Does my Two year old have a speech impediment?

[Mummysharkdoodoodoo]

Dd is 2nhalf. She’s started talking a lot! But it’s becoming clear she has a bit of a lisp. She struggles to say anything with an S. Like she’s talking at the side of her mouth? It’s hard to explain.

Like soup, when she says it It comes out like “sssoup”, or “whatssss that”

What do I do? Do I need to see her health visitor? Or do I leave it?

Look to see if your area does drop in clinics with the Speech And Language Therapists. HVs tend, in my experience, to sweep speech issues under the carpet. A SALT will be able to tell you if its an issue or not. If not, happy days. If it is then you'll be in place for early intervention.

Thank you! Will have a look x

Sounds like a lateral s (one side of the tongue doesn't come up to touch the teeth so air escapes out the side of the mouth).

With pronunciation issues (as opposed to difficulty learning vocab, making sentences etc) you don't need to worry at this age. Generally it wouldn't be worked on until at least 4 unless it was a big problem e.g. no one understands them, they are upset and won't talk etc. Developmentally the s sound is expected to be acquired at age 4 (so normal to produce it differently before).

Try to repeat it back clearly to get but don't make her repeat e.g. Yes that's the sun. By all means go to a SALT drop in but I don't think you need to worry for now.

Clearly to HER

I’m a speech and language therapist. Definitely no need to worry at two.

I agree, seek advice from a specialist. However, a lot of children at that age do have difficulty with certain letters. My DC1 couldn't say the s sound until she was 3. She used 'n' instead, rather than speaking out of the side of her mouth as you describe though. My other DC couldn't pronounce 'r' until she was 5. A specialist may be able to tell if there's an obvious problem but they may also want to see her when she's a bit older. I think it's unusual for SALT to do much before the age of 3/4 ( though I am happy to be correct by anyone more knowledgeable!).

Maybe speak to your HV if it will help put your mind at ease, but honestly I would t worry too much just yet.
Most children this age tend to struggle with the 'S' sound, my DS would pronounce it as a 'D', for example he'd say "dop" (stop) or "dinodaur" (dinosaur) or "daudage" (sausage). He pronounces it just fine now no issues.

If DD does seem to still be struggling with 'S' in another 12-18 months, then it may be the time to think of seeing a speech specialist.

My son is two and has great vocabulary but pronounces s just like you describe. We haven't been at all worried-his speech is changing all the time and I'm sure he'll grow out of it. In the meantime he sounds really cute lisping away as he's falling over himself to get his stories out

She's only two OP, hold off for a bit.

My DD got referred to a speech therapist aged about 2ish because some HV thought she had speech delay. Had a couple of appoints and turns outs she was a slower developer and it fixed itself.

Thanks all! I know I shouldn’t be worried, it’s actually really cute 😂🙈

My ds didn’t speak until he was 3, so we had a lot of speech therapy work with him, and now we can’t shut him up 😂

Our eldest had a lisp at 2 which she grew out of and there's not a hint of it at 4.

My daughter had this lateral lisp. I raised it with health visitor at 2 was told not to worry, I mentioned at reception year at school and was told not to worry, I then asked when she was 7/8 and she was referred to speech therapy. She had become quite self conscious at this point. I was told she would have to wait for her two front teeth to grow back, and then she finally commenced speech therapy aged 9. She worked really hard, the sounds she struggled with were 'sh' 'ch' 'J' and a few others I think... took about 6 months and she was sorted! I still noticed occasionally she "slips back into it". She's 14 this year. The speech therapy was amazing, and I wish I knew what we had to do,way earlier, as I could have helped her at home years before.