Speech issues in 9 year old boy

[Catastrophica]

My son I have only recently noticed (to my shame) is mis-pronouncing his words.

TH words he uses an F - so think becomes Fink, thought becomes fought and so on.

The other times this happens is with D's and T's occasionally.

I have no idea when this started, but expect it was early on.

We talked about correcting this together, through practice and reminders but this doesn't seem to be having any impact.

The school he attends (state school in the US, we are Brits) does have a speech therapist on site who I could ask for help.

Does anyone have experience of this and any advice to give?

Thanks.

[mrz]

They are both common but not usually an indication of a speech problem requiring SaLT just poor articulation. Have you noticed if his friends speak in the same way?

[Catastrophica]

Thanks for the response MrZ. We are British and he keeps his accent here in the US so he isn't speaking like anyone (except me actually!). But I am going to talk to the speech therapist at school. Thanks for the redirect.

[mrz]

It isn't about accent but if everyone at school say fing not thing and wiv not with he's likely to do the same its common in the UK.

[Catastrophica]

Sure, but we're not in the UK. We're in the USA and its not common at all, its very English.

[mrz]

I'm afraid that isn't true it's equally common in the US Google TH fronted

[Ferguson]

It is quite common for younger children to have difficulty with 'th'. You need to put the tongue out between the teeth to pronounce 'th' correctly.

When I was a Teaching Assistant, I used to invite the children to put out their tongues to say 'th' - which, of course, they enjoyed doing!

[Mumof3cherubs]

Regular recitation of the three times tables helped my son pronounce the "th" sound correctly in his everyday speech, as opposed to only when he stopped to really think about it.

[Elisheva]

It is a really common speech sound variation but can be changed fairly easily if it bothers you. The SALT will be able to help you resolve it. The website mommyspeechtherapy has some useful resources if you want more info.

[user1474643665]

Hello Catastrophica

I have stumbled across your thread after doing a search on the Internet as ai have a similar concern with my 9 year old son here in the UK. He has just returned to school and we have been very shocked and upset that his new Teacher has described him as 'unintelligible' and naming 'baby sounds'.

Our DS has been at the school for 5 years and 3 years at nursery and no one has ever commented on his speech. We have made an appt with a private speech therapist for next week but I feel very stressed and anxious about this. He is academically bright and mixes well with a lot of friends. We are now listening to every word he says and sometimes can detect a the sound 'th' as in 'three' sounding like 'free'.

I keep thinking have we let him down by not doing something before? But it's never been commented on before.

If you don't mind me asking, What happened with your son? Did you seek SLT assessment? If so, what did they say? If it was an articulation disorder, was this classed as mild? Also how easy can it be corrected?

Sorry for all the questions. I am racked by anxiety and trying to guess what the SLT will say, not really helpful I Know! Most things on sound disorders I have seen on the Internet and diagnoses criteria etc relate to toddlers and ore schoolers and not children aged 9.

Please can you help?