Quick question--What would they do in speech therapy for this?

[Chris in VA]

I babysit a 3yo girl who doesn't use an initial S sound. She does say the S sound in the middle and at the end of words, but NEVER in the beginning. "School" is "Cool," "story" is "tory," etc. 

It's been that way for about a year, I would estimate. 

 

So what is the remediation for that? I would think it'd be more than "time and development," but I don't know. 

 

Any experience or knowledge about this speech issue?

[Jacbeaumont]

Well. How about words that don't have a blend or digraph? Sam? Sun?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Jacbeaumont]

How does she do with words that don't have a blend or digraph? Sam? Sun?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited November 24, 2017 by Jacbeaumont

[Chris in VA]

No s whatsoever, even without a digraph.

[popmom]

This is one of those things that as a parent I would bring up to the pediatrician. I think she is old enough to be referred to the early intervention program in the local school system. My pediatrician referred my dd as a preschooler for stuttering. At the time the slp didn't feel like she was severe enough to qualify for services, so my experience wasn't very positive. (She ended up with an IEP in public kindergarten). Anyway, getting referred to early intervention at least gets you ( I should say, the parents) a free eval, so nothing to lose really.

Edited November 26, 2017 by stephensgirls

[Nart]

When my son had articulation problems I found this website from a speech therapist from Australia. It has a ton of information. Many of the exercises on the website were quite similar to the ones the speech therapist used with him. Here is a link. Scroll down for /s/ exercises including for kids who don't pronounce the initial /s/ sound.

https://www.speech-language-therapy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37:consonants&catid=9:resources&Itemid=117

[desertstrawberry5]

Say the word back to her-not correcting, just responding-with heavy empashasis on the missing sound. "SSSSam?" "Sssschool?" 

[Crimson Wife]

"Cluster reduction" (dropping 1 or more initial consonants of a cluster) is considered developmentally normal until 4 years 0 mos.

 

Initial consonant deletion is not part of typical development.

 

Now /s/ is one of the later developing consonants (75% of children master it by 5 years 0 mos. and 90% by 7 years 0 mos.) so it is fairly common to substitute a different consonant for the one the child is missing. "Fronting" is the most common (substituting a /t/ or /d/ for /s/) and is considered developmentally normal until 5 years 0 mos. 

 

So my answer to whether the child should be assessed  by a SLP depends on whether the child is substituting a different consonant for the initial /s/ (developmentally normal for a 3 y.o.) vs. deleting it entirely (not normal). 

[Chris in VA]

"Cluster reduction" (dropping 1 or more initial consonants of a cluster) is considered developmentally normal until 4 years 0 mos.

 

Initial consonant deletion is not part of typical development.

 

Now /s/ is one of the later developing consonants (75% of children master it by 5 years 0 mos. and 90% by 7 years 0 mos.) so it is fairly common to substitute a different consonant for the one the child is missing. "Fronting" is the most common (substituting a /t/ or /d/ for /s/) and is considered developmentally normal until 5 years 0 mos. 

 

So my answer to whether the child should be assessed  by a SLP depends on whether the child is substituting a different consonant for the initial /s/ (developmentally normal for a 3 y.o.) vs. deleting it entirely (not normal). 

Interesting. As far as I can tell, she isn't substituting anything for the s, just leaving it off. 

 

Thx everyone. I will bring this up to her mom when I sit for her on Tuesday. I can do it casually. 

She also has some extra flexibility in her ankles and turns her foot inward, so she trips a lot. I'm hoping that can be remediated, too. Mom is preg and due in late December, so I'm hoping they can get the ball rolling before that. But...IDK. Not my kid.