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Original poster

How to encourage pronunciation of Y (e.g. yellow)

26 replies

SpawnChorus · 11/10/2007 21:22

DD (2.9) pronounces Y as N. For example "yes" is "ness".

Are there any exercises I should practise with her? Or is this quite a common 'problem' for a child of this age?

OP posts:
notnowbernard · 11/10/2007 21:24

Yellow - 'Lellow' for dd1 for ages... she's 3.9 now and says it correctly.

It'll sort itself out, i'm sure

professorplum · 11/10/2007 21:25

ds say jellow for yellow. He is 3.7

somersetmum · 11/10/2007 21:26

Don't worry about it. Children take different lengths of time to learn the sounds. My ds didn't used to pronounce the "y" at all, so yes was "ess". Then suddenly he cracked it at about 3.

dd still cannot say "c" as in "cat", but can say "tickle" perfectly. She's 4.

Original poster
SpawnChorus · 11/10/2007 21:27

Cool - I'll continue enjoying her sweet toddler-talk then

OP posts:
seeker · 11/10/2007 21:55

No - it's wonderful! Enjoy it while it lasts - it's so sad when they get it all right! My 6 year old still says cwusion for cushion and progrown for programme even though he gets everything else right. I dread the day he gets those two words right too!

Mungarra · 11/10/2007 23:30

I don't think there's anything to do about it. She's still young and it's normal for them to mispronounce words.

When DS1 was about 3, I remember him having an argument with a 5 year old girl in a shop.

DS1: Oh look. It's lellow.
girl: no, it's yellow.
DS1: that's right, it's lellow...

and it went on.

jura · 12/10/2007 00:10

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

maribe · 12/10/2007 14:47

It's not a problem.

At her age it is developmentally normal.

So enjoy the cuteness (same goes for y).

p.s. I am a speech ferapist.

DoctorFrankenSquonk · 12/10/2007 14:51

lol at speech ferapist

dd2 just started nursery, which has made her a bit self conscious of the words she mispronounces.

tis a sad, sad day when she says everything correctly, we loved the fact that she said lellow and she never pronounced an S at the beginning of a word, so she would play on the lide and the wing at the park.

It was always a bit special (or should that be pecial) that only we could understand a lot of what she said. Now, she says everything right and I WANT MY BABY BACK!

enjoy ness while it lasts

TwigorTreat · 12/10/2007 15:03

typically they don't get y till around 3 years old (give or take 6 months or so

phonetic development

Ripeberry · 12/10/2007 17:06

My 2.9yr old DD, speaks quite well but does mis-pronounce quite a few words.
When you give her something she is very polite and says "Thank you" but when she says it it sounds like "F*ck you".
Which can be quite embarassing
AB

Original poster
SpawnChorus · 12/10/2007 21:46

Oh I love all your replies...awww

lolol at Speech Ferapist

OP posts:
Piffle · 12/10/2007 21:48

crikey my dd is 5 and can say Y fine but not the la she can however say el
Bizarre
Eso when saying charlie and lola which she does... alot...
BTw there are perfectly normal sounds to be late
dd had speech therapy and had her sounds very late at over 3.5 so another 6 mths and you'll see a huge difference I think

Christie · 12/10/2007 22:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

boo64 · 12/10/2007 22:17

Ds (2.3) has quite a lot of sounds he can't do properly - e.g. at the start of words - a,f,L o,q, R, v, w and I know he is a little younger but I've been told really not to worry much about it until he is considerably older. I do still worry a little to be honest!

He could say yellow as one of his earlier words which is curious given his pronunciation with so many other sounds is so poor.

chipmonkeyPumpkinNorks · 12/10/2007 23:21

Ds2 used to say he was going to play with his "swends" If I made the "f" sound and ask him to repeat it, he would look sadly at me and say "I can't"

Littlefish · 12/10/2007 23:32

Twig, thanks for the chart - very useful.

seeker · 13/10/2007 15:23

boo64 - lots of children aren't talking at all at that age!

boo64 · 13/10/2007 15:36

Seeker - I know you're right, but sometimes it's just hard when you hear other kids the same age talking in long sentences with good pronunciation!
I've got to worry about things- I have a PFB and no other kids!

seeker · 13/10/2007 15:45

There are always a few - the "darling mother, could I trouble you for an organic breadstick?" brigade. Trouble is, you don't notice the 95% who are still pointing and going 'uh! uh! uh!"

Mercy · 13/10/2007 15:51

My ds is 3.8 and still says lellow. And fevvers and glubbs!

I'm sure dd was nearer 4 or 5 before she could say yellow properly.

He does have an odd way of prouncing words that begin with 'sm' or 'sn'. He says the 's' though his nose so, for example, 'hhhnake'.

IntergalacticWarlock · 13/10/2007 15:56

DS1 (2.10) canb say y words finr, but sill says wabbit, wocks, bwovver, fevvers, and calls a lip[stick a stiplick.

Don;t worry about it

I bet there are plenty of words she does say correctly.

IntergalacticWarlock · 13/10/2007 15:58

I know what squonk means about missing thier little pronunciations.

I used to love DS1's word for dinosaur (dorsey) and miss it now he doesn't say it incorrectly anymore

Mercy · 13/10/2007 16:00

ds used to call his comfort blanket his 'jaykin'. Have no idea why.

IntergalacticWarlock · 13/10/2007 16:03

Ilm cgad ds1 has mastered "clock" as it used to be emabrrassing when he said things like "I love big cock little cock" in the supermarket