32 Month Old's Speech Still Garbled

my son is 3.5 yrs old. and has good vocab, and can be understood most of the time. But often (usually when shy, or when busily playing) he seems to get lazy or something. he'll rush through words or phrases that he uses commonly, and doesnt take the time to really articulate his consonants. if i ask him to repeat it he will say it the right way. so i know he Knows the right way. there are still a few letters that he gets wrong consistently, but if i correct him he gets it and tries and gets it right (like useing a w sound instead of an l sound. or f sound for th. ie: "mama, fank you for my food, may i get down pwease?"

i think its ok. especially if she is meeting all other developmental markers.
:)

I have a 4 year old I still have tell to speak more clearly. Yes he can and he is perfectly fine, just lazy. Even his friend who is 4 that was speaking clearly at 18 months sometimes is hard to understand.

Great attention getter, isn't it? Nothing is wrong, she is just getting into a hurry and slushing her sounds. I wouldn't worry about it.

I was just about the only one who understood my 36 month old child at his third birthday. It was frustrating, but within just a few months, he began speaking more clearly. He's going to be 5 in December, and is a little genius now, he's reading, writing, and doing math, but I still have to correct him when he says his "L" and "R" sounds wrong. Some kids just talk later than others, and it bothers me that so many women on here are quick to jump and say "Oh, I'D be SOOOO worried!!" These moms are worried enough, like the one talking about her 23 month old in the very last post I read, without other moms voicing how truly concerned they'd be if it were their child and saying that they should go to specialists....come on. There are no cookie cutter milestones. As long as there are no apparent hearing problems, and they're developmentally fine in other areas, then they're just going to be slow talkers.

I also have a 3 year old whose speech is not clear. I am also very worried. Thinking of getting him speech therapy. Let me know what you decide.

Have you thought of having her checked for toungue tied. Reason I ask one of our grandson when he first started to talk spoke very clearly then all of a sudden started to stutter. We thought he was copying a cousin that he really liked. But when he started Preschool they suggested to have him checked by a dostor who said he was tounge tied, The area of the tounge that is connected underneath with some skin was excessive And he needed to see an oral surgeon. Yeras of therapy followed. He speaks fine now.

She might have a "lazy tongue" which can be caused by not having strong enough muscles in her tongue and mouth to pronounce words very clearly. I was just talking with my 5 yo's teacher and another parent about this. This is what they do, A) ask her to slow down b/c you can't understand her, B) say "oh you are using your lazy tongue again" and when you ask her to repeat, talk slowly so she can immitate how you move your mouth and tongue. My daughter's teacher daughter has a muscle condition that causes her lazy tongue and is 14 yo now, but her mom uses those techniques with her since she was a toddler. Hope that helps

Rather than agonizing over this for months (which is what I did before deciding to do an evaluation),I would HIGHLY recommend going for speech evaluation and do therapy, if necessary. Cost issues aside, WHAT'S THE HARM? You will get such a relief if everything checks out ok (which it really sounds like it is!). IF therapy is recommended, sessions are done in a very playful way (as is evaluation), your daughter will have a lot of fun. Even if something IS wrong, well at least you will get an early start on it, most speech disorders are correctable, this is not a verdict for life!

By the time a child is 3 years old, a stranger should be able to understand her speech 80% of the time. By age 4, it's 100% of the time. If that's not happening, then the child may need speech therapy for articulation issues. My son started speech therapy just after his 3rd birthday because he was understood about 25% of the time. After just 2 years, he was understood 100% of the time but still had difficulty with a couple sounds so he continued for another year (kindergarten). I never knew anything was wrong until close to his birthday because he was speeking 5-7 word sentences at 18 months old. He was just leaving off the endings of words and missing many sounds. Sometimes he was perfect... when he was slow and deliberet, but it was a struggle and totally depended on the sounds in those words in that particular sentence. In general, his brain was going faster than his mouth so everything came out garbled and he had to learn techniques to slow down.

First Steps goes until the 3rd birthday. Since your daughter is so close to that cut-off, it may not be worth it to get her evaluated and start the process for First Steps. You should call the local public school and ask who to talk with in the Early Childhood Development program. It's basically like First Steps but it's for kids ages 3-5 and run through the public school system. So for speech you'd take your child to a local elementary school for speech therapy. It's completely free, btw, unlike First Steps. (tax dollars at work). She may even qualify for the Early Childhood preschool which is a preschool class at a public elementary school with very highly trained teachers.

My daughter was the same way. At 3 yrs, just about the only one who could decipher what she was saying was her big sister. At 4 yrs, I took her for preschool and they screened her, they told me that she was just a little lazy and she would grow out of it, especailly when she was in a classroom full of kids and wanted to be understood. By the time she started kindergarten, I could understand what she was saying, but her pronunciation was still not correct with a lot of sounds. The speach teacher at her school told me that they would watch her, but it was all age appropriate and would probably go away on its own. Now she is in the first grade and her speach is fine. Some kids are just lazier about pronunciation than others. When she gets to the point where she needs to be understood, she'll straighten it up. My daughter needed to boss her friends around, and therefore needed to be understood!LOL You can call and have her evaluated, but don't be surprised if they say "she'll grow out of it."

A.,
Do not do the Help Me Grow Program....my son is also three and they tried to get me worried to the point I had him at Childrens for testing. Turns out he just wasn't ready to talk yet...and now he is talking more and more everyday. Our doctor told us if by 4 he is still not speaking clearly, then we can go for more testing. I think kids just do things on their own schedules regardless of what other parent's kids are doing and regardless of what any chart or book says!! Please just be patient and work with your child more everyday on reading more and more and showing him/her letters and words. Don't worry!! She will get it!

My friend's son is 4 years old and still does not speak clearly. He does get speech therapy through the preschool that he goes to and I can say that since he started preschool this year, his speech has gotten A LOT clearer. I think part of it is just that he wants his teacher and the other kids to understand him so he makes a great effort to speak clearer.

Could she be tongue(sp) tied?? I took my 3 yr old the the dentist in dec. of last year and they told me she was tongue tied. She was having trouble with some letters. I had to take her to another dentist and they just clipped it. Of course I was scared to death about it but they did it right in the office it wasn't a big deal. Now she has speech to help her with some different sounds.

A.:
My daughter's bday is 12-27-05, and I have some concerns about her speech - language is great, a lot of trouble with pronunciation though. I would advise you to call Ohio Help Me Grow at ###-###-#### - they will direct you to your county office. They will give you a free speech evaluation and recommend services if she needs them. Sometimes you can receive free speech therapy, other times you have to pay for it. It is worth getting her evaluated to ease your mind, bcs. you certainly want to get her help if she needs it. Best of luck.

I still don't always understand my 4 1/2 year old daughter, but she is currently getting speech help at school. Sometimes it is just her being silly. She does have a developmental delay. It will improve. Maybe she needs evaluated for speech help.

J. R.

See the pediatrician and also have her hearing checked. She may need a speech therapist. She may NOT be stubborn or trying to be deliberately stubborn. She may have a hard time formulating sentances or expressing her ideas. It could be her personality. Some kids are talkers, other are not at all. I've seen this in more than one family setting.

My sister-in-law's youngest daughter now in 7th grade still doesn't say much. But, she lights up around our dogs. Got any pets or children in the neighborhood she can interact with and talk to without the pressure?

How about singing songs and teaching her some preschool nursery rhymes? Get some kiddie music CD's and make these songs and nursery rhymes fun for her. I took my kids to library story time. Ask her what the librarian talked about and the book that was discussed. These situations could help her develop her verbal skills.

Be positive with your daughter and encourage her to talk and express her ideas in a POSITIVE manner. You may have to ask her questions to get a response. Make her feel important. Make her feel what she has to say is important. Good Luck.

My daughter (now 9yo) was the same way. She has taken speech (only during school) since 1st grade. She now just goes a couple weeks at the beginning of school for a refresher course.

Hello, I just answered the one just above your letter. I won't go into it as much but our grandson did not speak a word until he was about five. His parents got a divorce when he was around 2 and we don't know if that is why he didn't talk. Anyway his mother bought a childs tape recorder and let him play it when ever he wanted to. One day as he was sitting on the floor listening to it he mocked what the tape recorder was playing. That was the most wonderful sound. You might try getting a childs tape recorder and just let your little one listen to it. Our grandson now is in Iraq and a Specialist in Mechanics in the Army National Guards

I have never done this before but I am a very proud grandmother of a daughter, and two sons. We have two grandson's and two grand daughters. So Happy kathyP

She seems normal for the age. Adding that many words to her vocabulary is promising. Have you heard of the Help Me Grow program? My son started with them when he was 2 and it not only helped him with his speech, but socialization, learning skills etc. At age 3 they usually go to a higher program, but starting with infancy is promoted.
The speech and sentenances improves after 3.