does anyone know of any exercises to help toddlers with pronunciation?

[lola01]

My DS is 2 and three quarters and has troubles with his L's and R's and he sometimes misses the first letter off words. we are currently on a waiting list for speech therapy, but i was wondering if anyone knew of any excerises we could do in the meantime....

that's normal though isn't it?

It's quite standard for a toddler to substitute the 'y' sound IME

Ls and Rs are difficult to pronounce especially in the middle of words. I understood that speech therapists won't take a child till 3

my ds is 3.5 and favours a br sound - so grass becomes brass etc - speech therapist said say "do you mean grass or brass/green or breen etc" in a nice way so he is hearing the correct sound without making it an issue iyswim. Good luck - but would have thought 2.75 is still quite young to be worrying too much - do you have over-zealous HV?

and also by doing 'exercises' you risk developing a phobia

I think you might be safest just repeating it back to him in a lovely conversational voice

ie if he says "look at the wabbit'

you say something like "yes darling look at the lovely rabbit'

but there are a couple of SALTs on here who will know better anyway

thanks twiglett. Yes he is a bit young but his speech isn't very clear... i understand him but he has difficulty making himself understood to others. HV and docs describe his speech as borderline... but they have been saying that for some time so i thought it best to get a referral.
i do repeat back the correct way of pronouncing words... but he is so stubborn he thinks I'm wrong and corrects me!

thanks bearess.. just seen your message..HV isn't very reassuring...won't tell me either way whether this is normal or not!!

My ds is 3 next month and his speech is not clear either. HV says that by 3, most people should be able to understand what a toddler is saying even if it's not perfect. Your ds sounds perfectly normal to me.

DS has just had grommets put in (last Saturday in fact) and his hearing and speech are already improving. Has your ds had a hearing check?

he had a hearing check about 18 months ago and that was fine... i don't think that is the problem his hearing seems good to me. it just seems to me that he can't say a few letters and that makes his speech difficult to understand... he is also v stubborn! but then thats boys..

I found that tongue-twisters and silly rhymes caught my ds's fancy and used them to help him with his speech. I think that rhythm helps and you can use it to emphasise the sounds you want without mucking about with the sense of the word and without teaching him to speak weirdly.

We happened to have a tape and accompanying book of Spike Milligan poems, and they have been extremely usefull in helping ds with his pronunciation.

BTW, I think, from my own experience, that 2 3/4 is far too early to worry. My boy was very articulate by that age, but most people couldn't understand him until they got to know him and were familiar with his way of speaking. He still lisps, says 'f' for 'th' and has a Jonathan Ross 'r', and he's 4 now.

Does your ds go to nursery? And if so, is he with other native English-speakers? He may need the interaction with others to help him learn that there are correct ways of speaking.

thanks pretty candles...will definatley try the tongue twisters...sounds fun. he is at nursery for 2.5 days a week. But I'm not so worried now a few people have said its normal..

My DD received ST for 2 years. We played games such as matching pairs to help her practice the difficukt sounds. It means they have fun playing and learn as they go along without being conscious of it.
Unfortunately, IMO, my DD still requires ST, but due to the system, she couldn't be referred until she was 3 and she had to be discharged at 5
But on the plus side, a Speech Therapist has just started at her school and will be assessing her after Easter so I can see for sure if she does need further support.

Try a call out for SALTs on the Special Needs boards .. I think its Mogwai and MizMiz who are both SALTS

HTH

Normal for his age.

R's and L's are some of the last sounds to develop.

I would not worry about 'r' and 'l' until he is 5 or 6. Model the correct pronounciation for him but don't push it. It will come.