Should I refer to SALT?

[5inthebed]

DS3, aged 2 yrs, 3 in November, can't say c, k or g. He says t for them instead.

He was a little late talking, but I wasn't hugely concerned about it as DS1 was as well and has a fantastic vocab now.

Would you refer to SALT for this, or leave it a little longer?

I used to be a SENCO and generally the SALT referrals were for older children than this....I would leave it, but keep modelling the correct language so if he says "looks there's a tar mummy, 'yes darling a car', well done!" ie not actually correcting him but just modelling the correct sound. You can do some 'fun' exercises also with the problem sounds, 'ttttttttt' in a silly voice or jumping around etc etc. But just to stress I am not a SALT specialist so you may get different advice from someone else. My son is 3 next week and a year ago I was writing out the list of single words he knew, and I was worrying about his lack of speech, he is now speaking in great long sentences, not pronouncing everything perfectly but the change in a year has been huge.

sorry I mean to write the singing sound
games you would be doing the cccccc/kkkkkk or gggggggggg, not tttttttttt! Good luck.

Thanks Kitty. I do same the right word to him, and I have on occassion said the word as he says it, ie. he said "wheres my tar" I say "tar?" "he says "no, tar" so I say "car" and he says "yes, tar".

I have also tried a few games with him with over repeating cccc kkkk gggg and he just can't seem to get it.

Anyone else?

Hi, I am no expert but my son also had difficulty saying these sounds at that age. He talked all the time and the content was great, just the pronunciation that was off. I did the same modelling of sounds, kept trying to get him to repeat them (though I didn't overdo it as thought too much emphasis might be counter productive) but he never seemed to get it.

One morning, over breakfast he started making a ccccc sound for no apparant reason. I encouraged him to repeat it and asked if he could say car - which he did, then cat and various other words. It was as though something clicked literally overnight. From then on, he could say it, but needed a bit of correction as he had got into the habit of saying 'tar' not 'car'. can't remember what age he was when he did that, but I'd say closer to 3.5.

So, I'd say keep modelling the sounds but don't fret as it may well click in time (now need to follow my own advice as he still struggles with 'th'!).

I found this chart useful to check what was normal range and stop me panicking!

Thank you cake addict, thats a great help.

My Ds is 9 now but he was under speech therapy at a young age as he stuggled with pronouncing certain sounds and letters. The methods we used were as above mentioned. Just repeating what he said but correctly.

He also used to have his own made up words for things. He would say 'stoyer' for naughy and he would call his sister 'wowie' which was no where near correct. There were many of these special words. I could understand what he said so I would answer him but the speech therapist told me to correct it and not just agree. so if he came and said ''wowie is stoyer'' instead of me saying why is she stoyer i repeated it but correctly.

Over time everything corrected itself and by Year 1 (age 5) his speech was on par with his peers. Have you asked the health visitor for advise? They can be quite helpful with different ideas and games etc.

My DS is nearly 3 in a few weeks. He couldn't say those sounds - specifically the k and c - and yes he would substitute them with a "dt" sound, until a few months ago when he was about 2.5 years old. I think it would be a problem worth referring to SALT for if your DC was older, say 4 and still couldn't say them. But if he's 2, there's still lots of time for him to learn how to say them so I would say try not to worry at this point.

Thanks very much. Feel a bit better that I am not panicking about it.

5inthebed, I'm an Early Years SLT and no, you don't need to refer your DS. It sounds like he's doing just fine
Follow the advice above about recasting or modelling words for him - he says 'oh look, a tar', you say 'yes, it's a car' - without any pressure at all to copy or repeat sounds after you. Also avoid practicing sounds with him, even as a game, as he's just not ready to say k and g yet and won't be until he's 3-3 1/2. If you have any Children's Centres near you, they are likely to have groups running which are open to all children where you can get advice on how you can support his communication development through play.