Any speech therapists out there who can give me some advice?

[wadecollins]

My nearly 9-year-old daughter uses "f" and "v" sounds for words with a "th" sound in, eg if saying the word "thought" she would pronounce it "fought"; if saying the word "than" she would pronounce it "van". I don't know whether she is likely to simply self-correct given time, or whether we should be trying to get her referred for speech therapy. I am also not sure to what extent we should seek to correct her - I don't want her to get the feeling that every time she speaks her parents are going to leap in and correct her pronunciation rather than listen to what she has to say. Would welcome advice on this.

My DS did this. A combination of correction and growing out of it seems to have worked. I didn't 'leap in' when we were out and about but certainly at home we'd have little sessions where we'd practise saying 'th' words. Exaggerating the lip and tongue positions made it quite funny so I don't think he ended up traumatised.

Thanks Cogito. Do you remember at what age your DS had grown out of it?

I used to do this! I would pronounce it fumb and thinger instead of thumb and finger! I don't do it now but cannot remember when I grew out of it.

I had also let it slide thinking he'd grow out of it naturally. Maybe he would have but, with intervention, his pronunciation was a lot better by the end of primary school. He has the occasional lapse now (age 12) but his diction is generally pretty good.

Get your daughter referred to a speech and language therapist, they will tell you what age this should change, the correct way to handle it. If you get it wrong you could damage your daughters confidence which is much harder to put right than a little speech problem. Also ignore your GP if they say she'll be fine, they do that all the time.

My son was doing this. We didn't correct everytime but i sat with him a few times and practised with him. He thought it was quite fun. I should him what to do with his mouth and he really watched and copied. It had a very quick result. After about two or three times. He corrects himself now. He was only 3.5 though so not that ingrained i suppose.

I still do this, 28y. Not every time, however occasionally I slip up. A Speech Therapist will help you to approach it correctly.
My teacher made me stand in front of the class and say a list of words beginning with th. That gave the kids more ammunition and didn't help my confidence.

Fwiw my dd has been referred to a speech therapist. At our meeting last week she was explaining what sounds children should have mastered by what age. By 6y the typical child will be capable of the TH and R sounds.

Belated thanks for the responses! If we do go down the speech therapy route, how do we get referred to a speech therapist?

Go to your hv/GP for a referral. 9yo imo is old to be mixing up th/v/f. Get it sorted!

I would think that your school would be able to put a referral through. Thats how it works here at least.