at what age would you worry about speech issues?

[earthmother]

my daughter is only 3 but cannot say about 15 sounds of the alphabet including hard sounds. With our other children, we were able to work with them and they would eventually get the sounds, but she can't seem to get them no matter what. Generally things like l's and s's are hard to say but someone said hard sounds are sometimes a warning flag. suggestions?

[momtoboys]

Hmm. . I think each child is different. I also think you as a mom will know if your child needs help. My boys didn't talk until 2.5 years, but then it was complete sentences.

[Haiku]

When my son was three we had his speech evaluated. He could not make 13 of the 44 phonemes in English. His speech was nearly unintelligible because of it. Our son turned out to have some hearing problems that were contributing to, but not the sole cause, of his speech issues. He has been in and out of speech for four years and still has some speech issues. If you are concerned about your daughter, I think you should get her evaluated.

 

Tara

[grace'smom]

You can go to your local school and request a speech eval. I did that for my daughter and they checked her hearing as well as her speech. She now gets speech services and I have the solace of knowing she really DOES hear me when I ask her pick up her toys, LOL.

[LittleIzumi]

Dd had speech issues (could only make vowel sounds, no babbling, no comprehension at 17 months) and it turned out to be a combo of 1) hearing issue that we resolved and 2) sensory processing issues that she received OT and developmental therapy for. After 5 or 6 months of therapy and getting the hearing issue taken care of (wax buildup that was hiding the fact that she had at least one 100% symptomless double ear infection!!! at the time of the flushing, and who knows how many before that, and had fluid in her ears when we had no idea, doc couldn't see the infection at all before the flushing, etc), she started catching up like crazy.

[earthmother]

thanks for your input. Her speech is advanced in terms of vocabulary. She spoke in complete sentences right before she turned two but she is unintelligible to anyone but us. I too thought of hearing issues. thanks again all!

[Spy Car]

I know nothing about this, other than a good friend had similar issues when her son was young. She was tenacious in finding the root cause, which in her son's case turned out to be called "apraxia."

 

His speech was quite limited, and his behavior reflected his "frustration". But early intervention and therapy made all the difference in the world. Today, (he is 7) a person would be challenged to discern any impediment in his speech. And he's a happy and social child.

 

In his case treatment made all the difference in his life and in his future.

 

Best wishes.

 

Bill

[Avila]

Just agreeing with the advice. My middle DD had articulation issues, and although they were severe, they were not severe enough to qualify for treatment through our local school district. I was finally able to receive help for her this past year, and I really wish I had pushed harder sooner, and I wish I had pursued at least the evaluation with someone other than our school district.

 

I would highly recommend an evaluation with an independent group, either through a children's hospital or an independent speech pathology group or clinic. You can often get a referral list from your insurance company or children's hospital, and even if your policy doesn't cover the therapy, it will often cover the evaluation. I highly recommend a full evaluation that includes audiology, and not just a screening. We ended up using a clinic at a local university, and it is very good and fairly low-cost.

 

My feeling is that if you are worried enough to ask, you are worried enough to get the evaluation.

 

Best wishes!

[ChristusG]

It never hurts to get an evaluation. Our DD was 20 months and not forming any words, only babbling. We had her evaluated and sure enough, she needed therapy. Five years old and still in therapy now too.

[gingersmom]

The sooner you get evaluated and treated, the sooner and easier it is to resolve any speech/articulation issues.

 

I highly recommend going with a private speech pathologist. From personal experience there is a night/day difference from the services you will receive at a public school.

[mommyto3]

if nobody can understand her except family, I'd go for an evaluation. My last 2 kids both had speech therapy. When we took my son at around 3 - 3.5 yrs, I thought his only issue was not saying S at the beginning of words and that he lisped. Wow, was I wrong! After she pointed out the other problems, I was able to hear them, but I was so used to being able to understand him that I had missed them before. He was only understandable at about 25% to others at the time.

[ElizabethB]

Leap Frog letter talking letter factory DVD helped my son's speech, you could give that a try.

[HayesW]

I had a child like yours. She spoke in complete sentences early, spoke early, period. At age 3, no one could really understand her, but us, even though she had a HUGE vocaublary. DH and I went away for a few days, and when we got back, even I had trouble understanding her.

 

WE had her evaluated at her preschool. The SLP was wonderful. She said all the issues were normal for a child her age. She completely outgrew everything shortly before her 6th birthday. I remember vivdly the day she said "Yellow."

 

I say have an eval done, just to be certain.

 

Oh, my little one is now 10 and smart as a whip with no speech problems at all!

[rwjx2khsmj]

I have two of my four in speech therapy. I knew we needed extra help when they had difficulty being understood by anyone other than me and because they expressed frustration at the lack of communication they experienced with others. Both my speech challege children are VERY verbal and have a great deal to say. Not being understood was a serious frustration from age 3 or so.

 

DD 10 has been in speech since 1st grade and has finally mastered the "r".

 

DS 7 is almost over the "s" and moving onto the "r".

 

Both talk all. the. time.

Edited November 12, 2009 by rwjx2khsmj

[LizzyBee]

If you are concerned, go ahead and have an evaluation. It will put your mind at ease if there isn't a problem, and allow treatment to begin if there is a problem.

 

My oldest spoke clearly from a very early age. When my middle child began speaking, people loved listening to her, but they couldn't understand her. They said it was like listening to a new language. I had no problem understanding her 95% of the time, and my oldest dd could interpret the other 5% of the time. With time, others could understand her, too. We did have her evaluated at age 5, but she only had problems with 4 or 5 sounds, plus a lateral lisp. The therapist told us what to do to help her with the lisp and said she'd outgrow the rest, so she never had therapy. Her speech is fine.

 

My youngest child only had a few words at age 2. Her dr thought we should have a speech eval, but I wasn't concerned at that age. When she turned 3, she was talking more, but no-one could understand her. Her sisters weren't interpreting for her because they couldn't understand her either. We had her evaluated, and her articulation was below the first percentile for girls her age. We found out later that she probably should have been diagnosed with apraxia, too, but by the time it was discussed, it was mostly remediated. She had therapy for 3 years, and she recently started therapy again because her scores have dropped back below the normal range. She is dyslexic, so I don't think her speech issues would have resolved without therapy.

[Crimson Wife]

My DS had major articulation issues at 2 1/2. According to his speech therapist, kids are supposed to be 50% intelligible to strangers at 2 and 75% by age 3. At 2 1/2, he was only about 30% intelligible. He improved some on his own while we were on the waitlist for therapy and made tremendous progress in a year of therapy. So much so that he now tests only slightly below average for speech & language (about the 40th percentile).