Toddler suddenly pronouncing things wrong

[Mumandbabies12]

My LO is almost 3 and has always pronounced things very well, we've never had to ask them to repeat themselves.
In the last week or so they've started replacing all "s" sounds with "sh" - housh for house, shophie for sophie, what'sh that for what's that etc.

This morning it is worse than ever they do it for every word!

Is this normal and something they'll eventually get bored of, should we ignore or correct? Or should we worry ? It has taken us by surprise and we're now sometimes struggling to understand them!

Always worth asking the GP for a hearing test.

I looked after a child who around that age started to replace all words ending in 'a' with 'ow'. So 'banana' was 'bananow'. Very odd, we ignored and he eventually outgrew it! 😂

Have you noticed any other changes? I’d be curious about it and maybe try to have an assessment with the speech and Lang team. Suspect the NHS is a long wait so you could do a one off assessment just to get the answer. I know more sounds are added as they grow but not sure about certain sounds changing like this. Could it be a change in her teeth making it turn from s to sh? Can she pronounce it with the ‘S’ if you guide her and she repeats it?

Can't you just gently correct them?

Thanks for your responses.

@TangerineGreen yes that's the thing DC still has the ability to make the sound correctly and sometimes does. Yesterday DC was even laughing about it "listen I'm saying Shophie instead of Sophie hahaha". So I think they might have just heard it at nursery and thought it was an interesting thing to do, but as they are doing it more and more everyday it's now almost become automatic and I worry they'll get so used to it that's how they will speak from now.

When we try to correct, it only makes them want to say it wrong more... "no, I say housh!" "House" "no, housh!"

@MolyHolyGuacamole, thats great to hear, sounds like a pretty similar random situation !

They could just be copying. Or I know most kids have finished teething by 3, but could a molar be coming in?

It's most probably not a hearing problem if they were saying it fine and have suddenly started saying it differently. What an odd thing for someone to suggest!

It certainly sounds like they're just going through a phase, when they've discovered they can add different sounds to words and it makes them sound funny. I mean, my niece went through a phase of insisting she was called Mildred, at about the same age, as I think she'd heard it somewhere and decided it was a nice name!

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about and they'll stop doing it at some point.

@TOD101 this has really made me laugh! Never a boring day with a toddler!

Yesterday DC was even laughing about it "listen I'm saying Shophie instead of Sophie hahaha". So I think they might have just heard it at nursery and thought it was an interesting thing to do

Ahh yes so it is deliberate. Dc has obviously heard another dc speak like that and thought it was cool. I'd just ignore it tbh.

@TOD101

It's most probably not a hearing problem if they were saying it fine and have suddenly started saying it differently. What an odd thing for someone to suggest!

It certainly sounds like they're just going through a phase, when they've discovered they can add different sounds to words and it makes them sound funny. I mean, my niece went through a phase of insisting she was called Mildred, at about the same age, as I think she'd heard it somewhere and decided it was a nice name!

I'm sure it's nothing to worry about and they'll stop doing it at some point.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with this. Children's hearing can deteriorate at any time, even if it is just glue ear. I'm a teacher of the Deaf and I see it a lot. It could well be glue ear and that your child isn't hearing consonants as clearly as before.

If it makes you feel any better my nearly 3 year old is doing the exact same thing!!
Used to say everything correctly now asking for bidetoes (videos) 🙉 & instead of thanks its yanks!!

My son plays around a lot with pronunciation.
I never thought to worry. Seemed like experimentation, mastery and play.
Seems to always just last a week (or more sometimes) before he gets bored and reverts to normal..