Just want someone to tell me if my 3yo needs SLT?!

[BigDinosaurs]

My 3.1yo ds has lots of words, sentence structure etc and general communication is fantastic. But his pronunciation (and possibly tone?) means it's really difficult for those outside the household to understand him. My parents insist he has "an issue" and that I need to seek help for him. I have been relatively relaxed but it's got in my head and also I have to admit that at 3 he doesn't sound like I would expect. He has an older brother, I put some of the 'delay' down to that.

He misses off a lot of end consonants, can't say several sounds yet, does a fair amount of fronting. It's not something I can actually out my finger on - sometimes you just have a concern.

For various reasons, due to covid he hasn't really seen anyone - only video chats with relatives etc, doesn't go to nursery and hasn't been seen by HV since he was 2ish. I asked the health visitor recently but she put me on this virtual course which was great but not that relevant. I told her "I just want someone to hear him and tell me if he needs extra support or not!!" She didn't seem to think that p
person was her. At a bit of a loss.... Perhaps there are obvious solutions I'm missing? (I am exhausted due to 1yo who won't sleep). Would be grateful for advice.

I’m an SLT, from what you describe he sounds like he has a bit of a delay, but not necessarily outside of normal development. At his age I would expect him to be intelligible to you most of the time, but that people less familiar with his speech, like his grandparents, would have difficulty understanding him. If you don’t see a big improvement by the time he is 3.6yr I would want him seen by a speech therapist. It may be worth asking for a referral now as waiting lists can be long, then if his speech does improve you will just be discharged. Things you can do to help is modelling the correct pronunciation of a word, so if he says ‘tat’ you say ‘cat, yes she’s a fluffy cat’. You don’t ask him to say the word, you just say it so he can hear it clearly. Read to him lots, rhyming books are good, and play listening games. For example, put out a selection of toy animals and ask him to find the one that says ‘baaa’ or ‘sss’ or ‘moo’. He can then take a turn asking you to find one.

Thank you for replying! This has given me some comfort. I haven't tried to listening games strategy so will do that too - thanks

My nearly three year old is the same and our SLT advised me to do the modelling of correct sounds, as @HappyPumpkin81 described above.