Teacher says our DD speech is babyish

[mum2phoebs]

Just collected our 4 year old DD from school, she is in reception class. The teacher took us aside and said that she was a bit concerned about her speech and that she saounds quite babyish They said they will leave it till after christmas and see if it improves.

We think she talks really well, constructs sentences well, extensive vocabulary, the only thing we notice is she doesn't pronounce her s and g's very well.

Think we are just a bit annoyed that someone "dare"(!) criticise our child but we know that's what teachers are there for!

Does anyone have any advice, comments??

My DS talks very well at home but becomes childlish when he talks to girls. I think it is just age.

Its good that the teacher has made her aware of this. I dont think that it should be viewed as a negative thing..

My DD is a bit younger than yours, but we have noticed similar issues with speech - the content is fine, but the pronounciation is a little immature.

We have found that telling her how words should be pronounced, and getting her to repeat them after us has made a difference.

I know it is a good thing that the teacher has picked up on this, I'm not disputing that!!

Just we have never had anyone say anything "bad" about our DD before and it's just hard to hear!

think judging a four year old on speech is ridiculous but there you go, obviously i'm alone

DS has speech issues especially around pronunciation and has been assessed for therapy but it was reassuring to hear that the actual sounds are the last thing to develop. We spend time making the sounds and repeating what he says so he can hear the right sounds.

I'm with you on the PFB thing though, we had "DS is a very physical child" from his reception teacher. Which was a nicer way of saying he hits other children. Undoubtedly true but I was still defensive!!

Immature (babyish) speech can impact on learning which is why the teacher has raised a concern. I wouldn't imagine she means mispronouncing "s" & "g".

DS reception teacher raised similar concerns. We already knew this - it was because he had hearing problems. With the introduction of grommets he improved. Now in YR3 he is fine and I would say speaks more clearly than some of his friends.
Have you had her hearing tested? Although everyone thinks their child hears fine things like glue ear can be intermittent or make things sound muffled especially in noisy classroom!

I have been raising concerns about my DS for ages now - have basically been told to stop worrying - it's just developmental etc. Now he's Y1, it's been raised by school and the school nurse.

Even though I'm relieved, I feel a bit defensive too. His hearing has always been fine, so it's not that. I did have concerns over adenoids - we had a lot of dribbling that seemed to outlast teething, but noone ever took that seriously. And he has definitely been 'spoken to', ie not ignored.

DS also has a wide vocabulary, and I think that's why it's easy not to hear the missing sounds when he talks. If he were to say 3 words and 2 of them were incomprehensible, there would definitely be an issue. Because he can talk for England, there is a lot of context to help his audience out!

His current school are concerned for his speech because he is an 'able child' (their words not mine!) and don't want him to be frustrated in the future. You may want to see it as a veiled compliment

Would definitely go for referrals sooner rather than later. If the concern wasn't raised until after Christmas, you would then be 'waiting till Easter' to see what happens and the school year soon disappears.

I agree that the phrase 'babyish' isn't very helpful - particularly if the rest of her speech (structure and vocab) are more mature. Maybe there are relatives who only chat to your DD occasionally who could offer you a kind yet discerning opinion?

At least your DD is talking at school, it would be worse if she was a shrinking violet who was too scared to even utter a word!!

Thanks for the comments.

cakesaregood our DD also still dribbles alot and we thought she may have adenoid/tonsil problems but our doctor completely dismissed that, so maybe that is affecting her speech?

It's parents evening next week so we will discuss with her teacher again and find out exactly what she thinks is wrong with her speech....

good on school for picking up on it so soon in the year.
I've found with my DS - who can't / doesn't say a whole bunch of sounds *- that his lack of speech clarity IS affecting his confidence speaking in front of his peers and teachers. He gets frustrated when adults guess wrong what he is trying to say and his peers don't understand either.

Preschool have let it go expecting him to catch up for 18 months. Now we are getting SALT help and he is improving, sometimes he spontaneously says F words correctly ( after 6 weeks of working on it)

• including G, S, K/C, F, V, J some total, some just in initial positions.

Not pronouncing certain sounds clearly certainly CAN impact on school learning especially as children move into learning to spell. Sometimes it is just a developmental/speech issue, which is one thing, and sometimes as mentioned above it relates to hearing difficulties. The consonant sounds use higher frequencies than the vowels, so an apparently quite mild hearing loss can have a big impact on being able to tell the difference between b/d/p or f/th/s for example.

Good luck helping your child improve their speech and judging when to seek extra help if necessary. My mother's concerned about my 5 yr old's speech too now she's come to help us out this year - we are just used to the way he sounds.