Can you give me a view on DS's speech?

[Ragusa]

DS is 3 and 2 months and his speech is still not clear - although I can understand almost all he says, I would say non-family members can probably understand about 50% or less. I think we are going to get him assessed by a SALT but I don't know whether I'm over-reacting... would be grateful for opinions. Here is some typical speech from him (I've tried to write it phonetically - hope it makes sense):

"mummy, I'm wattin a woulm" (mummy, I'm watching a film)
"Id it nuwdewy ina mowwow?" (is it nursery tomorrow?)
"I wanna dough a pida n'pat" (I want to go to pizza express)
"I don't wanna dough doo a dops, it'd not waaaair!" (I don't want to go to the shops, it's not fair)

He can't really articulate k,s, th, r, f, g, v and several other sounds.

Any idea whether this is within the bounds of normal or whether I'm right to be a little concerned? I am generally quite relaxed about child development but he is getting cross on occasion at not being understood and this makes me feel I should investigate, especially as he talks all.the.time :)

As far as I'm aware, his hearing is fine - I've tried whispering out of sight and he can usually hear what I'm saying.

this article is interesting and seems to suggest that it's not a problem yet....but I would say that to set your mind at rest you might as well ask for help anyway....getting an assessment will do no harm if he doesn't need help but can only do good if he doesn't.

This type of chart shows the normal range of development of different speech sounds and might indicate whether your DS is a bit behind the norm. However this is no replacement for seeing a speech therapist.

Thanks both, very helpful. I will check those...

sounds v similar to my DS of the same age. I took him to a speech evaluation about 6 months ago, when his speech was less advanced but seemed a lot less clear than others of the same age. They said it was well within the bounds of normal at that point. Haven't taken him recently though so don't know what they would say now and was wondering whether to take him again myself. Good luck.

3 DC had delayed speech & 2 had SLT.
My most delayed child did not have trouble learning at school even though his SLT didn't start until near the end of Reception, btw, in case you're wondering.

I would get him assessed.
I think he sounds slightly delayed, but you need an expert to listen for the patterns. I am pretty sure he's behind on some of his consonant sounds. But you want an expert to confirm. They can give you brief advice at the assessment about what you can do to help him hear the sounds more clearly, too; this is invaluable.

If they do decide he would benefit from therapy, it's really nothing to be worried about, at least he has good grammar & is keen to communicate. One of mine was still struggling with verb, adjective & noun order at this age.

Thank you , Deliverdaniel and lljkk, I am going to contact a SALT someone's recommended tomorrow.

DS is still a bit of a drooler too so I'm pretty sure something's not quite right. And DH had a fairly severe SL delay when he was a kid, forgot to mention that in earlier post...

What ever you do re speech therapy, do get! Formal hearing assessment.

Pretty much all toddlers in winter have a degree of glue ear and knowing that, and adapting for it (getting their attention and making sure you are best and feeding them when talking etc will make a difference.if he just doesn't know those consonants are there he can't say then in the right way!

I have a similar problem with my son who is 3, I am on a very long waiting list (25 WEEKS) for a speech assessment. When I hear his nursery playmates speaking the difference is remarkable and it is very clear that something is not right. I'm also waiting to have his hearing tested, mainly to rule this out. My boy also gets very frustrated when we can not understand what he is saying and will tend to cry out of frustration. Although we are able to decipher the majority of his speech, the odd sentence throws us.
.

Actually how do I get him a formal hearing assessment? Would GP do that or do I need an audiology appointment?

Health visitor, actually; start with them for the hearing test referral.
The drooling is indicative, as is the family history.
I know it's hard, but try not to hurry. It's all stuff that can be sorted.

He sounds very similar to my son at that age. Like your DS he was missing much the same sounds and I took him to a drop-in SALT session when he was about 3.4.
The SALT agreed he was slightly delayed and we started speech therapy when he was about 3.5. He is now almost 4 - his speech is noticeably clearer and he gets less frustrated, although he still makes a LOT of errors and substitutions so we are far from the end of the road with this yet. But in the last 3 months, he has cracked /k/ and /g/ and now pronounces those words properly. He is making progress with /s/ and starting to work on /f/.

As others have said, it is worth getting him looked at properly. I think that the input is very valuable - most of the input is about knowing how to be able to help him and it needs a lot of work and practice at home.

(BTW - for us, the SALT made a referral for a hearing test once we were in that 'system').

you can self refer to SaLT - or if he is at preschool/nursery you can ask the setting to refer for you - I am SENCo at an early years setting, and referrring for a SaLT assessment is the most frequent thing I do!

Early intervention is always suggested - much better to get checked out sooner rather than later just on case any help is needed. :)

*Not hurry but worry!! I have my own form of dysgraphia...

Hi OP, my dd didn't speak clearly, got referred for speech therapy and that did nothing.

It was a case of tonsillitis when the dr realised how big her tonsils are that the connection was made between her unclear speech and extremely large tonsils.

Apparently they will drop back when she's a teenager but as NHS don't remove tonsils unless there's 6 bouts a year it's just something we've lived with. Her speech at 8 is a lot better but still not really good.

Hi OP,
I haven't read the rest of the replies as in a rush so I apologise if I repeat anything.
My DS's speech as always been unclear. I can understand him but to unfamiliar people he was almost completely unintelligible at the age of three. He has been having SALT now on and off for a year (we have now got a private SALT as NHS was pretty sketchy round here) and is improving rapidly.
I would get him assessed as there is no harm in finding out for sure, also has he had a hearing test?
I wish I had got my DS referred earlier so we could have got the ball rolling sooner than we did.
Good Luck.

*has

Not sure where you are but my ds was referred to speech therapy and a hearing test was an automatic referral as part of the speech assessments. It helps them to know what they are working with.

Thank you all very much. To my great surprise. the HV returned my call almost straight away and now we have A.Plan. DS will have a developmental check tomorrow at nursery and then the nursery staff will contact the HV with any relevant findings. Joined up working, who'd a thunk it?! I think they will recommend him for some sort of assessment/ intervention so let's see.

Muffcakes that's really interesting as DS's tonsils are mahoosive. I just put it down to him being small but maybe I should also ask someone to look at those.

Lljkk, thanks for your words of reassurance - I am not worried really, just keen to get something going and then forget about it if it turns out he is not in need of additional help.

Great news, glad you have got the ball rolling and if it's not needed then even better and at least you'll know