When to worry about speech?

[loeylo]

My dd is 2 next month. There are a few things which are worrying me, which I'm sure are normal. My new health visitor is rubbish so I haven't asked her yet, and I don't know when we next get an appointment to check her development. We haven't seen anyone since she was about 6 months old, and even then it was only because I asked to be seen due to her allergies.

Anyway, she seems to have a great understanding of language - she follows instructions well (when it suits her!) such as "put your socks on" or if I ask her to go get something.

Some words she can say very clearly, such as "shoes" and "juice" - words which are quite complex but she uses every day. She's just pointed at my flowers, sniffed the air and said "mummy's flowers"

What I'm worried about is her pronunciations. She never uses the initial consonants on most words. So "Gracie's bricks" is "acies icks" "bad" and "sad" sound the same except the tone.

At what stage should I seek help for poor pronunciation? My sister had speech therapy when she was younger and I notice a lot of similar patterns, which is why I'm asking.

 

[CRWx]

I don’t have any advice RE seeking help but I work in a nursery and our eldest kids in my room are 2 and I see this quite a lot, thought that might be a bit reassuring!

 

[loeylo]

Thanks, that is reassuring!

None of our friends have kids (they are all really career focused or party focused despite being nearly 30!) and the youngest kid in my family is in their 20s, my OH has two nieces who are 8 and 12 but SIL is really laid back so I feel like I've not really got anyone to go to for "norms" things as the ladies at work can be quite condescending

 

[CRWx]

Definitely! Willow does it too with some words although I know she’s a bit younger than Gracie so not sure how helpful that is (Willow is ‘illow’ or ‘low’/quack quack is sometimes ack ack etc). But I honestly think it is very common at least from what I’ve found, 2 is still so little as well, so hard not to be concerned though isn’t it- especially when they don’t come with a manual and speech is so diverse in children! Sounds like her speech is good otherwise though and her understanding sounds fab Keep and an eye on it and if you feel like something is off I’d mention it to HV or maybe even the GP?

 

[Rainbow82]

DS is 2.4 and at 2 was still dropping a lot of those sounds but is doing it much less now so I think it's still age appropriate at that age. A lot of his nursery friends are still doing it at two and a half but none of the three year olds in his room are doing it so I would guess it develops between two and three. X started getting better at pronunciation around the time his vocabulary exploded.

 

[minties]

It sounds very normal to me, it's been a while since I had a 2 year old, but you only have to watch a few youtube family vlogs to see LOTS of 2 year olds do it.

 

[LoraLoo]

Id say totally normal too, all mine have done this. Alice is 3 and although she no longer drops the initial letter, she still does at times in mid word (Cait-yn instead of Caitlyn for eg)

 

[_Meep_]

My first didn't drop initial letters but plenty of ending sounds. Aged 3 now she has an incredible vocabulary and speaks like a 4 year old, at least. I don't think you should worry at all.

 

[sequeena]

My son has speech problems which were caught early at 17 months - but only because he was behind in everything not just speech. Now at 6 years old he has a speech disorder and has therapy every week.

What you've said about her understanding is brilliant, and kids will tend to drop the beginning of words when they are young. I don't think you have anything to worry about right now

 

[adrie]

My daughter will be 4 October 20 and her pronunciation is still not 100% correct. There is a speech pathologist who goes to her pre-k and is starting to help her with certain consonants and combinations, but honestly, I'm not at all worried.

Your daughter sounds normal to me; I would use cards, talk about your day and surroundings, and have her look at you as you say certain words so she can see and try to mimic how to verbalize them. Watch for her development and see if it is lagging in a few months or so...they progress so fast, so no progression or regression is really what you have to look for.

A bit of a "delay" in one area is not really a concern from what I've looked into...are there other areas she is delayed in as well you are concerned about?

 

[SarahBear]

I was concerned about Leo's speech at that age too, but now at 2 and a half, certain sounds are just coming together. One example with Leo is that h and w are supposed to be early developing sounds, so when he wasn't using them, I was concerned. He's able to use them now. Some kids have trouble and will need speech therapy. Others are just slow but get there in the end. At this age it can be really hard to tell which one your kid is but chances are she's fine. When Leo was 2, I was told to seek help if he's still hard to understand at 2 years 9 months. Now that he's 2 years 6 months, I can see that that is good advice. So I'd say, try to put off your worry for at least another 9 months.

 

[jessmke]

My DD is just slightly younger, she will be 2 in December. She often eliminates the middle of a word, so "muffin" is "mu-in", "monster" is 'mo-ter".Her vocabulary is huge, but her pronunciation can be quite poor. Certain words she can say perfectly, like helicopter, exercise, and cucumber. But then she pronounces milk as "moot", banana is 'mana', date is 'deeps', and yoga is "eesh-ha". I can't figure out why she can say some words so well and then other more simpler words she gets so wrong! The ones she pronounces the poorest are the words she's been using the longest, the new words she learns she is able to pronounce much better. We're not worrying about it yet, but just trying to have her watch us when we say a word so she can try to mimic the way we say it.

 

[SarahBear]

My DD is just slightly younger, she will be 2 in December. She often eliminates the middle of a word, so "muffin" is "mu-in", "monster" is 'mo-ter".Her vocabulary is huge, but her pronunciation can be quite poor. Certain words she can say perfectly, like helicopter, exercise, and cucumber. But then she pronounces milk as "moot", banana is 'mana', date is 'deeps', and yoga is "eesh-ha". I can't figure out why she can say some words so well and then other more simpler words she gets so wrong! The ones she pronounces the poorest are the words she's been using the longest, the new words she learns she is able to pronounce much better. We're not worrying about it yet, but just trying to have her watch us when we say a word so she can try to mimic the way we say it.

The old words are habit and so her mispronunciation from when she couldn't say it, has stuck. When she learns a new word, she's able to say them up to her skill level because she doesn't have an established habit saying them wrong. Sounds like she's amazing with her pronunciation!

 

[loeylo]

Thanks very much everyone. I guess it is normal then.

 

[Babybum35]

Hi Lolo
My dd will be 2 in 6 weeks and like yours she drops letters or will make phrases one long word. Ie: there you are becomes theyea. We have a friend who has a dd who is also 2 in December but ahead verbally and even she will drop letters. So animals is nanimls I think pronunciation comes with time. I have found that as dd gets closer to 2 she likes reading more and will watch shows like super why. Honestly reading and going to toddler time has helped alot