Childhood speech impediments

[Jennasis]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this (I bet there are plenty). My nephew has some speech issues. He's 6 1/2 and all of his "L" and "R" sounds come out like "W". Also, his "th" sounds like "fw" (as in the number "fwee"). His teachers at school have been telling his parents that they shouldn't be worried and that he may grow out of it. It's a very VERY pronounced speech issue.

Has anyone had a child with a speech problem like this that has just "grown out of it"? Or was speech therapy eventually required?

 

[js]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this (I bet there are plenty). My nephew has some speech issues. He's 6 1/2 and all of his "L" and "R" sounds come out like "W". Also, his "th" sounds like "fw" (as in the number "fwee"). His teachers at school have been telling his parents that they shouldn't be worried and that he may grow out of it. It's a very VERY pronounced speech issue.

Has anyone had a child with a speech problem like this that has just "grown out of it"? Or was speech therapy eventually required?

At 6 1/2 I am not sure how much he can outgrow it or he may just have lazy speech. I can tell you with my ds, now almost 13, he had about 6 years of speech, with a private doctor, twice a week due to lazy speech and stuttering (which, thank goodness is now all gone).
My ds was about 3 when he started adn about 10 or so when he stopped. If I were the parents, I would have him evaluated and definately send him to therapy. It can only help and as they start getting bigger, kids can also become not too nice and make fun of his impediment.
Are you nephews parents waiting to a certain age to see if it goes away?
Good luck.

 

[ToTLaugher]

My DD had this problem and at the same age and did grow out of it. She is now a singer and does musicals. Her speech is beautiful.

My DS is the same age now and having the same struggles, but we are seeing slow improvement and are letting nature take its course for now. Some are just late bloomers!

When my son is reading to me I do encourage correct pronunciation but keep it low key so he doesn't become frustrated.

 

[MichelleVW]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this (I bet there are plenty). My nephew has some speech issues. He's 6 1/2 and all of his "L" and "R" sounds come out like "W". Also, his "th" sounds like "fw" (as in the number "fwee"). His teachers at school have been telling his parents that they shouldn't be worried and that he may grow out of it. It's a very VERY pronounced speech issue.

Has anyone had a child with a speech problem like this that has just "grown out of it"? Or was speech therapy eventually required?

My youngest went to speech therapy when she was in kindergarten. We had to push for it or she would have never gotten it. At 6 1/2 kids are going to start making fun of him (if they haven't already) so if it were my son, I would get him in speech therapy ASAP. I had to go when I was young from age 4-8 (my speech was BAD) and I remember how frustrating it was when people didn't understand what I was saying. I wouldn't wait for him to "maybe" grow out of it.

 

[luvmy3]

My ds had speech problems but not the ones you describe however I know 2 people, one my SIL who had dses with the same. They were also told not to worry about it for years. Unfortunately the boys never did grow out of it and had to start therapy for years when they were older (I don't remember how old but it was definitely older than 6). Their speech had improved but it was a long process and probably could have been avoided if they got therapy earlier.
Has your nephew been evaluated yet, or is it just his teachers saying not to worry about it? I ask because my SIL listened to the teachers and wishes she didn't.

 

[MinnieTink]

My 18 year old nephew still talks just the way you described. It's very sad to me. His "mother" (in the most basic sense of the word) did nothing for him when he was young.

On the other hand, my neighbor's son no longer had any speech issues after a bit of therapy. He was only about 4 when they did the therapy.

 

[Magpie]

My son had a speech issue, and he used to get angry because no one understood what he was saying. I found out that speech therapy at school was only once a month and there was a waiting list, so I decided to skip that and when he was about four I just worked with him myself.

I basically taught him to read, working through the phonics sounds one at a time. I showed him where to put his tongue to make the L sound and had him practice hearing the difference between N and M. We worked on it every day for quite awhile. By the end, he could both read and his speech had improved to the point that the doctors decided he didn't need tubes in his ears because he was coping with his hearing difficulties so well.

I'm not sure if that was a good thing, or not. But the doctor did say his speech was far better than it should have been for a kid with "borderline hearing".

I don't know if he would have outgrown it, or not. I know he had a couple of sounds (like "TH" which came out sounding like "F") that he continued to struggle with until he was about 9. Today he's 13 and he sounds fine.

 

[tzolkin]

I cannot understand why you wouldn't give the child speech therapy. Even if he may "grow out of it", therapy would definitely help speed the process along.

My DS4 finally started seeing a speech therapist this year. She sees him for an hour twice a week. After the first two or three sessions we were already noticing major improvements. This is a child who was nearly impossible to understand and had issues with virtually every sound. Both the evaluators and his therapist think he may not even need therapy by the time he starts kindergarten.

I insisted that he be re-tested and even if he didn't qualify for services, I would have paid for a private speech therapist. I did not want him to start kindergarten and have other kids teasing him. Plus, it's just been horrible to watch his frustration at not being able to communicate. At Disney this year, the poor kid actually had the courage to talk to Crush, but he could not understand him. DS didn't seem too bothered by it, but I cried sitting in the back.

Sorry for the tangent, but it's just amazing to see how well the speech therapy has really been going for him. He had never been able to say his name. (What horrible parents give a kid with speech issues a name with two S's? ) After one session of working on the 'S' sound, he came over to me and said, "Hi, I'm Silas." So amazing. Even DH cried when he got home.

I would think that every school would offer speech therapy at no cost during the school day, so I just can't see why parents wouldn't insist on their child receiving services that would really help his self confidence.

 

[MichelleVW]

I cannot understand why you wouldn't give the child speech therapy. Even if he may "grow out of it", therapy would definitely help speed the process along.

.

My thoughts exactly. Speech therapy is easy and most of the time fun for the child, I don't know why anyone would wait on something that is so easy to correct. The earlier you do it, the easier it is to correct.

 

[jen0610]

Both my kids had it thru the school systems. One way we reinfored what they were learning, was by playing punch buggy with them in the car. If they called out red, green, or yellow wrong, they didn't get the car. Took a long time for either of them to not call it lellow.

A lot of DD's issues were her mimicking DS.

 

[perdidochas]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with this (I bet there are plenty). My nephew has some speech issues. He's 6 1/2 and all of his "L" and "R" sounds come out like "W". Also, his "th" sounds like "fw" (as in the number "fwee"). His teachers at school have been telling his parents that they shouldn't be worried and that he may grow out of it. It's a very VERY pronounced speech issue.

Has anyone had a child with a speech problem like this that has just "grown out of it"? Or was speech therapy eventually required?

My oldest son had speech therapy. It was a good thing, and he got out of it after a few years. I'd recommend testing. He liked going to speech.

 

[tink20]

At 6 1/2 I am not sure how much he can outgrow it or he may just have lazy speech. I can tell you with my ds, now almost 13, he had about 6 years of speech, with a private doctor, twice a week due to lazy speech and stuttering (which, thank goodness is now all gone).
My ds was about 3 when he started adn about 10 or so when he stopped. If I were the parents, I would have him evaluated and definately send him to therapy. It can only help and as they start getting bigger, kids can also become not too nice and make fun of his impediment.
Are you nephews parents waiting to a certain age to see if it goes away?
Good luck.

Oh, this gives me hope. My DS has been stuttering since 3-1/2 and still does (he is 9). He will slow down and not stutter in structured speech. But, when he is just talking and excited he still has a bad stutter. He has been in speech since he was 4. Some kids made fun of him in 1st grade, but last year and this year noone has (as far as I know). He goes to a Christian school, and his teachers and principal told me that they would not allow someone to make fun of him. But, I do still worry.

 

[simpilotswife]

A teacher is NOT a trained speech therapist.

Have his parents request a speech evaluation in writing from the school district. By law, the school district must perform a speech evaluation and provide speech therapy if necessary.

 

[fun4me]

I think it is better to get into ST earlier than later. My middle son needed speech therapy but I too waited for him to outgrow it. When he was in 2nd grade the teacher(private school) suggested I go through the public school to get therapy. He is now in 7th grade and finally was able to meet his goals and no longer need ST. I really wish I had started him sooner.

My Youngest son was late to talk and I got right on it and had him tested at 3, when he was eligible through the public school. He is getting close to meeting his goals and is in 1st grade now.

My boys both loved their ST and had fun going to ST. I am so thankful for the teacher that suggested my son get ST in second grade. I wished someone would have encouraged me to do it sooner.

 

[shortbun]

My son had speech problems at that age and I took him to a therapists who took care of it, quickly. DS loved his therapist and it was painless. At 3, I was willing to allow him to 'grow out of it' but by 6, I decided to be proactive. I was concerned about bullying and his being able to sucessfully communicate in class.

 

[pacrosby]

ok...speech pathologist here

Continuing to substitute/distort the sounds you named is still not completely out of line developmentally at his age although it is at the tail end. Chances are very good that he will grow out of it....the test is to see if he 'can' make them on cue. Chances are that he's not the only child in his class still making a few of these specific speech errors so it isn't generally going to be a social issue.

Truth is (and this probably isn't going to make me popular) there is a great deal of unnecessary speech therapy going on (I worked for over 15 years and saw it all the time). The overwhelming majority of preschoolers would in fact just grow out of their speech errors if they were just given time. Speech therapy, which is generally provided no more than once or twice a week for 45 minutes or so, rarely is the magic many think it is. Often times the improvement is the result of development kicking in and has little to nothing to do with the therapy. And school therapy???? Even the most concientious and talented of speech therapists can only do so much with a group of children in 30 minutes. Think about it.......when you divide that 30 minutes by the number of children in the group, exactly how many minutes of instruction/practice is each child getting? And practice is the key. It's not a 'concept' that needs to be taught and understood. It's a motor skill and requires practice practice practice until it becomes automatic (unless of course, it's strictly developmental...then, like I said, it just kicks in when it kicks in).

And to the poster who asked about stuttering.....stuttering/stammering is a developmental stage that is not uncommon at about 3-4 yrs of age. It will generally disappear as suddenly as it appeared. The key? Ignore it

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

When I was younger I had a problem saying my R's. It got to the point where I would answer a math question incorrectly if I knew the answer was 4, because I would rather get the answer wrong than be laughed at for saying the word 4 incorrectly.

My mom did have me in speech therapy probably about the year I started kindergarten, I went to a school therapist and an outside therapist, the outside therapist was muuuuch better than the in school one.

I think I attended the therapist until I was about 7 or 8 and eventually my speech problems did clear up and I say my R's normally now.

and grow out of it? maybe...but why wouldn't you help them by sending them to a therapist? Having speech problems was horribly embarrassing and traumatizing for me when I was younger, give em all the help you can.

 

[MichelleVW]

ok...speech pathologist here

Continuing to substitute/distort the sounds you named is still not completely out of line developmentally at his age although it is at the tail end. Chances are very good that he will grow out of it....the test is to see if he 'can' make them on cue. Chances are that he's not the only child in his class still making a few of these specific speech errors so it isn't generally going to be a social issue.

Truth is (and this probably isn't going to make me popular) there is a great deal of unnecessary speech therapy going on (I worked for over 15 years and saw it all the time). The overwhelming majority of preschoolers would in fact just grow out of their speech errors if they were just given time. Speech therapy, which is generally provided no more than once or twice a week for 45 minutes or so, rarely is the magic many think it is. Often times the improvement is the result of development kicking in and has little to nothing to do with the therapy. And school therapy???? Even the most concientious and talented of speech therapists can only do so much with a group of children in 30 minutes. Think about it.......when you divide that 30 minutes by the number of children in the group, exactly how many minutes of instruction/practice is each child getting?

And to the poster who asked about stuttering.....stuttering/stammering is a developmental stage that is not uncommon at about 3-4 yrs of age. It will generally disappear as suddenly as it appeared. The key? Ignore it

What school therapy has a group of children? My DD was in there by herself, or maybe with one other child. I just can't see speech therapy as unnecessary....it does no harm and it can and does help.

 

[pacrosby]

I just wanted to add that if a child is self-concious or is really having difficulty being understood then, developmental or not, speech therapy services are advisable. HOWEVER......if a parent really expects the therapy to make the difference they need to be committed to a daily home program or else they are wasting their time. Again, it's not magic. An hour a week only, with no practice and reinforcement by parent/teacher during the rest of the time will do absolutely NOTHING no matter how fabulous the therapist is.


Just for the record......L, R, TH, and S are the often the very last of the sounds to be mastered and are quite commonly misarticulated in a K classroom (with a few persisting into 1st grade)

 

[pacrosby]

What school therapy has a group of children? My DD was in there by herself, or maybe with one other child. I just can't see speech therapy as unnecessary....it does no harm and it can and does help.

I knew I'd be unpopular

School therapists do indeed often work with groups of 3-4 kids at a time (in some districts the group size can be larger). If your dd was seen individually then consider yourself very lucky.

As far as it doing no harm..........of course not but if my child could be spending that time in the classroom, that's where I'd rather have him/her. And private services for developmental speech issues are often not covered by insurance. I don't know about you but a 300 dollar evaluation followed by months of speech therapy services that can cost 70 bucks an hours? For something that really isn't 'necessary'? I can think of better things to do with that money LOL

As far as it helping........sometimes yes. Often (when speaking about developmental errors only), no...........especially if there is no home program involved.