3 year old unusual speech impediment

[speechconcerns]

Wondering if anyone else has experienced similar.
My 3 year old has really good speech and understanding, can form fairly long sentences and chats back and forth well. However they can’t make an oh or ooh sound, they replace the oh or ooh sound with an ah, eh or nnn noise. So book becomes bnnnk, home is hame, box is bex, orange is elenge, sock is seck etc etc. I asked for SLT a while ago but was told they wouldn’t help with pronunciation issues until 4 years old.
I’ve searched online and the fact I can’t find anything about this type of speech issue has me worrying!
I try to teach them but it’s so hard to explain what you need to do with your mouth to make the noises….. Any tips or experience appreciated!

Using mirrors to make mouth sounds in front of is often recommended by speech therapists.

So you go “ooooooo” and rather than expecting them to be able to copy the egg to see themselves and can see what their mouth is doing.

Have a look up of oral fluency. You may get some ideas that way.

I think 3 is still very young. When my son was 5 he had trouble pronouncing the letter s in words that began with sp. I brought it up with his teacher when he started school but she wasn't concerned. As he started reading and using more words his speech and pronunciation got better.

Has he had his hearing checked?

You won't get much NHS SLT for an issue like that, I'd try a couple of sessions with a private therapist.

Keep asking for SLT as I have 2 with speech disorders and it can impact on their ability to write and spell. My daughter had a mild speech issue and from the time she could talk until she was about 4 she started every word with an H and some other letters too for example her name is Sienna but she called herself Heeha.

With speech therapy and time it improved, she is 7 now and still has the odd time where we can't work out a word she's trying to pronounce. Due to her speech issues she is 18 months behind for writing and spelling.
The sooner they can have SLT and find out exactly what the issue is and why it's happening the quicker it can get sorted.

Thanks for the replies so far. The mirror is a good idea!
No concerns with hearing - can hear a pin drop!!

Also look at sound processing disorders. It has a name I can’t remember off the top of my head.

I think my ds struggles with this. Highly intelligent and autistic and just could ever get phonics. He doesn’t hear or process sounds that are being said and therefore reads them as he hears them rather than what they are iyswim?

Oohhhh I’ve remembered it’s called “auditory processing disorder”.

Worth a google to see if anything there fits.

Disclaimer: I'm not actually a SALT.

But I have come across similar. In that case the parents spoke with a distinctive accent. The child was faithfully reproducing the words as he heard them.

My dd couldn't say F, her cousin Finlay was Winalay for a few years! My dsis was incomprehensible to adults until 5ish, I translated for her.

It's early to worry, keep practicing, the mirror idea sounds good. I'm sure she'll get there, you don't come across people in general who can't speak properly as older kids

Blowing candles/bubbles might help lip muscles for the ‘ooo’ sound?

Although difficulties with some consonants are very normal at 3, difficulties with vowel sounds are unusual/atypical. If your child is consistently making errors with these sounds (i.e. they always say 'oh' as 'ay' rather than sometimes saying 'oh' accurately but using 'ay' in other words) and assuming the changes aren't in line with an accent they hear, I'd definitely push for an assessment with a speech and language therapist.