21m DS Not Finishing Words - Normal?

[ThePippy]

So my DS is 21months and he can say a fair number of words, and even attempts sentences. The problem we have is that most words are poorly pronounced (so much so that often if we don't have the context for what he is saying we simply wouldn't understand) and one of the main pronunciation issues is finishing words. i.e. Bus becomes Buh, birds becomes Birh etc. Is this normal? Can I do anything to help him improve? My DD was speaking in clear well pronounced sentences with many words at this age, so its a bit of a shock/frustration at the moment!

Am watching this thread as my dd (slightly younger) is exactly the same - especially with 'bir' and 'buh'! Am hoping she will just acquire the sounds at some point, but keeping an eye out in case there are things I can do to help her.

My son has delayed speech and I was given some information by the community nursery nurse about how to help him. I just checked this and it says that between 12 months to 2 years children often leave off the endings of words (eg cat - ca) :)

Don't worry its a common problem for this age but the best way to help your child is to model correct pronunciation. Repeat words they find tricky so they hear the correct sounds and associate them with what they want to say. Sounds simple but it's the most effective way. I'm an Early years teacher and I tell parents this at language sessions. Lots of children find certain word endings tricky!

My oldest, who had good pronunciation did this on two words at that age: Radiator was radiate and I can't remember the other. She grew out of it by about age 2yo.

I'm sure you're doing it, but repeat words back to him without being obvious. So he says "buh" and you say, "That's right, it is a bus."

If he's still doing it at 2yo, then ask for a hearing test and to go on the SALT list. The waiting list can be very long in some areas, so it's worth getting on, even if when it comes to it, he doesn't need it, and you can turn it down then.

Thanks for the advice all. I do like you suggest repeat back the proper full words. He seems to get quite anti with some words that you'd think he should be able to say, like he just refused to even try to say dummy for ages (even though happily says daddy and mummy) and would just point at it and make a growling noise, getting more and more upset if I kept saying "what do you want?". It was like he thought he didn't know how and didn't want to try as it would make him feel silly (probably totally projecting my feelings here) and he has done this with other words which he will then slowly start attempting with a shy look until he sees we are OK with how he is saying them. I am probably totally overthinking this. I will just encourage until 2yr then see where we are. Thanks again all.

Final consonant selection is considered a normal process at this stage of language development, not all kids do it but lots do. Most therapist would be looking for this to be resolved by around 3 to 3:06 years old. if this is the only issue regarding his speech I wouldn't worry at all.

Deletion not selection

thanks fish, that is reassuring. Poor little chap, he has so much to live up to from his chatterbox sister ;-)

My son (turned two this week) is exactly the same, although he's just started stringing two and three words together, and finishing off some words ("ca" last week became "carry") that he's used for a long while. As long as your son's comprehension and understanding are excellent, I wouldn't worry.

Just thought I'd add some general advice. When you repeat back the word slightly emphasise the missing last sound, try and keep it natural sounding and remember to emphasise how it sounds not how it's spelt. So it's dogz not dogs etc.
whispering can help in a targeted way. For the example you gave 'cah' for cat try next time you see a cat get close to him a whisper (in a lets not scare the cat way) 'look its a cat' you'll hear how when you whisper the end of the word is more audible and isn't eclipsed by the strong vowel.
like I say it's perfectly normal at this stage, but there is always things you can do to help.