F, V, S

I babysat a 3-y/o that had a speech problem similar to that. Part of his problem was that his parents enabled him not to say full words. [They talked "baby talk" to him even after he should have been speaking more normally - for instance, they thought it was cute that he called a lawn mower a "maw mo'er" when he first started talking, so that's what they called it even at 3 y/o and that's what he thought it was! When I started babysitting, I called things by their actual names, and his speech improved.] Another part of his problem was that he had had multiple ear infections that temporarily damaged his hearing so that he wasn't hearing well, and therefore wasn't hearing/understanding all the sounds, so couldn't reproduce them.

When I started babysitting him, he was in speech therapy, but to be honest, I think the main improvement in his speech was talking to him and interacting with him at a more advanced level -- instead of me talking baby-talk to him, I spoke to him using real words, and had him repeat them after me quite frequently. [And his parents sort of picked up on that too, which I'm sure helped since they were with him more than I was. It was almost as if they didn't realize how they were enabling him to continue in baby-babble until I was in their home *not* doing it.]

One thing you can do, that helped this boy and also my own kids when they were little and still trying to figure out how to say all the sounds fluently, is to exaggerate the sounds -- Ssssssssssam, fffffffffffffffffish, etc. - and have your son repeat after you.

My son is 3 and he can say all those sounds. He can not say the TH sound, the R or the L sounds when they are at the beginning of the word. Like Robert is Wobert but water is water. You son probably should be able to make those sounds you are mentioning. You may want to discuss this with your pediatrician or speech therapist. It falls under catagory of articulation and is not considered a delay.

When my daughter was 3, we did a pre-school evaluation. I was also concerned about her speech. They noticed a few things, and referred her on to a speech therapist for a full evaluation.

During that evaluation, the therapist did mention that certain sounds tend to come later, and they don't usually worry about some sounds until certain ages. There were a couple she was having problems with, but she was very willing to repeat herself to try to make herself clearer, so she didn't see a need at that time for speech therapy. When a child WON'T repeat themselves when you ask, that is a concern, because it shows that they may be giving up and don't want to try again to do it better.

I don't remember what sounds those were (that was in about 1989... a LONG time ago...), but hope this reassures you.

At any rate, you might want to ask the school district for a speech evaluation. There may be some assistance through ECI...

General Guideline for Sound Production

3-4 years: p, b, m, w, h and all vowels
5-6 years: d, t, n, g, k, f, y, ng
7-8 years: r, l, s, ch, sh, z, j, v, th, sh

I got this off a web site, you can google it and see if all web sites agree. I know in my school they dont usually provide speech therapy for articulation until the child is 6 unless the child really cannot communicate with others

He is probably fine. But you can get a free speech evaluation from your local early childhood intervention program for children 0-3 years of age.

Where i live at 3 they can get evaluated by the school district and be given free therapy if its needed (even though they are only in preschool). He may not have enough articulation problems to qualify for help. But....if he doesnt get help it can turn into a habit of saying his words this way. You can help him daily by making a game and showing him how to make the sound. S is teeth closed & tongue touching roof of mouth behind teeth and blow out. So do something like you both play with a toy snake while you make the sound. F is push in bottom lip and gently press top teeth down on it and blow out. You can put cotton balls on a table and make that sound. Use the air from the f sound to race the cotton balls. Or have him say fun, fun, fun and play a game he likes. Hope this helps. My boys have articulation problems and at 3 they said they didnt need service but by 4 they were really behind and its hard to break speech habits sometimes.

not totally abnormal but i would talk to the doctor about it