Says ‘th’ instead of ‘f’ 8 year old boy.

[s4msunt3r]

My son is 8 years old. He’s never had any trouble with his speech or development. I have noticed it a couple of times in the past where he will say things like ‘Thor’ instead of ‘four’ but over the last 6 months or so it’s become so much more prominent. So like falling is ‘thalling’ basically any word starting with f becomes th? I’ve asked him to say the words slowly and he can say it with an f no problem. It’s like when he’s rushing to tell me something it comes out as th? We had a go with ‘feather’ today and he said ‘theather’ then ‘theafer’ I just wondered if this is common as I’ve googled it and can’t find any answers? Or is it likely for kids to get these problems at this age and it will just pass? Thanks

Totally common. I am a teacher, lots of kids do it! Best thing to do, just model the correct way of speaking back to him.

You can also try getting him to say it whilst holding a mirror and looking at his mouth. The difference whilst making a th or f sound with your mouth is really prominent in the mirror so could help him with forming the correct sound. The f sound, you can't see your tongue and the th sound, you can.

It is honestly really common but I would correct it all the same. It's just lazy speech really.

Thank you very much I was thinking about mentioning it to his teacher but I wasn’t sure if she would think I was silly lol

My 7 year old daughter (Year 3) does this also and I have to say it drives me mad!! She knows the two sounds but gets them confused when speaking. She didn’t used to do it but it’s like she’s confused herself somewhere along the line and is now totally mixed up! The number 34 is usually an interesting one 🤣