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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Changes in speech behaviour of 4 year old

5 replies

Figgyrolls · 10/01/2012 18:36

Pag has suggested I ask this question here - I hope you all don't think I am making a mountain out of a mole hill......

DD has always been quite ahead of her peers - not hugely but at Kindergarten they have told me that she is quite "bright". I am under no illusions that she is gifted or anything btw just switched on Smile. The reason I say this is that I think she can be a little manipulative in someways because of her switched on ness iyswim. I.e she knows the right buttons to push to gain attention - food etc. (She can be a tricky eater and often says one minute she isn't hungry when you have prepared food but if you ignore her she will come and sit down etc, anyway I digress!)

Recently she has started to lisp at the end of her sentences with "s" in. I know she wasn't doing this before christmas and she keeps claiming that she can't say "s" without lisping. However she can say it in other parts of a word or sentence. Now I don't know if she is doing this to press my buttons (i.e please dd will you speak more clearly,as she has done before) or if it is a genuine lisp that has just come about. I don't know if it is a normal behaviour pattern and I know that noone else has mentioned it to me. I am not unduly worried but I don't want to keep saying to her please speak more clearly if I am going to genuinely make her insecure about her speech. (I am not trying to but I just don't understand how one minute she was speaking clearly and now she isn't iyswim)

I know it is a trivial thing and if it is genuine then it is genuine, but if it is put on (which I have a feeling it might be as she holds her mouth differently) then how do I go about nipping it in the bud, if this is at all possible.

As I say, trivial but I am just wondering it if is developmental or something else.

Thank you.

OP posts:
Pagwatch · 11/01/2012 14:58

Blimey. Sorry figgy. I sent you here and no bugger answered.

The least I can do is bump it....

JosieRosie · 11/01/2012 15:02

Start ignoring it figgyrolls and make sure everyone else does the same. If it is a behavioural thing, drawing attention to it will either make her do it even more, or may knock her confidence as she will be getting the message that she's not saying it 'properly'. Just copy the word back to her the way that you would say it, with the 's' at the end. Don't ask her to copy or repeat the word after you, just act like everything is normal!

I'm an SLT and I would say that if she did have a clear 's' up until before Xmas, it's unlikely to be developmental. Good luck!

carrotsandcelery · 11/01/2012 15:04

My ds changes the way he speaks in an effort to seem younger and get us to molly coddle him more.

Could she be doing something like this?

Abirdinthehand · 11/01/2012 15:08

My dc started doing this. He was just playing - could switch it on and off at will! Ignore it.

Figgyrolls · 11/01/2012 16:31

Thank you all, I do wonder if it is a bit of an attention seek for mollycoddling due to the baby brother becoming a little more vocal! Will ignore and repeat the word back to her if she does continue to do it. I didn't think it was a true speech issue I have to say as she has had no problems with her speech before this year and I do wonder if it is done purely to wind me up Smile

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