do clean her ears regularly, although she's always been a mouth breather, and seemed to have congestion issues, so maybe that is an issue?

Also, I do try to break down the words for her and get her to pronounce parts at a time, but as soon as she realizes what I'm trying to do she shuts down, so it can be difficult. I try not to push it too much and make it a point of anxiety for her.

I have her 3 year check up scheduled in a couple months so I will ask the doctor then, although I'm switching doctors, and this will be the first appointment with the new doctor. 

Survivingstephell's picture

Submitted by Survivingstephell on Thu, 11/15/2018 - 9:18am

Be persistent.  I had to push for my BD9 to get examined by a specialist, he treated me like an over worried mother. He did tell me that she had a chunk of wax in her ear but didn't remove it.  Left that for me to figure out.  She also snored like a trucker and was mouthbreather too   Turns out her adnoids were just about swelling her throat shut and he was acting  so different when that xray came back.  Scheduled surgery asap.  Doctors can be assholes.  (Never mind that I had 3 older BDs and had lots of experinece under my belt) 

She might have allergies keeping her congested.   

beebeel's picture

Submitted by beebeel on Thu, 11/15/2018 - 8:38am

Call your local early childhood screening program (usually run out of the school district, here it's called ECSE). I just had my 2.5 year old screened and he will be starting speech therapy. He also has an appointment with the audiologist to find out if its a hearing problem. It's scary, but the earlier their speech is corrected, the better chance they have to be caught up by kindergarten.