as dd3 speech prgresses in leaps and bounds, i feel for dd2 who still struggles

[misdee]

now dd2 speech has come on massively in the last year. she is getting easier to understabnd, but still gets very muddled and some people cant understand her. and each day the gap closes in as dd3 is catching up fast and is a real chatterbox. i find her easier to understand than dd2 at times.

how do other people cope? i am not comparing the two at all, well maybe i am, but i am finding this so hard at times. I have to spend so long deciephering what dd2 is saying, its gets worse when i dont understand and then she gets works up and even more unclear, so you have to calm her back down etc etc. yet dd3 will utter simple sentances loud and clear and i can get it first time.

there is 2.5years between them.

[nappyaddict]

no advice but just remember all children are different.

[misdee]

i know they are different nappyaddict.


dd2 has been seeing SALT for over a year now.

and it just hurts that i cant understand my own dd at 4yrs old. she starts school in sept, and am dreading it.

[unknownrebelbang]

We don't have an issue with speech, but my DS3 overshadows DS2 in other ways.

It can be very difficult.

[sparklygothkat]

as you know, dd1 had speech problems, and at one point dd2 was better at speech then dd1. Dd1 has now 'caught' up, and her speech is good. I found that as soon as they start school, they do better with speech

[Aloha]

My ds's speech at five and a half is often unclear. Lots of people can't understand him, but he is fine at school and has come on hugely in terms of clarity in the last year, though I do think he might benefit from speech therapy - even his paediatrician thought so (he couldn't understand him and I was translating!). DD is infinitely clearer than ds was at the same age - infinitely, very crystalline tones, bless her - but there is 3.3 years between them which helps in a lot of ways.
However, I honestly do think that unclear speech at four is not very unusual, it's just that your third child's easy facility with language makes your dd2's problems seem worse. I am sure in the next year or so she will really progress and at that point it won't matter so much if your dd3 is chattering away.

[moondog]

Are you talking speech diffs. or more general language problems Misdee?

[moondog]

(Aloha,I really wouldn't take a paed's opinions about speech and language therapy at all seriously.They know nowt about this stuff. You should see the piles of laughable referrals I get from paeds.)

[Aloha]

He couldn't understand him....but then again, the paed had quite a strong accent and I struggled a bit myself!

He struggles with certain sounds - can't make a 'sh' sound, for example, and slurs words together. He can be tricky to understand. I quite often see people look baffled. School isn't a problem though, I'm pleased to say.

[misdee]

i think its both moondog. she has SALt at nursery as well. 'little and often' is the key. am busy worting through worksheets for this week for her, do one a day, still working on sh/ssss sounds one year on.

she is just really struggling at times, and getting very frustrated, which makes her mroe unclear, and so it goes on.

she has got another review at half term

[moondog]

Good for yuo for doing the work with her with all you have on my plate.
From my own experience, 90% of parents just can't be arsed.

[misdee]

it is hard finding the time moondog, but one sheet a day isnt much. as long as dd3 doesnt hide them.

[moondog]

No, it's good. Little and often as you say is the way to progress,not murdering yuorself doing loads then doing nowt for weeks.

Is peter up to doing something with her?

[Aefondkiss]

misdee, I sympathise, not that that is much use, my ds has been seeing a SALT(not actually getting speech therapy) since last october, he turned 3 today.

I too find it very frustrating for him, me and anyone else, trying to understand him when he is having trouble speaking clearly...

We have good days and bad days, I sometimes think there is more to it than the "speech delay/disorder" he has been diagnosed? with, not sure if his behaviour in general needs attention from paed, I waver between denial and despair, can't decide if I am overly anxious/neurotic and he is a fairly normal 3 year old or if I have my head in the sand.

I read most threads like this, looking for advice and inspiration, sometimes just hope...

[moondog]

Aefond,look on special needs thread too.Lots of useful stuff.

[moondog]

(And happy birthday to your little boy!)

[misdee]

peter reads to the chilren. her favourite book is the gruffalo, and there is a sssssssssssnake in it which makes sssssssss sounds.


she can actually reciete the whole book off by heart. its scary.

[misdee]

aefondkiss, might be an idea to pop over to SN as well. i havent posted on there for a while, but have tonight. i keep sticking my head i nthe sand about dd2, but sometimes i cant ignore it.

[misdee]

no idea kami, if its comman, but its the main sound that dd2 really struggles with right now, and have been working on it for so so long.

the nursery is brilliant and work daily with her using the same sheets (deets dd2 would say) as we do.

i do focus on her positive points, she is a very bright clever girl, but the speech is holding her back and causing her frustrations.

[misdee]

thank you K.


moondog, what should i do if she just refuses to do a sheet as she isnt forming her ssss/shhh correctly and getting frustrated? just leave for another day? she has done that a lot lately, but also just with general talking and gone back to grunting at times, or squeaking at me.

[chocolateteapot]

Misdee, my 8 year old (dx of dyspraxia)has just been through a course of speech therapy which has hugely improved her speech. Her SALT was brilliant and got her really motivated, keyed into how she liked working and worked round that ie she loves telling stories and drawing pictures. I got a list of words that they would be working on to practice. I found the easiest way with her was to make it very informal, when we were out and about or in the car and try to make a game of it, so she didn't really realise she was practising.

[littlerach]

Misdee, dd1 ad similar problems to your dd, and I rememeber doing "ladders" of sounds for her for what seemed like years. She did improve vastly when she started school, and they got on board with her own SALT coming nto school too.
Dd2 speaks so clearly, and she is 3.5 yeras younger. She has spoken in sentences since an early age and has most of her sound salready. When the girls speak to their gparents on the ohone, it is disheartening that they often understand dd2 more.
But dd1 is so much clearer then she was, and I thknk that she has pretty much caoght up. she is disjointed still, but can correct it, and I htibk this is partly down to school, and realsiing when she has said somehting wrong.
It is difficult, as you naturally compare them though.

[misdee]

thank you both.

dd2 has been so sparkly and full of joys this morning.

had to translate for her at nursery htis morning though its when people listen intently to her, and then give me the'look' which says 'i didnt understand that, did you?' that quizzical puzzled look as they try and figure it out themselves.