Trilingual child with speech delay

I wish people that have no knowledge of a subject would stop giving advice, especially if it’s incorrect and can really harm someone. OP you should definitely go to a good (preferably bilingual) Speech Therapist. Ideally someone that speaks all/most of your DDs languages so she can be properly assessed in all of them. In the meantime continue speaking to her in all your native languages as you do now.

I used to speak in my mother tongue to my oldest DC so he was supposed to be bilingual. His speech delay didn't worry me since I know it's common in bilingual kids. Autism diagnosis at age 4. Went to speak English only so as to help him with social skills. Not saying that it's always the case but if you have checked hearing then I would see a specialist just to be sure. Yours' is trilingual though so I would think it's normal for a delay.

Please, please, please don't give up speaking your mother tongue! It's so important! One person, one language consistently at home (it doesn't matter what you and partner speak to each other, only what you speak to child) and they will get the English from school. If you think there may be something else going on see a different language therapist who understands multilingualism, get hearing checked etc.... They are 4! Still a baby! It takes a lot of patience and time and all children are different. Do your research on it. Speaking as a mum of bilingual children and a teacher of EAL children. Good luck, it's worth it!

That's why I said stick with 2 languages (English and maybe your language) rather than 3 until she's confident in at least one language.

Don't give up a language. Do try and get proper professional support.

Ds1 (bilingual) was slow to speak in both languages. At 3 could say very short sentences in English (not very comprehensible) and almost nothing in French. He is now fluent but still can struggle to communicate both in written and spoken language (both languages). He has ADHD and dyspraxia. (Hes 13 now)

Ds2 was speaking full sentences in both languages by 18 months. He would say one sentence to me then the same sentence in the other language to his dad. He would pronounce his brothers name differently depending on whether he was going to carry on talking to him in English or in French.

Until we had dS2 I assumed DS1s problems were bilingual problems.

It's really common to have a slight delay in bi (or more) lingual children but they quickly catch up. Try not to worry too much much just ensure you expose her to lots of sources of the languages eg reading to her, speaking, age appropriate tv and ideally other children who speak that language. English will be just fine if they are being educated in it because it's everywhere

I knew a trilingual child in Northern Greece, many years ago. Her languages were Greek, Macedonian, and English. At age four she had no problem with speech, other than using all three languages mixed up, tho if somebody told her to use a particular language she would without a problem. She was asked not to use Macedonian with me, as I didn't understand it, and she didn't, just Greek and English.

Is he into sports?

This is entirely why people get into Triathlons.

Why be good at 1 sport when you can be bad at 3.

I would also get a private hearing test done with a good private hearing specialist, as hearing issues due to flue ear can be seasonal and can make a HUGE difference to speech acquisition.

Op I know how worrying this is as I’ve also had a speech delayed dc. I would really recommend not waiting and seeing because early intervention is absolutely crucial with speech delayed dc. I would take her for a comprehensive assessment to a good private SALT now and pay for private therapy.

I would focus on her main language and just use the others in a controlled way. Hearing all three without any boundaries is probably confusing.

Why make it harder for her at school? She will struggle to socialise and understand the lessons. I have experience as bilingual (younger than your child) but English as my main language as I've always lived in England. Made life and school a lot easier. Stick to two languages for a few years before introducing a third. She's struggling with one language so two more is confusing your DD.

I wouldn't blame hearing/speaking multiple languages to her speech delay but would be looking at continuing speech therapy etc as you sounds to be doing.
My DD is exposed to two languages since birth and so are all my friends' kids with 2-3 languages as we are all foreigners and only two of the kids have delays. And in those two cases one has a dad who had delayed speech and second one has a sister who can speak fluently. And the one with dad who had delayed speech stopped speaking their native language to their kid and now their kid only knows English and it's unlikely he will learn their native language anymore which is an issue with communicating/socialising when they go back home.

My eldest needed speech therapy when young ex husband family and himself blamed me for speaking with language to him so I stopped when he was 3. We only managed to get Speech therapy when he was 6. The speech therapy told me that me speaking my language to him was not the reason at all.

I wouldn't rush to attribute the delay to the languages spoken - speech delay isn't an inevitability for children learning more than one language. Has she had her hearing checked? Do you have any additional resources recommended from SALT? Maybe get a second SALT opinion if you weren't confident with the first opinion.

Please OP listen to CymraesCymraeg rather than all the people who don't understand bi/multilingualism and just think it's a bit weird. British people are notoriously shit with languages and distrustful of foreign languages. All over the world children learn multiple languages from a young age successfully.

My sons are bilingual, and both were slightly behind in speech. Both clearly understood a lot by the age of say 2, but speaking was more behind. Both are still bilingual aged 19 and 10, although their English is better as their entire education has been in English. Both also have been fine at school, and don't have smaller vocabularies or anything.

She's not speech delayed she's overwhelmed

You are doing a good thing teaching these languages.

its so good for brain development. Not just in languages but will also help her understand maths and read music.

keep doing what you are doing.

you are giving your child wonderful opportunities