Speech tips please

[SarahBear]

Leo was slow to start speaking but right around age two, he caught up on that 50 word minimum they look for. He also started putting two words together on occasion. However, his speech patterns seem a bit off to me. His speech also seems to hold back his language development. One thing I've started doing is coaching him more directly through saying certain words. Rather than simply modeling, I'm having him say things back to me. I'll also break the word down and have him say parts of words. I'll say the beginning sound and have him say it back. Then I'll say the rest of the word and have him say it back. Then I'll try to model both parts and have him repeat faster. Then I'll put them together and have him try it. I have found that after working on a word this way, he is able to put it all together better than through just listening to a model of the word.

There are certain sounds he doesn't use, but should be using:

• h (I've only heard him use it when imitating a dog panting.
• p at the beginning of a word
• w (He may say it in certain words, but mostly he doesn't use it)

He can say the p in isolation and at the end of words, but struggles to start words with it. So using the above strategy helps with this one. I have yet to successfully get him to say a word that starts with /h/. Horse often sounds like arse, actually... I've had him imitate "wooo" by telling him "ghosts say 'woooo!' You say it!" But that sound is also hard for him, especially at the beginning of a word.

Also, the longer something is, the more his intelligibility breaks down. He doesn't use two word phrases frequently. And when he does use phrases, they're usually adjective-noun, rather than including a verb. He usually uses verbs or nouns associated with a verb to make his point. For example, he'll point to himself and say "daddy" to mean "I'm going to Daddy." Or he'll hold up a book and say "daddy's" to mean that he'd like "daddy" to read it to him.

So, do you have any tips or strategies to help him along with his speech? He's too young to be evaluated and see an SLP, but I don't want to wait on helping him along.

Disclaimer: I'm not drilling him until he gets frustrated. I'm coaching him and he's happy to repeat. If I feel him getting frustrated, I back off. I also just work on one word with maybe 3 or 4 repetitions at a time and then move on with whatever the activity is.

Definitions:
Speech - How you say words
Language - How you use words and put them together

 

[Bex84]

He isnt to young to be seen by speech and language (i took my 2 year old to group sessions and he was assesesed recently, he was about 2 1/2) dont worry to much about certain sounds they are able to do induvidually but not in words, rather than get him to repeat for example they say I see the bu, you then say yes I see the bus. At this stage just keep modelling. There is dvds out called sookie and finn which are made by speech theropists which help with building sentences, I think we got off amazon. We do games with son like pick out the object. Name the animal etc. Ask hv to refer to speech theropist. They can do initual assesment. My son was one of the youngest but they were happy to catch problem early

 

[Bex84]

Just to add they are not unusual sounds to struggle with. I make sure I exagerate sound and show son the face movements, make sure they look at mouth. Getting them to look in mirror while say sound can help to.

 

[Bex84]

Ignore my tickers I need to change. My son was seen at 2 years and 3 months by speech theropist and started sessions at 2 years and 5 months I think.

 

[jd83]

I think the method you are using sounds pretty effective. I would give him some more time, as he was already a bit delayed getting started with words. Maybe reevaluate at the 2 1/2 yr age mark if he's made any more improvements. If he's still struggling quite a bit with those certain sounds, you can always request a referral at that point.

My boys both had issues with certain letter pronunciation, as well. Or complete lack of use of certain letters/blends. Jaxon was evaluated for speech at age 4 by the school system, and qualified for services. He had 2 years of speech therapy, and met all the goals to be discharged from the services at the end of kindergarten school year last year. Colton was evaluated at age 3, because he had what I thought were pretty much identical speech issues that we had been through with Jaxon. He was evaluated by a different school system after we moved last year, though, and apparently this school system has stricter standards for qualification for services because they already have a lot of students needing services. He didn't qualify. We just worked with him on our own, and I think he has corrected most of the speech/language issues now that he is nearly 5.