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Original poster

speech development

34 replies

nutcracker · 23/12/2003 20:41

4 yr old daughter can't pronounce the letter L. If it is at the beginning of a word she pronounces it as a Y, so look would be yook and if it's in the middle of a word then she misses it out completely, so please would sound like peas. Is this normal ? A health visitor did pick up on it when she was 2 but later dissmissed it. I didn't used to notice it that much until I noticed that some people couldn't understand her. None of her teachers at nursery have mentioned it though so i'm not sure if i should be concerned or not.

OP posts:
Evita · 29/12/2003 21:50

popsycal, we have 'bleobleobleo' too, usually said with a really protruding tongue. I've sort of associated it with when something's 'yucky' as I tend to stick my tongue out and go 'blearghh.'

'Gook' means walk by the way.

popsycal · 29/12/2003 22:28

evita 0 thikn we maybe need to start our own thread - we are hijacking this one!!!
also 'mama' os everything atm....it is even a photo of ds and even his dad (much to dh's dismay!!)
geese (juice) is definitely ds;s fave today
if i hear geese or mamore once more !!!!

Demented · 29/12/2003 23:22

Totally irrelevent but I think I have prematurely aged my DS2 on this thread and probably others, he is only coming up for 19 months. I'm always getting on at my DH for not remembering the kids' ages as well.

Maizie · 31/12/2003 10:12

My DD is 4 and she cannot pronounce the letter L either. I asked for an appointment with a speech therapist (had about a 10-12 week wait) and the speech therapist was very good. She established exactly what DD could pronounce. And she confirmed that L is quite hard to say and that it isn't a worry until the child is getting on for 6 years old.
She also got DD to look in a mirror and she showed her how to put her tongue behind her top front teeth and then flick it forward and say "l" at the same time. DD has been practising this at home (of her own accord) and she is definitely making progress.
Hope that helps you.

Maizie.

Scrooge · 31/12/2003 10:49

American genes haven't made my children clever... let's see, DS had only one word by 1 yo which we did understand, so I guess that's a 100% success rate. DD didn't have any words until 15-16 months. Neither child emitted 'mama' or 'daddy' noises until well after 20 months. But DS is just over 4yo now and he CAN say his L's so he must be really clever after all, right??!!
See how useless these developmental charts can be!?

popsycal · 31/12/2003 10:59

we knew a gilr when we were little who couldnt say the letter j
unfortunately her name was 'Julie'
poor child

popsycal · 31/12/2003 10:59

oh - forgot to add that she pronounced the letter J as a D...last post wil make a little more sense now!!!!

Nosser · 02/01/2004 19:23

My DS (aged 3) cannot say 'r' - we are Welsh speaking and as we roll our 'r's, this is pretty pronounced! He says 'w' instead. We'd assumed this is something that he would grow out of, but the rest of his speech is very clear and this hasn't improved. I hadn't thought of seeing a speech therapist but reading the rest of the messages, perhaps we should? I'm encouraged by what Jimjambells said about it all settling down by 6 or 7 though - I don't really want him to sound like Jonathan Ross all his life!

berries · 07/01/2004 09:59

Popsycal - got the dikdik straight away - that's your 25% then.
DD2 called anyone doing the cooking mum til she was 3 - must say something (although dad did nearly as much as me!)

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