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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Incorrect pronunciation of sounds. When is intervention needed?

17 replies

BornToBeRiled · 22/10/2011 18:43

I have a 4.5 yr dc. The "th" sound is 'd' or 'd'. The 't' is coming out "w". Do we leave it, correct it, or seek advice? Thanks.

OP posts:

shoots · 22/10/2011 20:23

'TH' is one of the last sounds to develop - usually around 7 yrs of age. Can your DC say a 'T' sound correctly at all or is it just the 'TH' sound he/she has trouble with?

531800000008 · 22/10/2011 20:30

have a read, also dig around the website (It's not terribly intuitive but well worth persevering with)

MogTheForgetfulCat · 22/10/2011 21:50

My DS1 is 5.8, he can't yet say 'l'/luh - he says it as 'yuh' so 'lock' comes out as 'yock'. We've mentioned it at school, and they weren't worried about it all (that was last year, in Reception). The other sounds are all fine, or very nearly. I have decided not to worry about it or seek intervention until the school say it's a problem - bit passive, maybe, but I don't want to focus on it and make him self-conscious.

He is aware of the difference - if I ever say a word in the same way as he does (not mocking!), he knows it's wrong because he knows I should be saying it with the proper 'luh' sound. So I guess that's fairly significant?

Zakinthos · 22/10/2011 22:11

borntoberiled - I would seek advice. Ask gp for referral to speech and language therapist. Using 'w' instead of 't' is not a normal developmental substitution.
mog - Using 'y' for 'l' is a normal substitution for younger children but the correct sound should be used by now so I would ask for a referral to a salt as well.

Original poster

BornToBeRiled · 23/10/2011 07:42

Thanks everyone. The "w" is instead of 'r' BTW. Did not check my message properly. Sorry! It is just the 'th' sound. 't' is fine.

OP posts:

LoveBeingAWitch · 23/10/2011 07:59

You can also contact salt via your sure start children's centre, might be a more direct/quicker route than gp.

Zakinthos · 23/10/2011 08:15

born - in that case don't worry! W instead of r and difficulties with th is normal for a 4 yr old. :)

Original poster

BornToBeRiled · 23/10/2011 11:02

Great. Thanks so much. Actual language skulls are excellent and she can make the sounds when she wants.

OP posts:

tradesmansentrance · 23/10/2011 19:23

My ds was the same and his teacher recommended speech therapy at 5 years old. Fortunately I was able to tell her, as shoots said, that his substitutions would be normal for another 2 years yet. Still, I'd prefer an over-vigilant teacher than vice versa. However, it made me get him to practise his sounds better and within the week he had his 'th's sorted. I just stood him in front of the mirror and got him to look at the different tongue positions for 'd' and 'th' and once he saw it, he said it. Learning to read also helped him see the different letters in words (for other substititutions further down the line).

GhoulishGlendaFestersAgain · 23/10/2011 19:57

DD is 4.6 and I have noticed with starting some phonics at school she has started to pronounce some of her letters a bit better - eg Yellow used to be weh-wo , it has just become yellow Still says 'de' for 'the' at the moment though.

Original poster

BornToBeRiled · 23/10/2011 20:04

Mirror is a good idea. Thanks

OP posts:

13lucky · 23/10/2011 20:37

Sorry to highjack thread, but now that you've got an answer, can I ask something about my 3 year olds speech...he does not produce 'pr', 'br' or 'gr' sounds properly, so bread = dread, preschool = treschool, ground = drowned etc...will these sounds develop in time and are they 'normal substitutions' as mentioned above? Thank you and sorry again for the highjack!

Original poster

BornToBeRiled · 30/10/2011 08:27

I'm answering to bump this up for you really 13. Don't know the answer but would not personally be worried at three. Hopefully someone useful may cone along!

OP posts:

alittleteapot · 30/10/2011 08:40

My dd about same age and same pronunciation issues. Spoke to her teacher after reading something on here - she said is totally normal for age and as they start to learn to read and understand the more subtle layers of sounds they will start to self-correct. If I were you I'd leave it - the last thing you want to do is make her think she's got a problem when she hasn't.

Zakinthos · 30/10/2011 08:49

It is normal for a 3 year old to have difficulties pronouncing 'r' blends. How far off 4 is he?

Familydilemma · 30/10/2011 09:20

That explains why telling children to sing "Bethlehem" instead of befflehem during "little donkey" is a fruitless task!

Familydilemma · 30/10/2011 09:21

When I expressed concern about dd at a similar age, the hv had a leaflet about the age at which certain sounds should be correctly pronounced. Set my mind at rest. At six, dd's sounds are fine.

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