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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

How clear is your 3 year old's speech?

28 replies

2pt4kids · 20/01/2009 12:24

DS1 is 3.4 years. He knows loads of words and is learning new words and making new sentences all the time. He understands everything and is pretty clever at making himself understood but his speech is stll very unclear.

I'm the only one who can understand everything he says and I often have to 'translate' to people who dont know him. Even DH and his Grandparents cant understand everything he says. I think I only understand everything as I'm with him all the time and so I can put it in context much more easily.

Most words he says he begins with 'b' or 'd' still. For example if he says 'bee' it could be 'three' 'bee' 'tree' etc if he wanted to say 'see' he'd say 'dee'
I know he can do the 'ssss' noise cos he can do it when pretending to be a snake but he just cant put it into a word (we've tried to do it slowly!)

Is this still all normal for his age do you think? Or worth asking HV about?

How clear are all your 3 years olds speech?

OP posts:

Dropdeadfred · 20/01/2009 12:28

I don't want to worry you, as people are always telling me that she is very advanced, but my dd (3.7)talks as clearly as I do really...and has done since before her 3rd birthday. I do have friends with children of a simialr age that I sometimes struggle to hear everything they say, but can definitely understand the majority...
is his hearing fine?

sobloodystupid · 20/01/2009 12:28

My little one is 2.8 and speech is very clear. I would raise this with your HV asap, is your DS due a developmental check up soon?
No need to worry I'm sure, but it would be great to set your mind at rest...

donnie · 20/01/2009 12:31

I don't think it sounds like a problem to me.

Original poster

2pt4kids · 20/01/2009 12:40

I dont think he has a hearing problem as he can often hear things like aeroplanes before I do and points them out. However he has got an appt booked with ENT for a hearing check next week as he has been complaining of a bumble bee in his ear (I think he hears buzzing sometimes) so will see what comes of that.

Am seeing my HV after that for babies developmental review so will ask her about DS1 too I think (although he will be at school when I go so she wont be able to hear him speak for herself)

Thanks for replies.

Anyone else got any thoughts?

OP posts:

lizandlulu · 20/01/2009 12:42

i dotn thinks its a problem either, my dd is 3.3 and i often have to translate to dh and my dad too, mum and me who spend the most tiem with her can understand, but alot of words are not clear enough. a couple i can think of are

crisps are pis piss
smell is thwell

there are lots more but i cnat think of htem!

Tortoise · 20/01/2009 12:44

Sounds pretty normal to me. My DD2 is 4 and still hasn't got brilliant speech. It is improving now she is at school though.
For example my friend couldn't understand her the other day when she said 'The gun is getting'. She was saying the sun is setting.
It is mostly the odd letter that she has trouble with.

drivinmecrazy · 20/01/2009 12:46

Doesn't sound abnormal to me. My DD2 is just 3 1/2 and she isn't always pronouncing all her letter sounds but i have just got back from her parents consultation at nursery and they say she is perfectly normal. Her vocab is advanced beyond her age. Her key worker has advised me to ask her to repeat things not said clearly and ask her to slow down because she sometimes just babbles to get all she wants to say out at once.
My only concern is that she is a late August baby so will start school just turned four. Even nursery says she would really benefit from an extra term with them.

NewAmazingBeginning · 20/01/2009 12:47

No harm in getting it checked. If no problem, good. If there is, then help can be given.

NINALL · 20/01/2009 12:52

Some speech and language therapy clinics in health centres used to run monthly informal advice clinics. I don't know if they still do but you could check (ring your local health clinic or HV should know)and have a professional give you an opinion to settle your mind.

bubblagirl · 20/01/2009 12:55

i go to speech therapy with my son and this sounds normal my son replaces all sounds with g and k he also has asd but speech therapist said up to the age of four parents still need to translate at times and the th sound doesn't come until later so this is normal too, you could always ask hv but he does sound ok to me

i actually ahve my sheet in front of me from SALT for age 3 sounds they should be able to do iss,k,g,f,sh,
l,ch,z,j cluster words eg,fl,sm,st,sp

all above is normal from 3-4 second line is 4-5

so he sounds perfectly normal r clusters tr,br,fr,kr, from 5 and sounds r,th, v from 5

hope this helps this is all from SALT so i know its all ok as my son is slightly behind on the 3-4 sounds but sentence wise above age

gatleygirl · 20/01/2009 13:03

Sounds pretty normal to me - but my DD is 4 and sometimes I am still the only one who understands her. She comes out with quite complex sentences but gets so many letters mixed up other people struggle to follow her. My DS was exactly the same at this age but eventually became clear and articulate. I would be more worried if at this age she was struggling to comprehend or structure language rather than pronouncing it wrongly IYSWIM. If the HV recommends it I will still take her for speech therapy but IMO my son benfitted more from being at nursery and talking to children his own age than group speech therapy that meant he had to miss nursery.

Hope this helps!

NINALL · 20/01/2009 13:04

bubblagirl is absolutely right and the best thing you can do is not to correct him but just model the correct way of saying it.

Dropdeadfred · 20/01/2009 13:08

bubblagirl..that's really interesting. I had no idea tht all children of school age were not expected to be completely clear speaking with all sounds...

Original poster

2pt4kids · 20/01/2009 13:10

Thanks, this is all very re-assuring!

bubblagirl - the sounds they should be able to do age 3 iss,k,g,f,sh he can do at the end of a word but not at the beginning of any word.
So at least I know he can say the sound iyswim even if he doesnt use it at the beginning of words yet.

I do repeat the correct way of saying things when I can but never correct him as I instinctively felt it would be wrong to look like I might be telling him off. Glad that seems to be the right way of dealing with it!

OP posts:

NINALL · 20/01/2009 13:15

You need to be able to hear the sounds correctly before you can say them, so lots of hearing the correct pronounciation is helpful. Bit like you have to talk to babies for ever before they begin to talk back........sorry does that make sense? Does sound like your on thr right path with the hearing test and quick word w your HV.

claw3 · 20/01/2009 13:20

My son has problems hearing the difference between g - d, and t - c or k and pronouncing them ie car would tar etc. Because the sounds are so similar its pretty normal for kids to confuse them.

You could try the jolly phonics, did wonders for him

thatsnotmymonster · 20/01/2009 13:27

It's difficult to say. Might be nothing but I would get it checked.

DS (now 3.10) has talked as clearly as me since he was 2.4 in normal sentences.

DD1 didn't say a word (ta) till she was 20mth (not even babbling or mama). She came on fairly quickly from then but was very unclear for a long time. However, now at only 2.5 she is much clearer and most people can understand her though I still have to 'translate' sometimes!

asteamedpoater · 20/01/2009 13:45

There is an absolutely colossal range of normal in speech development and it is completely normal at 3 for a child only to be partially understood by strangers, so don't be bothered by the comments from mothers who are simply comparing your child with their own - it's not at all a fair comparison and will only worry you unnecessarily. Even at 4, a child is not expected to be 100% understood by strangers. In any event, you are getting your child's hearing checked, so one of the most common causes of mild or temporary delays in speech development (glue ear) can be checked out. And if you are still a bit concerned after that, frankly it doesn't matter whether your child's development is normal or not, you should get it checked out for your own peace of mind. Better to feel you may have taken up someone's time unnecessarily (which you won't have done) than to worry for another year or two that something isn't right.

AccidentalMum · 20/01/2009 13:48

There is so much help available for speech ATM, no problem to get reassurence or help. They are always pushing help on everyone at our Children's Centre .... you have to hide from the speech therapist . I think DD1 talks fine but I still have to translate for people we meet often.

RubyRioja · 20/01/2009 14:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Dillydaydreamer · 20/01/2009 14:10

My dd is just 3 and has very clear speech to everyone. My mindee (boy) is 4.5 and I sometimes struggle to understand what he says. Have you had a development check recently because I think they have one between 3-3.5yrs or you could ask for one with the HV. I'm not suggesting there is a problem btw. Do you and your husband have the same accent as sometimes the wildly different dialects can make children less clear as word pronunciation is different iyswim. Also you might want to get his hearing checked, especially if he has had a few colds.

claw3 · 20/01/2009 14:14

Game to play to help ds hear the difference between the sounds.

Get some pictures of words that start with b and d. Show him 2 cards ie bee and tree and ask him to point to bee, then tree. Then let him have a go asking you to point. As you already do, dont correct him, just repeat the correct way.

It doesnt happen overnight, but practise makes perfect.

Iklboo · 20/01/2009 14:14

DS was 3 in November and has very clear speech - uses some words (apparently) not expected of a 3 year old (according to nursery - and I don't mean rude ones!)
BUT still says 'bemote' for 'remote', 'dalek bread' and has some trouble with his r words and 'ch' words (you really don't want him to say 'chitty chitty bang bang inpolite company)
It sounds about normal to me

TheLorax · 20/01/2009 14:23

IME, boys tend to be slower than girls but all my boys varied. Ds1 was very clear even at 2, ds2 was still unclear at 3 and ds3 has just turned 4 and can mostly be understood, just occasionally needing a translator! He was premature though, so shouldn't be 4 yet IYKWIM!

herbgarden · 20/01/2009 16:55

I'm interested by your question - my ds is 2.6 years and his speech is really clear and most people don't have any difficulty in understanding him. What he says might be rubbish at times but he pronounces things pretty clearly. I spent the afternoon with a friend last week with twins (one boy, one girl) of exactly a year older than my DS. I really struggled to understand her son but her daughters speech was clear like my DS but I think (prob due to age) the extent of what she was saying was more developed IYSWIM - they've been brought up the same but IMO there was a big difference in their development. Sorry, that's not really answering your question but thought I might add my bit !

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