speech - can't say 'L'

[Elvis]

I started a thread with this name about 18 mths ago. My ds is 5next week and still can't say the letter l and there has been no improvement. Can't wait for him to sing Away in a Manger at the Nativity on Friday with the line 'little Lord Jesus'!!
Last time i was reaasured that it would come, but hasn't.
Is it time to access help, and if so , how? Do I go to my GP first?

DD is 4 and she can't say L either. It is getting better for her though.I have heard L is the last letter many kids say as it is hard for them to pronounce.

If you are worried ,maybe speak withyour gp or his teacher who can compare him to other kids of the same age

This is a duplicate thread of this one which has more replies

does he say w instead?

It's a normal stage of development, but after his fifth birthday, I would expect this to have developed

I think you should ask to see an SLT to get some ideas to work on it.

Mogwai (SLT)

my 11 year old son had speech therapy when he was four because he couldnt pronounce Ls and other letters. the speech therapist taught him by popping a small piece of chocolate in the roof of his mouth, when his tongue hit the choc she asked him to say L. worked wonders after a few weeks, amazing it was so simple. good luck

now there's an idea

did she eat the rest of the chocolate after you left? I like the sound of that

My dd4 has been seeing a speech therapist (she is 4 - 5 on the 1st Feb) and one of the letters she still can't say is L. The SALT has told me not to worry about this as L is one of the last letters to develop. She advised that it can take up to 6 for them to master this.

Just as a tip which helped us enormously, if you are trying to encourage your ds to pronounce L, don't say the word and ask your son to repeat it. We found our daughter became very frustrated with this and soon refused to repeat words. Our SALT recommended we repeat the word she had mispronounced, look at her and wait for her to repeat it on her own. If she didnt repeat it we were to say nothing and leave it. But keep trying this. We found however that dd4 always repeated it - this has worked so well infact that she has just been discharged (without being able to say L yet I have to add). Hope this helps.

yea i bet the therapist did eat the choccie after mogwai!i never thought of that. it worked tho.