Speech - missing sounds

[13lucky]

Hi there, my ds, who will be 3 in a couple of months, started speaking quite early and stringing sentences together soon after. I think his vocabulary is very good - as good as my 5 year olds almost. Because he is advanced in comparison to my dd, we have never worried about his speech. However, he does mispronounce certain sounds, mainly when the second letter of a word is 'r'. So, preschool = treschool, brush = drush, cream = tream, quick = trick. I know he is quite young still, but do I need to be worried about this?

I don't think so BUT IMO it would be a good idea to contact your hv and ask her to assess him so she can refer to ST if necessary. Appts always take a while to come through, and even if you see a ST once and she says 'all within normal bounds, that's fine', then your mind will be put at rest.

have a read

Hi there, this is my very first ever post, I read so often and never feel the need to write, however, my ds, who is now 6, sounds very similar to your lo. Just before he was 3 his speech also lacked a few sounds, mainly the substitution of a "t" where a "c" should be, eg, car-tar, keys-teeys. My mil asked me to get him checked for glue ear as her middle son, suffered and sounded the same. So to the gp's we went and good enough he had bilateral glue ear, a few ent appts later he had grommets fitted and we've never looked back. He needed a few speech therapy sessions but now is as good as the next 6 year old.
I hope that has helped and hasn't worried you, no need to be it's very common and may not even be that, I'm no doctor just speaking from experience. Hope you get it sorted. Xx

Thank you for your replies. Yes, perhaps I will have a word with my health visitor to see what she thinks. BoysAreLikeDogs - thanks for the link - I shall have a read. And mrsC82, thank you for your post. Glad to hear your ds is sorted now. I don't think my ds has a problem with hearing. He had a hearing test when he was about 18 months old and they said it was all fine. And I haven't noticed any particular hearing problems. I will bear it in mind though. Having said all this, he is on the waiting list to have his tonsils and possibly adenoids removed as he has inflamed tonsils and gets tonsillitis every 4 weeks...so I wonder whether this may be playing a part in the problem?

Could well be his tonsils. My 5 year old has just had his tonsils removed because they were always and it was affecting his hearing intermittently. OTOH many children with perfect hearing still don't have perfect diction at three. Ask for is hearing to be retested and for a speech therapy appointment.

Let us know how you get on, my ds also had his tonsils removed during his first op so I could well be that it's all linked. Good luck with it all.

Thank you, will do