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Parenting

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Original poster

problems with "S" - should I be concerned

17 replies

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 10:34

My 3.5 year old twins don't say "s" eg snow is no, shop is yop, s on the end of a word is extended to ees.

(DS1 said s clearly from about 20 months so not a good comparison).

Will they grow out of it or should be be asking for some help form somewhere ?

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Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 11:53

bump

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EvesMama · 02/08/2006 11:59

i was told by cpn that 'S' is the very l;ast word they get their tongue around and speech therapist told me same.
dd is 3.3 months and her 's' is alway a 'th' or 'f' unless its at end of sentance..so three is free a snake makes a 'th' sound and so on
she has onlyjust got 'y' as yellow was always 'lellow' we got round that by saying it like 'eeee-ellow' sounds like 'y' when spoken.
maybe try helping them by practicing mouthing letters to them ie: who can make the best snake noise..watch my teeth , dont stick you togue between them or the snake will get it??etc?
hth

fullmoonfiend · 02/08/2006 12:02

my ds is 8.5 and has always struggled with the 'sh' sound, as in he says sark, instead of shark and sops, instead of shops. TBH, I thought he would grow out of it, and he can say it correctly if he is reminded. No-one has a problem understanding him, and I think that is the key.
Last term, for the first time ever, a teacher suggested SALT at school, but as he has other learning difficulties which affect his confidence, I have decided against this.

I think 3.5 is still young enough to allow for speech 'eccentricities', providing they can make themselves understood by non-family members. I wouldn't worry yet myself, but that is just my opinion as a mum, not any kind of expert. But at least this ramble may bump your post for someone more knowlegable to come along

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Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 12:03

thanks EvesMama, I had a feeling it was a common problem - but wasn;t sure because DS got it sussed so early.

they have problems with f too.

I try and get them to play with sss sounds but they don't like it so I don't push it - I don't want them to get worried about it. Might try the snake game though.

I just wondered when I should start doing something more proactive because they don't seem to have improved with the s sound at all - even though the rest of their speech has come on in leaps and bounds.

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tiswas · 02/08/2006 12:16

My dd 3.4 does this sometimes - usually when excited, she can do it but gets tonguetied a lot and also stutters too. The main one with her is though words beginning W - she just cannot do it - everything comes out beginning with V instead. So its Vindy today mummy or Vhat was that mummy ? She sounds german most of time!! Vinnie the vitch is her favorite book!! My cousin was the same and grew out of it!

mummydear · 02/08/2006 12:27

my 4 yr old had this difficulty , couldn't say 's' or 'f'. Got a referral to speech therapist last year when he was 3.6 yrs . After a hearing test it was shown that he had glue ear and hearing loss.

The speech therapist said as 's ' and 'f' were high frequency sounds DS due to hearing loss couldnot hear them hence him saying them incorrectly.

We got referred aswell quickly to therapy as sometimes my husband could not understand him.

Have you had their hearing tested recently ?

Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 12:40

no - they had a hearing (thing in the ear) test when they were 6 weeks old (they were 5 weeks prem) and were fine, and had the routine HV ear test sometime - can 't even remember when (not 2 because they scrapped the 2 year old checkup).

Have never noticed any problems with their hearing. Are there any other signs to look out for ?

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mummydear · 02/08/2006 12:50

Have they had a lot of ear infections etc . It would be a coincidence if they both had heraing problems but DS had a test wher they put a small prob into ear and measured the pressure , A GP may be able to see whther there is fluid in the ear.

Glue ear can develop at any time.

Never thought about DS having hearing problems until speech therapy wasn't going well.

Last check he had with HV was when he was 2 , in our area they don't see them at 3/4 yr old check out questionnaire

Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 12:56

they had the probe in the ear when they were tiny. They had the normal shake things behind them when they were about 1 I think - nothing since.

No ear infections that I am aware of (luckily my kids never seem to get them).

If there is a physical reason they may both have it because they are identical twins.

OP posts:

mummydear · 02/08/2006 13:20

Perhaps it might be worth getting a heraing test done just to rule any hearing problems that have occurred since.

I paid for mine to be done privately ,£25, although cost can vary. 4 month waiting list on NHS.

Can recommend somewhere if you are in Surrey area

Clary · 02/08/2006 13:26

throckenholt ds2 was 3 in april and tho he can say S (he says "yes" very clearly now) he always says domeone, dome, dit etc etc. Also he cannot say F (unlucky as this is the first letter of his name so if anyone asks his name they are always a bit baffled by the answer lol).

DS1 had delayed speech so I am not too worried as DS2 to my amateur ear is much better than he was and "yes" has come in the last 6mo or so.
I think the speech games are a good idea too, but not if they are not keen. Make sure it's a bit of fun not a chore - eg make a picture of things beginning with S (cut out from Argos catalogue etc) and try to say them together.

Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 13:29

thanks for the ideas.

mummydear - we are in Norfolk - not your neck of the woods.

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EvesMama · 02/08/2006 14:03

'domeone' as oppsoed to 'someone' sounds like how you would say it with blocked nose??maybe its more a sinus problem?

Clary · 02/08/2006 15:52

no evesmama, I know what you mean about a blocked nose, but it's not nasally at all. He will say "Ssssss - domeone" lol, so he can do the sound but comehow not connect it with the word just yet.

Original poster

throckenholt · 02/08/2006 18:32

one of my twins does that ssssss-yun for sun

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SpaceCadet · 02/08/2006 18:35

my ds did the same thing, he also slurred other letters, replaced l with y etc and for example when saying dad, he would say sssssdad, which was really odd, so it demonstrated that he could say s, yet would say nake instead of snake, you could always ask for areferal to SALT, and you may find that the problem has rectified itself by the time a referal has come up.

ecb · 15/08/2006 20:35

my dd is now 5 and s is one of her difficult letters. the speech therapust said to say the s first followed by the rest of the word.sssssss........now= snow. she also said s followed by constonats(?) pbnm etc are the most difficult to put together. the above does work with perserverence, don't correct child just repeat it to them emphasising the s.

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