Four year old with speech issues. When, or even if, is SALT intervention needed?

[LackaDAISYcal]

My four year old has problems witrh certain letters, to the point that he can sometimes be completely unintelligible, even to me and his dad.

The main problem is with words beginning tr, cr and which he pronounes fw, so fwuck for truck, fwisps for crisps. There are others but I can't think of any specific examples. He generally pronounces his Rs as Ws and misses out the S at the beginning of words, cool for school etc. We gently remind him of the correct pronunciation, and he tries very hard, but in response to me saying t-ruck will say t-fwuck etc and it seems that he is genuinely unable to do it rather than just being lazy. He is getting increasingly frustrated at not being understood and will just walk away rather than tryiong to make himself understood.

He started nursery three days a week last January aged 3.25 anbd we asked his teacher about it at parents evening in June, but he (a young NQT) was very "meh" about it being an issue. However, it's hasn't improved and actually appears to be getting worse. He's due to start reception in September and I'm worried that die to the nature of the setting (four groups of 25 children in a massive open plan, very noisy space) that he will be, I don't know, overlooked?

Am I right to be concerned, or is it a wait and see approach?

I've no idea what current thinking is re this and when to become concerned. I had the same problem in the early 80s and saw salt at that age. I'm interested to know if would still be referred that young

thanks munchkinmaster...I am going to see if I can find anything out online

My four year old has pronouciation issues.

I called the local SLT department myself when he was just over four and self reffered.

Until he is seen by the SLT I would do the following.

• If you don't understand make it your fault not his, Silly mummy wasn't concentrating or I wasn't listening properly.

• Repeat what he says in the correct manner but don't ask him to say it correctly. If you keep asking him to say things the right way it will frustrate him.

My son started his SLT in September, it can be a long slow process. So far we have only worked on the sound 'c' / 'k'. It took him a few weeks to be able to make the sound. Then he had to learn to make the sound followed by vowel sounds, so he would say 'k' followed by a gap then arh, oo etc. Only this week has he managed to consistantly blend the 'k' with the vowel! Next step is vowel then 'k' then using 'k' in words then using it in words in sentences!

Thanks orangepudding. I think we may have been correcting him too much

Your GP can refer you or you can self refer. I would do it now, it takes ages to get an appointment, usually around 6 months or even longer. If you google speech development you should be able to get an idea of which sounds develop when, and whether your son is age appropriate ( the 'th' sound for example can still not be developed by age 6). SALT saw my son aged 3 and a half (took nearly a year from referral mind you) as he had trouble articulating some sounds, but they didn't see any need for any intervention as the sounds he wasn't pronouncing were ones which can take up to age 4/5. And sure enough, now he is that age they are fine! Agree with orangepudding, try not to correct, just model correct pronunciation. Good luck.

My DS was referred for speech therapy as he couldn't pronounce some letters. He also said "cool" for school and "ooes" for shoes. He couldn't say "v"'s either, but I can't really remember the rest.

He was referred from pre-school when he was 3 - 4 yrs.

He had a few sessions but it did seem to me like he just needed a bit more time. He had a speech delay (has ASD).but has caught up now.

We advise our parents[preschool] to seek support ASAP, the way we see it is - it takes so long to get a referral in our area, that if it does 'sort it's self' they can always cancel.

Thanks for all the advice. Will look up local services and get the ball rolling