Speech (PIOG)

[RedBlaze]

I have a 3 y/o that a lot of people including his dad and sibilings and grandparents have trouble understanding sometimes, I understand 99% of what he says and sometimes has to translate. I had him speech evaluated when he was 2 and told he was fine. I won't have him reevaluated bc he is 3 and now would have to go into PS and that is not happening. My Growing Child books say he is fine that it's between 3 and 5 that they get the sounds right. Is there anything I can do to work with him on it?

[KickButtMama]

Enunciation is the art of speaking each sound clearly. And it totally relies upon the fine motor skills of the tongue and mouth. We did baby sign and ASL (american sign language) when my kids were small and that helped them in their language development, but my 5 y/o still has trouble with a few sounds (like the 'y' in 'yellow' when he sayes it it sounds like 'lellow')

My suggestion is to think about the fine motor skills required to make certian sounds. The cheeks have to squeeze to make a 'eee' sound, the tongue has to squeeze between the front teeth to make a 'th' sound, the tongue has to pull back within the mouth to make an 'rr' sound, etc. From there you can work these muscles in your everyday life (I suggest starting with twice a day, maybe before bed and when he wakes up?).

You can go "oo" - 'ee' which will purse the lips then pull the cheeks back.

then do "th" - 'rr' which will stick the tip of the tongue out then pull it back in the mouth.

finally do "ss" - "bb" making the bb sound like the sound of a horse, let the lips bounce a bit,

These are the harder lingual sounds in English (I went to a speach pathologist as a child because I had a thick German accent when I came to America and was picked on for it.)

Once your son get's used to these you can add in tongue twisters and rhymes. The hardest (one he'll have to work toward) is "Red Leather"

You chant - red leather, yellow leather. start slow then speed it up, you're trying to go as fast as you can without stuttering or sluring the words.

Hope these help!

[grass_tiger]

This is a very good speech therapy program for homeschoolers: Straight Talk

We don't understand 100% of what our four year old says and that is normal. Until they are eight years old, they aren't expected to be able to produce all the speech sounds correctly. But also, at least in our area (Illinois) the child can get a once-a-week 1/2 hour speech therapy session at the public school--they don't have to be enrolled to get free services. But, honestly, when my daughter was in early intervention she didn't get much help from the speech therapist. She made such rapid progress (was released from the program in about 6 months--went from not speaking more than about 10 words to being at age level) because my husband and I worked with her much of each day. It was a lot of effort and a lot of energy we didn't really have, but it really paid off. I really didn't find there was much they could do that a parent couldn't as long as the parent researched what needs to be done. That's where I think Straight Talk comes in and why I ordered it to use with my child even though she was released from speech therapy.

[RedBlaze]

Thank you! I'm going to order this!!!

Quoting grass_tiger:

This is a very good speech therapy program for homeschoolers: Straight Talk

We don't understand 100% of what our four year old says and that is normal. Until they are eight years old, they aren't expected to be able to produce all the speech sounds correctly. But also, at least in our area (Illinois) the child can get a once-a-week 1/2 hour speech therapy session at the public school--they don't have to be enrolled to get free services. But, honestly, when my daughter was in early intervention she didn't get much help from the speech therapist. She made such rapid progress (was released from the program in about 6 months--went from not speaking more than about 10 words to being at age level) because my husband and I worked with her much of each day. It was a lot of effort and a lot of energy we didn't really have, but it really paid off. I really didn't find there was much they could do that a parent couldn't as long as the parent researched what needs to be done. That's where I think Straight Talk comes in and why I ordered it to use with my child even though she was released from speech therapy.

[dawnnight]

LOL My DS is 3 and he has been in speech therapy for about a year. He still cant say some things. The funny one is when he tries to say "Swiper the sneaky fox" it sounds like Diaper the leaky lox. We just make him slow down and say it again and again and again. It will still be wrong, but we focus a little on the sounds he gets wrong and practice them. That is all I have ever been told, practice practice practice. Good work on trying to work with them at home and not relying on "the system" to do it for you.

[padavali]

We just had my DD evaluated, and I was told that by the age of 2.5 they should not need a 'translator" which I found crazy.  I was told this because at times, I still need to translate for my DD.  One thing they did suggest, is when she mis-pronounces a word, lets say Leaf is weaf. say to them "Oh look at that beautiful LEAF" with stress on the L and then drop it. Don't drill the kids on the word.  They will eventually pick up on it.