Speech "issues" in a 4yo, should I seek help?

[getthewineinthefridge]

Had a lovely afternoon with a very good friend yesterday. She described her DD (3.5) has having a speech impediment. I was a little taken aback by this, as the examples she was using on this were the current inability to put some two consonant sounds together. She can still be understood very well mostly, I can certainly understand her.

My own DD (4.5) equally struggles with some double consonant sounds and I had never for one moment thought of this as a speech impediment, I just put it down to her age and the fact that she just hasn't quite mastered this yet. Also don't want to make a big deal out of it, I try to help her along with it as unobtrusively as I can, but until now was not overly concerned.

Should I be worried about my DD? My friend says that her DD actually gets TEASED by pre school children for it, and it really is a very slight so-called impediment. She is therefore considering getting professional help for her DD to try and overcome.

Should they be sounding out these things properly by now? My DD's teachers have not commented on it and other than me and DH who obviously are with her the most, no one else has either.... so I think to leave well alone, but it did make me stop and think.

Anyone with experience of this who can share some thoughts would be much appreciated. xxxx

There are a whole range of speech sounds that children aren't expected to master until they are 8 - apparently that is the age when speech is fully formed so to speak.

I don't know exactly what you mean by a double consonant sound though. Can you give an example?

My DS did have some speech therapy for a mild impediment/delay. The changes were very subtle and I do wonder, with hindsight whether it was worth it, given that he was still developing his speech anyway.

My DD cannot put "S" before "N" for example, snack comes out as nack, snake is nake etc etc. There are others, that is what I meant - sorry not clear!

She can make the sounds and is way ahead on phonics than where my son was at an equivalent age, she just struggles to sound some out together. She can write and recognise all the letters no problem.

Can JUST say Brake, though is slightly Brwake.

I certainly wouldn't be worried, but there would be no harm in having an assessment with the specch therapist. My DS struggled with S, C and R at about that age and speech therapy sorted it all out very quickly and painlessly.

mine still struggle with 'th' often said as 'z' as in 'fazer' or missed out 'at' instead of 'that' and they are 5 and 3.

ds is 5 and can't pronounce "V" van = ban, every = ebery and so on.

I've never really worried

Have a word with her teacher. My nieces teacher approached my sister, my sister thought she might grow out of it but when the teacher offered speech therapy at school she took it and now goes once a week. It is helping, slowly. Shes a really bright kid and it broke my heart once hearing her ask for chocolate cake in a coffee shop and the girls kept saying "what?" shes 5.5

At 3.5 (dd2's age) I certainly wouldn't be worrying about it, if I were your friend. I would help her deal with being teased, rather than get professional help for her speech, at this stage!

To be honest, your own dd's 'issue' sounds very slight...I'd keep an eye/ear out, and talk to the teacher about it in September if its still the same, to get some feedback. But several of dd1's friends (now 6) had similar speech characteristics until over 5.

dd2, who is 3.5, has a slight lisp - but I was told, when I asked the Nursery Nurse at our surgery during a routine appointment, that lisps are not considered a problem till well over 4, and often sort themselves out. Its already much better than it was six months ago.