Do you still have to interept your 4 yr old?

[UniS]

Do other people - outside the family/ see every day circle- understand your 4 yr old, or do you have to translate still?
Just wondering how common it is for a 4 yr old not to have clear enough diction to be understood. TBH I struggle with his speech myself and often have to go through a list of rhyming possibles for him to agree / disagree with or ask him to find other words to tell me whats on his mind.

He would want to "dook a dake"( cook a cake) find his "aper town" (Paper crown) for example and is convinced that nutella is mutella, and its pasagne not lasagne.

uh no, that doesn't sound normal to be honest with you

i would see the GP for a referral for hearing test and speech and language assesment

Not normal in my family but my children
have been totally clear from 2 as they were early talkers. I have alot of friends at the moment with 3 year olds and I can't understand alot of what they say. Their nurseries haven't said anything to my mates so maybe it is normal for some preschoolers.
See your Hv or Gp?

did he have a dummy when small and learning to speak?
i am no expert but i have seen several children with issues with speech after learning to talk around a dummy....

i agree that an assessment might be helpful - it might only take a little bit of speech therapy to get his starting sounds sorted out!

TBH, sometimes I need to translate my nine year old.

SALT said he was fine.

Spoke to HV today and her willingness to refer to SALT has got me worried. Preschool only mentioned it once at end of term one, saying they thought he would grow out of it, now I'm wondering if they have just tuned into him or if hes not bothering to talk much at preschool coz hes not understood.

He goes to 2 settings and one have plenty of kids with English as an additional language , so maybe hes slipping under the radar by being quiet and self contained.

At 4 my DD2 did struggle with speech. For example she told my friend that the Gun is Getting (Sun is setting). Now at age 5 she has improved a lot. She had a little speech help/therapy at school with a TA in Reception.
May be worth seeing your HV and asking their advice as to whether he needs some help.

My DS was very clear from age 3 onwards. However, DD is a different story and she struggles with her accuracy of sounds - sometimes correct, sometimes not and I have to interpret. She's 3 so a bit younger but she has problems with her fine motor skills which can also affect speech.

Might be worth asking for a referral before he starts school?

dummy was bedtime only. ironically at that age, we were seeing a SALT weekly as they led the rhyme time session at our then local children's centre till budgets were cut. SALT was most impressed by how well he communicated pre verbally and used sign language ( DH and I have BSL as 2nd language)... maybe this is why hes getting away with it.

One of the alarm bells was Dh commenting that DS said something in a "deaf way" the other day. I phoned HV today to talk about a hearing test, she listened to me and said she would refer to SALT as well.

I have to translate for my DS(4). He was referred to SALT, and they said he was within the normal range, but gave me/his nursery some exercises to do with him. Although it wasn't quite the speech therapy I was hoping for, it showed me the areas to focus on (in his case, C, G and M)

It's quite frustrating for both of us sometimes - today I didn't know if he was taking about his train, crane or plane.

Thank you lost art, sounds like our boys are sounding similar. It does do wonders for his descriptive language, having to find ways round.

DS1 didn't speak much / properly until he was nearly five. We did 18 months with a SALT - it was great for him. She decided it was prob as a result of his traumatic birth .

By the time he started school i would say he was on about 80% speech and most folks could understand him.

He used to move his hand in a slicing motion and go "Swsh" for a knife for example - and do Ts for Cs etc.

I remember the first time he said 'tractor' and the lady at the checkout understood him - i could have cried - he was nearly 4.

The SALT was really good for him - as was our not getting impatient with the random stammer he had for 6 months (more fun).

He is now 9 and we cannot shut him up .

Yes, UiS. The ST said that his vocab is better than she would have expected for his age. Now you mention it, it is probably because he has to describe things in so many different ways!