Any speech therapists about for some advice?

[allaboutme]

My nearly 4 yo has been referred for speech therapy. Because there is such a long waiting list we have been given a workbook to do at home in the mean time (could be waiting up to a year!)
The work book is the letter F. DS pronounces all F's as B's.. so box instead of fox etc.

He's doing really well at doing the letter F on its own, but when he tries to do it with a word he says 'FFFFFFF box'

Is that the normal next step? How do I encourage him to say 'FFFFox' ? or should I just keep doing the FFFF sound on its own?

The SALT said to do the workbook in the right order and not move onto the next page until he has mastered the one before. At this rate we will stuck on the first page just doing the FFFF sound for the next year till we see her again!!

Divide it up into

F and OCS

Get him to say seperately [maybe write them down on two pieces of paper if he is beginning to grasp idea of writing-if not just tell him this iswhat they say] Then move pieces of paper closer together as you make sounds closer together.

I am a SALT but I don't really consider this stuff to be important. Most kids will resolve these issues spontaneously.It's a tiny difference between 'f' and 'b' anyway.

Thanks. Am slightly worrying about it as can really see the difference between him and his peers now and there is such a long wiating list till gets proper help.

We are starting with letter F, but he struggles with lots of other letters too so his speech is quite unclear with B and D being substituted for a few other letters. Am worried it will stop him making friends at school as the other children cant understand him.

He can say F and ocs with a very big gap in the middle, if he thinks of them as seperate words, but as soon as you show him the picture of the fox or he thinks of it as one word he says fffff box!
Will try the pieces of paper getting closer together.

These issues are really simple generally. If yuo are a dynamic sort of person, it might be worth paying for acouple of private sessions in which a SALT can show you exactly how to help with these things. I can direct you to the best website for independent S/LTs if you want?

Yes please. Not sure I can afford it! but would be interested to look and bear it in mind. Maybe DH's work health cover would cover it.. will get him to ask them.
Thank you

This is the site for independent and fully vetted S/LTs It will cost about £50-60 an hour [I think] and a couple of sessions would put you on the right track. You can look for S/LTs in your area. Look for 'child phonology' as an interest/specialism.

with my dds it finally clicked in the end doing the f oc with a small gap IYSWIM

dd4 (off to school in Sept) is working on s & f

then it's y z v and then some more after that! I've got a pile of worksheets to do with her over the holidays an inch thick, not sure we'll get much done !

Other tip I found helpful was to say "do you mean box or fox?" also little and often we tend to practice around 6 times a day when I tricky word comes up in conversation, rather than doing the "let's do some speech therapy" approach. Also if she's not in the mood for it we give it a miss.

Ys, you can sometimes make fun of it in a nice way.
My ds says 'omato sauce' and we all laugh and say 'omato sauce?!' What's that then? He laughs and self corrects.

other thing I was taught was "good try" when they get it wrong and "well done, fab" or similar when she gets it right.

We're having to do so much at the moment as she misses out & substitutes sounds she can say in words as well. Still lots of things she says that I don't understand!!!

dd was only happy to start doing all of this about 6 months ago, before that she would refuse and strop off. However in that time I also paid for a private hearing test and it turned out that her hearing was a big part of the problem which has also now been sorted.....

I've got lots of "f" games I could copy and send you? Actually he could the "s" ones too as it's good for them to get something right as well IYSWIM.

OP, can he say the F sound at the end of words? Also, show him and tell him where the teeth go to make the F sound, that has helped DS (who tends to mix up TH with F, not B, admittedly). For some reason ends of words is easier than the beginnings with DS. You could try to get him to run together sounds, so what I mean is, he could try saying

Enough Foxes
Giraffe fool
Laugh for me
etc.

That trick worked really well with DS to teach him how to say sounds he hadn't mastered yet, get out of the wrong habit, etc.

It is depressing when you hear other children the same age speaking crystal clear .

Thanks for the link moondog, have bookmarked it to look through later.
The F games would be brilliant Cargirl, thanks very much. I will CAT you.
DS cant say S words either so not sure they would help in the gettin things right area lol
DS gets cross if we highlight when he is saying something wrong ina joky way so I try not to do it really. If he says 'look, a box' and I say 'a box?' knowing he means fox, he gets cross and says 'NO a box!' lol
At least he can hear the difference clearly even if he cant say it!
I am definitely considering the private route now, even if we cant get it on the insurance, will try and pay for it. I think it will make a big difference if he can say things a bit more clearly when he starts school. At the moment I am the only person who understands most of what he says. Most people only understand a small part of what he says, which is a shame for him.

How did you get on my nearly 4 year old is exactly the same as what your son was with box for fox bish for fish starting to worry! Did something eventually click?

@Demi2the DC in question will be around 20 now. You can try an @ to see if the OP is still around or you could start your own thread