RachelFlores Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 My dd is 5, she has perfect hearing based on the basic tonal hearing tests dr. offices give children, but she is always misponouncing words. She usually doesn't mispronounce common words, but words she hears occasionally. So I would figure, it's no big deal, she just isn't familliar with that word. BUT when I try to correct her she cannot seem to hear the difference between what I am saying and what she is saying (and she really is trying). Telling her the letters she is misponouncing and what the correct ones should be helps more that saying the actual word, even when I ponounce it slowly. She also has a lot of trouble with new words that have been introduced orally. I've been trying to teach her some basic Spanish vocab and her ponounciation is often totally off even after a lot of practicing. It seriously feels like she can't tell the difference in what she is saying and what she is hearing. Now that she is sounding out words herself and writing them I am noticing this even more. Things I thought she was saying correctly are actually being ponounced wrong based on her spelling choices. Her speech seems fairly normal but obviously I am missing something if I can't always tell if she is mispronouncing a word or not. Should I look into getting her evaluated? If so, by what kind of expert? Is this a hearing problem or a processing problem or is this just something that a young child might grow out of? I'm so new to all of this any advice would be apreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shellydon Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Can you provide a couple of examples of specific words? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Does she fix the problem when given the word written correctly? At that age, my daughter made a few mistakes but would fix them when shown how to spell them, she could not fix them when told orally. But, it was only an occasional word here and there, and the problem completely went away by the time she was 6 after she had been reading for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelFlores Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Can you provide a couple of examples of specific words? Just tonight she was using the word "apropriate", but she kept saying "aprofriate". Even when I tried to correct her orally and then by telling her "you are saying it with an F and you should say it with a P" she couldn't say it correctly. I am trying to remember some of the spanish mispronounciations, they are the worst. "Nia" for nina, her numbers are awful, but I can remember the exact mispronounciations. I will write them down next time I have her count. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelFlores Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Does she fix the problem when given the word written correctly? At that age, my daughter made a few mistakes but would fix them when shown how to spell them, she could not fix them when told orally. But, it was only an occasional word here and there, and the problem completely went away by the time she was 6 after she had been reading for a while. When it is a word she can read it does help, but she is a beginning reader and can't read many of the words she mispronounces. It is good to hear that this may be something she will grow out of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 When it is a word she can read it does help, but she is a beginning reader and can't read many of the words she mispronounces. It is good to hear that this may be something she will grow out of. I would keep an eye on it. Also, if you divide words into syllables, that can help. My daughter could read a-pro-pri-ate when I divided it up for her by the end of K. (I taught her with syllables with Webster's Speller.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiffanieh Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I'm no doctor by any means, but, she "may" have and auditory processing problem. My son does and we finally got it diagnosed by an audiologist this year. He's 9. Perfect hearing, that's not the issue with auditory processing challenges. The problem though is that most audiologists won't test for this until 7 years of age. You could get her evaluated by a speech therapist and they could probably give you an indication if this is the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upstatemamma Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Actually, it is most likely her language development but it is normal. Our hearing of specific sounds does not fully develop until 8 and it can cause children to mispronounce (and misspell) words. My son is six and we have had the same thing happen around here. We met with a speech therapist and were told it was perfectly normal. Is it specific sounds? Do you know which ones? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 Also, with the Spanish words, you should be able to write them out and divide them up with no problems, since Spanish is so regular. An occasional divided English word will still not be helpful for a beginning reader if it is too irregular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texasmama Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 This doesn't raise any red flags for me. All of my kids have mispronounced words at this age. My oldest couldn't say breakfast until a friend helped her to learn it when she was in kindergarten. She pronounced it breftast no matter what I did. My youngest child, who is five now, makes similar errors. My three oldest kids all grew out of this. Sometimes something like this can be the first sign of a problem, but most of the time it is developmental and will pass on its own without intervention. That said, I am a believer in utilizing evaluations if you are concerned. A speech therapist would be a good place to start if you remain concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxing Hare Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I would recommend an evaluation. The school districts in TX (youngest son) and GA (oldest son, dd) both evaluated my kids at no charge. They were each 4 years old at the time. The boys each needed speech therapy for two years, which was also provided through the schools. If it makes you worry, why not get him evaluated? Then you get him help, or have peace about it. It can be hard to tell when your child needs help, because you understand him since you're always with him. A good flag is when strangers can't understand him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celia Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 I distinctly remember being a child and my brothers continually repeating a word trying to get me to say it right, and I thought they were nuts because I was certain I was saying the same thing! It's a bit of a different situation, as my trouble was pronouncing l's and r's, but I do sympathise with her not being able to hear the difference! I grew out of my troubles when I was about 8ish. Until then, they called me "Bugs", like Bugs Bunny, that wascawy wabbit! Anyways, I have no good advice for you, because in your shoes I would ask the same question! My kids still mispronouce words. My 6yr old always says brefakst instead of breakfast, and my 4.5yr old mucks up several common ones, like hospital and spaghetti. I hope you get several helpful responses! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grace'smom Posted February 27, 2011 Share Posted February 27, 2011 My daughter has an auditory processing "delay" as they call it at her age. Earobics really helped, and studying phonics/spelling has helped a great deal as well. I've figured out which individual sounds she cannot say so it is not surprising when she mispronounces certain words using those sounds. There's a list somewhere of the different ages at which they should be able to pronounce all the sounds- I believe you have until age 7 before they may be able to do all the sounds properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RachelFlores Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 Thank you everyone for your posts. I think I will keep any eye on it for the next year or two and if it continues I will get her tested. It is good to know that this is fairly normal developmentally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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