has your child ever had speech therapy......

[mum2samandalex]

ive been concerned about my ds speech for a while now but have been always told hes still young etc.However he is now 4 and still has problems with his pronounciation. He knows his words and can string sentences together etc but i find im always having to relay what he is saying to people. He is now being refered although it can take a while so is their anything i can do in the mean time to help him. Right now i just relay it back in the correct term. Im a bit worried as he starts school in september. Thanks

bump. My DS had speech therapy for completely different reasons, so can't really advise much. One exercise that can help phonological awareness is to get your child to clap as he (or you) say each syllable of a word.

hiya,my ds is the same age as your lo,he was referred at the end of november and has just seen the speech therapist last week,i wouldn't bother trying to do excersises with him until you have seen the therapist as they will advise you the best way,

good luck xx

do not try to correct your child pronunciation- just give positive reinforcement of the incorrect pronunciation
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ds1 has SALT from the age of 3.5, but at first it was just occasional sessions.

(Like your ds his language was fine, it was just the pronunciation of sounds that didn't happen correctly.)

When it kicked in successfully was when he was 5. He was old enough to understand and co-operate fully (he wanted to be understood and realised it was important, rather than just playing games), we got a SALT who he clicked with, and an authority prepared to fund it!

He had weekly SALT sessions, and we practised the exercises every day. A term made a huge difference to his speech, though he wasn't discharged completely until he was about 7.5.

(He's 11 now and people frequently comment on how eloquent he is!)

Good luck!

You are doing exactly the right thing in repeating back to him what he has said correctly. This will let him hear the correct sounds without putting pressure on him that he is saying things wrong.

Work on his listening skills. Sound lottos are good where he has to listen to a sound and identify it or match it to a picture. Have a selection of objects/musical instruments. Hide them and play one, he has to identify which one you played.

How is his attention generally?

What sort of sounds does he get wrong?