How clear is your 3 yr olds speech?

[gentlydrunk]

I have a just turned 3 year old who talks loads but is not as clear as some of her friends who are the same age. I don't think there is anything wrong with her sounds but its her clarity when she talks in sentences that isn't very good - is this normal?

Anyone with a 3 year old - how much do strangers understand your dc when they are talking?

My DS is very clear, but was a late talker and when he did start would annunciate each syllable separately. He's got perfectionist tendencies, I think.

Does your DD just speak quickly? Sign of a quick mind, y'know.

Mine really varies.

DS2 is 3 (will be 4 in August) and told me the other day that his nursery teacher doesn't always understand what the children say first time.

5 minutes later I totally misheard something he said, and once he'd corrected me informed me that I was "just like Mrs NurseryTeacher then!"

DS2 is a very clear speaker, but when even I, as his mother, sometimes misunderstand, I know that his teacher, and any stranger can easily be forgiven. There are plenty of children who have not yet developed such clear speech, but they will. I don't think you should worry.

No Booboobedoo she doesn't speak that quickly. Some of her words are clear and some are not - I'm just not sure if we are around good talkers or whether she has a problem!

Thanks Butterpie and purpleturtle - hopefully it will get clearer eventually. I understand her most of the time which I s'pose is the main thing!

take her to the hv and see if she needs referring for speech therapy. My ds is 3.6 years and has a lot of speech sound errors e.g. using 'p' instead of 'c' - come becomes 'pome' and car is 'par', etc. I knew he was poorer at speech than my dd as she was talking fluently from 18 months. My mum and strangers often have no clue what he is talking about so we went to the hv and he is now waiting for speech therapy to help.

Still sounds pretty normal to me.

It may well be that I understand everything my DS says because we're together so much, and in fact he's not as clear as I believe.

Most 3yos I know speak (enthusiastic and cute) semi-gibberish to my ears, so I really don't think you need worry.

Sounds just like DS1 he was an early talker and has a massive vocabularly but wasn't always particularly clear, he's fine now (4.6)

DS2 was 3 in Feb and is having Speech therapy because his speech is very unclear, but he has had hearing problems. Get her hearing checked if your at all concerned, however the SALT told us that most children will correct their own prononciation over time and not being understood is good motivation for them.

My ds is nearly 3.6 and he's been seeing a speech therapist since 2ish. His main problem has been the clarity although he was slow to start as well. I went to Speech & Language Therapist (SALT) last month and she said that ds2 could say all the right sounds individually but when he was trying to say more it was running together and the clarity dropped. This was normal as the mouth/tongue has to do a lot of work changing from one sound to another. Does this sound similar to your dd? SALT said there was nothing wrong with ds and tbh nothing she could do until he was 4 about speech sounds because he couldn't do it developmentally (hear himself making the wrong sound & say it right).
She suggested using modelling a lot more ie repeat what he says back to him so he's got a good idea of how it should be said. I've been doing this constantly and it seems to be helping him.
If you're really worried, get an appt via the HV as once you're registered & they've seen DD you can access the service later much more easily in time for possible problems in advance of school.

accessorizequeen that does sound similar to my DD. She says individual words and sounds clearly but it is the flow of her speech that is unclear almost like she can't get her tongue around the words fast enough.

Thanks all for your advice - I may ask for a referral to SALT just in case things don't improve from here!

Always worth asking for extra reassurance if you need it. SALT was clear that if individual sounds are ok, that is the best thing. I can't believe now how much clearer he is after a month, things change so quickly.

DS is 3.10 and doesn't have wholly clear speech - can make the individual letter sounds but not necessarily put them together, eg 'sw' or 'st' seems to become 'f' and he still says 'the' as 'a' - anyway, happened to spend time with a friend who is a SALT last week and she commented out of the blue about how well his speech was coming on; apparently he is using complex sentences (?). She didn't seem at all bothered about the remaining 'sounds' issues.

It is reassuring to have the specific feedback (DD, 2.6, is also not ahead of the pack when it comes to speaking)! but there seem to be plenty of 3 year olds out there whose speech takes a little bit of tuning in to

DS's speech was very unclear at 3. He was referred to a speech therapist at his 2.5 year check up. He saw the SALT until he was 5 for a few speech immaturities.

He is 14 now and speaks very well.

Ds (4.2) is pretty unclear sometimes, ESP when tired. His speech sounds are fine, apart from lispy sibilants, and his language skills (vocabulary, grammar etc) good, but when he puts it all together, his brain seems to work quicker than his mouth can and it all gets a bit slurred and difficult to make out. I try to gently slow him down and sometimes explain that I can't understand when he doesn't speak slowly and clearly. Try not to make it into too much if an issue, and assume it will self-correct as he has to make himself understood by more people in primary school next yr. Unless yr daughter is often substituing sounds a lot, I wouldn't have thought you need to worry too much, esp when she's only just 3?

We need dd1 to interpret for dd2 quite often. Luckily dd1 knows what she is talking about the majority of the time.

I have just had an argument with dd2 about not having any water biscuits, when dd1 piped up "Her pistol, mummy, she wants her water pistol"

DD 3 (in Feb) speaks very clearly and is easily understood, saw a chums little boy at the weekend and he's 4 months younger but much harder to understand. DD does get a bit stuck with words though when she's excited about something - almost like a stutter, she'll repeat the same word over several times. I'll ask her to slow down and say it again - I'm also a bit deaf and she is used to me asking her to repeat things I haven't quite caught.
My speech as a child was slightly affected by my hearing problem and I lisped (and still do a little on some words).
Unless your little one seems very different from her peers I don't think I'd worry too much just yet.

I was concerned about my sons speech for a while, he's coming up to 3.5. I was referred to a speech therapist who said it was all perfectly normal and the range for speaking was huge. There are times when he is really quite hard to understand but I also know quite a few children of similar age who have difficulty in making themselves clear. The good thing about being referred is that I can now self refer if I feel the need!

My 3yo ds2 speaks fairly clearly. Strangers generally understand him - unless he is feeling bashful or grumpy, in which case he will mumble into his chest. His vocabulary and understanding are probably about average for his age, tho I think they've improved a lot in the last few months.

His big brother OTOH had a massive vocabulary and very advanced understanding by this age yet could barely be understood by strangers. Even his fantastic nursery teachers and I only understood 80-90% of his speech. He would speak blurrily IYSWIM, transpose syllables and could not pronounce R, S, TH or Y properly. He's a perfectly clear speaker now (age 9) and has finally mastered all the letters.

So I'd say there was a wide variety in the norm, and, as long as her speech, vocabulary and comprehension are developing - at whatever rate - then there's no need to worry.

DD1 is 3 and all sounds are very clear apart from sh which she says as so shop would be sop. She is perfectly aware of this and when prompted can do a perfect sh sound.

But they are all different - and boys often are behind girls in these things so wouldn't worry.

I would probably say IMO that its all normal for his age. DS is also 3yo and I can understand him most of the time but there are times when I am not sure what he's talking about and strangers find it hard too - sometimes they get it, other times they don't.