Does your young DC pronounce the 'th' sound in conversations?

[cliffdiver]

DD2 is 4.5 - she can say the 'th' sound but will not use it in conversation, it's always pronounced 'd'.

For example, "Look, this bit comes up and that bit comes off... someone did that, didn't they?" Becomes:

"Look, dis bit comes up and dat comes off... someone did that, didn't dey?"

To encourage her, I'm asking her to repeat each word correctly.

Nothing was said at Nursery, she was assessed as 'Emerging' at speaking for 40-60 months.

Typo:

did dat - not did that.

That's normal up to around 7 or even 8 years, a Google of speech sound development chart will give you an idea of what's expected at what age.

From your title I was trying to figure out where the 'th' sound was in the actual word 'conversations' 😂😂

They did at home. Not at school!

The nursery assessment won't pick up on issues like what you mention, it's more to do with how children are able to articulate themselves than the way they pronounce certain sounds.

I wouldn't be overly concerned with a child of that age not being able to pronounce 'th' but nursery should be able to refer to speech and language if you're concerned.

My husband still can’t say the TH sound, neither can some of his relatives. I’m not sure if due to dialect or something else. I correct my children aged 8 and nearly 6 on this, hopefully they will get it eventually.

right I am off to google that chart as my four year old can’t say her t’s very well, wart-er for water being the one that irritates me the most.

Up to 7 years old to develop the ‘th’ sound is perfectly within usual development, just remind her but it’s nothjng to worry about.

Posted too soon! Reminds me of the beer advert with the “ warter in ma-jorka don’t taste like it oughter” (phonetic spelling not my strong point)!

I remember the teacher in charge of Music at my children's primary school threatening the pupils with retribution if they sang "Beff-lehem" at the Chrstmas carol service

'Th' is one of the later sounds to appear. Ds1 has had speech therapy and according to the development chart I've got, it's normal for 'd', 'f' or 'v' to replace it at this age. The normal timeframe for 'th' to appear is 4.5y onwards but our ST said anywhere up to 7 is considered as within norms. Ds1 got it at around 5.5 in the end.

Thank you the replies.

It appears I shouldn't be concerned, which is reassuring - there were some early concerns over DD2's speech but she suddenly seemed to 'catch up' about a year ago.

I saw that table @Mistoffelees but it didn't appear to be reflective of the diction I've observed in young children with no S&L concerns.

My 10 year old cousin still mispronounces some words (including my name ) if she's very excited or flustered.

anything that's really interesting to read. My DD can do 'th' at the start of words like 'they# and 'that' but she is adamant that there is no audible or spoken difference between 'death' and 'deaf'.

She is 7 now, so is there something we should be doing about this?

All kids go through that. I'd say it's nothing to worry about unless she's still like it when she's 10 or so.

My (almost 4yr old) granddaughter can't say certain sounds - the F sound, so she says Weet not Feet, Win-ger not Finger, etc. It's actually really cute.

@cliffdiver, I agree most children will 'get' some of the sounds earlier but it's a good indication of what a S&L therapist would and wouldn't be concerned about.
@M3lon, get her to look in a mirror and say f and th, notice and exaggerate the different ways her mouth moves, i.e. teeth on lips for f and tongue sticking out for th. Then show her how you say deaf Vs death, exaggerating the lip biting/tongue sticking out and see if she can tell you the difference.

At that age I don't think it's an issue at all.

Practically nobody says "th" where we live. The first time ds wrote a birthday card on his own, he wrote "Happy Birfday, Efan"

It's one of the last sounds to come through. Very usual at this age.

DD did it at nursery and preschool, exacerbated I think by a key worker who pronounced 'th' as either 'd' or 'f'. It stopped very soon after starting school where she was only ever hearing the correct pronunciation and the class did phonics

I too have a husband that can’t say a th 🙈. Can’t hear it, can’t say. But, that’s not uncommon in my Southern corner of the UK. I was never allowed to mispronounce a th - my mum used to make me practise with my teeth on my lips for an f and teeth on the tongue for a th. Chn of that age mispronouncing a th for d is fairly common - I’d just keep modelling correct pronounation and eventually it should be picked up.

I think my DD has started mostly saying 'three' rather than 'free' etc after a year at university.

A few years ago she mentioned a film, sounded as though she'd like the DVD for Xmas ... cue me being baffled as I googled 'Four'...

@ErrolTheDragon