Teen dd has become unintelligible!

[Updownin]

Early teen dd. No speech therapy issues when she was younger, but in the last year she has noticeably become a really lazy speaker - so much so that she says sentences now and I think I know what she is saying, but I need to get her to repeat herself.

It is like she can't be bothered saying words anymore and is going for a lazy good enough approach to being understood!

Should I be intervening other that making her repeat herself and pulling her up when she is particularly unintelligible? Is this a teen thing she will grow out of?

incomprehensible

God, this is my ds (16)
He's just said "srmmpphata wwhhhhzzznnn" to me. Cue me looking blank and saying "what"!?!!! Long suffering sighs , tuts and eye rolling follow. Still have no idea..might have been telling me the house is on fire

@Gatekeeper

Do you live in my house? Honestly, I am sure that my MH issues might not actually exist! How on earth do teachers know what is happening, having to deal with hoards of mumbling, eye rolling, stomposaurous'.

For those old enough to remember Ifeel like Mrs Richards in Fawlty Towers

Like this...I need to buy a hat

@chickenyhead maybe we are inhabiting the same space , just in different universes

Watch this OP.
Twas ever thus.

My teen DF did this and to make matters worse, I'm English and she's Scottish.

We pulled her up on it every time and she stopped the nonsensewordsrunonsentencemissingletters crap.

If DD were speaking Scots I'd have been fine understanding her but she was mumbling words together and not bothering saying half of the letters in there.

And it was a quick phase. Once she realised she'd have to say every single thing two or three times she stopped doing it.

I am sure she is enjoying annoying you no end. If you have ruled out medical reasons, then it is just being 15 and making her independence and differences clear to you.

I don't know if I would correct her, I would ask her to repeat slowly so you can catch up. Otherwise it may come across as constant criticism.

I can’t understand a sodding word 15 year old ds says at the minute I think it’s a combination of moody muttering, not speaking loud enough and talking so all the words blend together. On the rare occasion he surfaces from his room nothing he says makes sense.
I do think it’s an age thing as I remember my niece at the same age leaving me a voicemail and I was just not one word was identifiable!

She can't hear herself doing it

Easy, start to record her speaking mumblese on your phone, ask her to speak properly and keep recording until she's finished speaking.

Do this a few times, then play the whole lot back to her, one after the other whilst you both listen to all of it without interruptions.

This serves two purposes, it gives you time to listen and see how badly she's mumbling because if you're in the moment your parental exasperation could be making you perceive it as worse than it actually is.
If she can't hear the differences at all over a few recordings, book her in to have her hearing tested.

DS2 is like this. He mumbles, speaks quietly and has quite a low voice so I can hardly hear/understand him. He gets annoyed when I ask him to repeat himself clearly so I've taken to ignoring him

DD does this occasionally. It drives me demented. I say, “I cannot understand you if you speak like that.” She usually repeats herself, sometimes not. Sometimes mutters ‘doesn’tmatter’, which makes me incandescent. Is such fun.

DD is 19 and does this. Not so much with me as I will just instruct her to enunciate. But with her friends... I have no idea how they understand each other. She wanders around the house recording whatsapp voice notes to her friends “Yeah, like literally amnagannabazzaba” and then she will play the corresponding reply “I know! I was like yusirislynofladdafladda”.

I think it’s a teenage girl thing, a bonding/ status/ group thing like vocal fry.

I would leave her be, tbh. If she’s talking directly to you and you can’t understand her, ask her to speak more clearly, but I would lay off nagging her about it or signing her up to drama lessons. My mum did this to me (I picked up a local accent she didn’t have) and I felt constantly picked on and never wanted to talk to her