Speech problems, need some help

[ewaczarlie]

Im sure this thread has been done before but I need some advice/help. My 2.7ds is still talking pretty poorly. He doesn't pronounce words properly at all (even though I know he can make the required sounds e.g. Will say juis but not the s in snake) but he just seems unable to speak clearly. As far as sentences go he's at the 4 words stage like "car no in potty" for the car doesn't go into the potty.
Also when ever ivetried to speak another language to him (I'm bilingual) he seems to clam up and even starts to stutter a bit. Obviously I avoid talking to him I. My other language but I do need him to learn it as his family all speak this language.
I'm not sure if I'm over reacting but it seems like every other toddler speaks far more clearly and correctly than DS. I'm worried he'll have problems at school later if I don't help him now.
Should I go to a speech therapist or just leave it? Any advice welcome

Get him assessed. Ask your HV for a referral. Therapist at assessment will give you tips, too, about how to bring him on, help you identify exactly what he needs to improve & what you can do now to help. The waiting list is long so better to get him in system early & you can take him off list at any time you like.

He's doing better than my DD was at that age so please don't worry too much. She was at the 2 word stage at that age and suddenly started stringing together long sentences at 3.

She has had a referral to Speech Therapy and they were brilliant. She had a couple of issues and they gave is some work to do at home which took about 10 minutes each day. In six weeks she was discharged as she was talking beautifully. So it could all be resolved easily for you too .

As for being bilingual, I'm not but lots of my friends are. I've heard a few times that the important thing is to keep speaking both languages and to flick from one to the other at times. Do you have DVDs and Books in both languages? Do you think that would help? Also think there may be a bilingual board on here somewhere is you want to chat about it more.

Thanks for advice, think I'll call Hv on Monday. We do have books and DVDs in 2nd language but he hates them. I'll just have to force myself to speak more to him in the other language.

we've found the sookie and finn speech therapy DVDs very good, especially for helping with pronuciation, they're made by speech therapists, are stories along the lines of an average kiddies day to day activities in the form of cartoons, "our day" "going to school"; little 'uns don't even realise they're learning something! it helped my late talker, and now he rounds off all his words and we use the sookie and finn DVD as a regular thing with him repeating everything, kids like to repeat things other kids do I find, and singing and clapping along to the rhymes and songs! he's 2.5 and coming along really well now. I feel like it was a minor thing in the scheme of things but did help with his confidence in speaking. best wishes :)

Just looked these up, they look fab thanks fr the suggestion

no probs! they are genuinely helpful, clear and simple, mine really likes repeating the words and scenarios.

They also do picture cards covering nouns and verbs which my DC's love looking at and talking about - now that they know the dvd story so well. Sookie and Finn sometimes beats Peppa pig in the dvd stakes!