Pronunciation

[grannygrunt]

Hi! I'm new to mumsnet and am actually a granny so bear with me if I'm starting a topic which has already been covered. If it has been covered perhaps someone could point me in the right direction. My grandchild of 2.8 years is a fluent talker with a vast vocabulary but he can't pronounce S, Sh or F. Its obviously many years since my DDs were 2 so perhaps I'm expecting too much of him. Can anyone out there help me?

Hi grannygrunt- no advice but will bump this to keep it active convos so you will get an answer of someone.

Some letters are slower to come than others. I remember my dd having trouble with S, F and Th at this age and she can say them perfectly now.

Very common.

Look on the positive side - it rules out a lot of swearwords.

Hi Grannygrunt. My ds is 3.5 and has a huge vocabulary, however he says 'y' instead of 'l'. He recently had his 3-3.5 check up with the Health Visitor and I raised the issue with her, as I didn't know whether to be overly concerned or not. She suggested that at this stage it wasn't a problem (although she didn't tell me at what stage it would become a problem). To be honest he sounds so cute doing it, I can live with it for another 6-12 months or so! I wouldn't worry for now and you can always get advice from your grandchild's HV at their check.

my dd has had mild delays
S and F are expected by the tiem children are 4. My daughters speech therapist explained that to me
Children use a system called fronting to cause their version of the sound
So lots of time for your grandson to say those sounds

I think having a good vocab is the most important thing for him at this age. My DD1 is 2.6 and chatters away loads but says T for C, B for V and Y for L. She has learned her Fs but used to say P. If you try making letter sounds with your mouth you can understand why some are more difficult for tiddlers. I love the way she talks but now we all say tow, yeyyow and have to resist calling DD2 Tyre instead of Kiah!

Yep DS 3 1/2 can say his S's but doesn't use them in words most of the time so, sweets are weets, but Sporticus (from Lazy Town) does have an S at the front. I've looked into this as my DD's both older were far better at pronunciation. Aparently it's all normal and the most important thing is communication - if he's talking and and asking questions then they don't feel there is anything to worry about.

By the way it's lovely to have an involved Granny

Interesting hazeldinka & laundrylover - at 3.5 my ds said l instead of y! "lellow"

my DD2 does that.......she is in her first year of primary now and getting better.

Thank you all for your replies. We'll continue to encourage his vocabulary and just monitor the situation. What a fantastic website. I wish it had existed 32 years ago when my dds were babies. I might have been able to avoid post natal depression.

Grannygrunt - if you want to get your PND off your chest you could post and offload - it's never too late.
When my DD1 was tiny I met an lady in a supermarket who had had a stillborn child 50 years ago and seeing Tilly (she was only 5.8lbs) brought it all back. We had a lovely chat about the fact that she had not even seen the baby etc. and she had never seen a newborn baby close up ever since. I hope that she felt better afterwards - it was all a bit emotional in the cereal aisle.

my ds2 is just 3 and he says y for l in some circumstances, for example boy for ball.bit concerned about it,

he is very young it will come naturally to him when he's older

Just a lighthearted moment to share - my d (grand)s (2.8)has an action man whom he has always called Ken. When asked the other day, by his aunt, what the action man's name was he said Abdul. Do you think he's watching too much TV news?