If 'f' a hard sound to pronounce for a toddler?

[typsical]

My DS was 2 in Oct, and his speech is coming on really well. However, I noticed today that he doesn't pronunce the 'f' sound. I've worried about sounds he's struggled with in the past, and he eventually picks them up, so hopefully the same will happen here. Just wondering if 'f' is one that other toddlers have struggled with, as I always thought 'l' and 'r' were the tricky ones...? Thanks in advance.

[typsical]

Sorry that should say Is not If in the title!

[RockinRobinBird]

Don't know really. My dd can do fs rather too well (frandma, fream on her sore bottom etc). It's sp she struggles with.

[HecateQueenOfWitches]

Sadly not always.

Especially if they are trying to say "duck"

In the park.

Loudly.

[Rindercella]

'f' is one of the sounds DD (3) struggles with. She talks about when she went to the 'wunware'



That's funfair to the uninitiated!

[typsical]

Haha. Hmm, hopefully it will come soon then. Luckily he can already say 'd'.

'sp' is quite tricky I suppose...

[typsical]

Ah so he's not the only one. Grandad Phil is Grandad Will atm :)

[lifeinagoldfishbowl]

I thought you were going to say if F is a hard letter to pronounce then why do I feel embarrassed when my child says duck and truck - loudly

[typsical]

No but 'bridge' sounds very much like 'bitch' and he shouts it a lot on our walks. 'Mummy bitch!'

[pirateparty]

Yes, definitely for my ds. He's 23 months and says 'coddee' (coffee), 'dog' (frog and dog) etc etc

I am sure it will come good - you don't hear many adults who can't say 'f' do you. I'd be more concerned if he was lisping or couldn't say 'r' a la Jonathan Woss - but still wouldn't be concerned at this age to be honest.

[HeathcliffMoorland]

My cousin's DD used just ignore the existence of the letter f.

Thankfully, when she managed to learn to swear nobody knew.

Whenever she would utter 'uck!' in public her mother would start rambling on about ducks. Poor child was probably very confused!

[Batteryhuman]

My Ds went to speech therapy for this. Get him to pretend to be a bunny and put his front teeth on his lower lip and blow. A perfect f will result!

The speech therapist showed me a chart with the order in which sounds are acquired and he had all the ones above f on the list and none of the ones below. it was fascinating. He then acquired the rest in the correct order.

[typsical]

Wow, that is amazing. I'm going to go on Google to try to find that chart! And I'll definitely be playing bunnies later :)

[typsical]

Thank you !

[indiechick]

Not for mine, she repeated for fuck's sake perfectly in the car the other day. Naughty mummy!

[GrimmaTheNome]

Yes, 'f' can be a hard one - in fact I can remember myself not being able to say it so I must have been 3 or 4, I substituted 'b' so I ate with a 'bork' and 'funny bunny' was 'bunny bunny'

My DD had difficulty with f and s - both substituted with 'd'. So sleepsuits were 'deepdoots' and her beloved 'floppy dog' was 'doppy dog' - DH thought she was trying to say 'Soppy dog' and thus he is still named to this day

We both grew out of it - I did use that rabbit teeth trick to help DD

[geoffwhite247]

I went to my friend's the other day - his four-year-old spent the whole afternoon calling me "Jess" - as a Geoff I'd say that answers your question!

[EauRouge]

My DD was also 2 in October and can't say 'f', she says them as 'h' so fork becomes hork, funny becomes hunny and four becomes a word that she luckily only says between three and five so I don't get too many funny looks . I wouldn't worry too much, at this age there are plenty of children that barely speak at all.

[SKYTVADDICT]

Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I am sure it will come to him.

Unfortunately my toddler uses 'f' instead of 'tr' - a tad embarrassing as his Daddy is a trucker and my older dds encourage him to say it!

[ClapTrap]

I think it might be for some. My DD (2.7) has good language skills, however can not pronounce f or s (both pronounced as a d). I have decided not to worry about it yet as everything else seems to be fine. I will try the bunny trick though ;)

[ClapTrap]

I had a play with this speechquest.net

They want £8 for a full assessment, but you can answer the questions and get a rough idea about whether your child requires SAL intervention without paying. Interestingly they ask whether your child can pronounce f or s in any position within a word. I have been monitoring my DD today and it appears she can.
Interesting questionnaire, worth a peek.

I also found a document via Google which says that 50% of children can pronounce 'f' between 2.5-3 years and 90% by four years of age.
It doesn't specify whether that is at the beginning of the word or in any position.

[drivingmisscrazy]

for a long time DD (22mo) said 'h' for 'f', so a fork was a hork (odd); she can say it now, but substitutes it for other sounds she can't manage yet, 'swings' are 'fwings' etc. I think they find sounds that you make with your lips at the front of your mouth more difficult (f, sw etc), but I'm no expert. I think it's amazing how they master something so difficult at all - I love observing how she learns