Speech Issues, will my child grow out of it w/o therapy?

[MommyInTraining]

My 1st born had speech issues and we put her in speech therapy and then pulled her out because I didn't like the feeling that they were trying to "label" her. She grew out of it and now speaks fine. My 2nd child, ds, also had issues and I just assumed he would grow out of it. All of my children seem to have language issues. I remember having to go to speech therapy in elementary school. So, back to my son, he is 7 and still not speaking clearly. His L's and ER's, are what I can think of right off. I am still struggling to teach him reading and math. I am just hoping that he is slow to mature and this is all going to work it self out.

 

So, can you tell me, did you have a child that had troubles with speech and they grew out of it without any therapy?

 

Thanks!

[jacqui in mo]

I'm a speech therapist and if your ds is seven, then he is getting a little old to just "grow out" of difficulties. Seven/eight is the age when most children have developed the L & R sounds. If there are other sounds/issues involved than just those then it probably ought to be addressed. How well can people outside the family understand him? Did your dd have exactly the same type issues? When did she grow out of it? If you're having struggles working on reading & math that is also a red flag. I know you wanted to hear from people who's child grew out of problems, but my professional perspective made me want to put in my 2 cents:D. It will gets harder to work on speech sounds for the child as they get older. It's like missing a window of cognitive development time for speech. If your ds has a combination of difficulties (speech, reading, math) that also makes me think of Learning Disability. You sound like you don't want your son to be "labeled" but if you have him tested you might have a clearer understanding of what you're struggling with & find better techniques to work with your son.

 

I have a nephew who is 19 or 20 now who still does not say good R sounds & has some voice/speech issues that concern me. As a child he lived pretty far from me so I didn't see the problem and urge my SIL to get ST or work with him. (He's homeschooled as well) He came to visit us last Thanksgiving & now I'm just hoping that maybe he'll take a speech class in college that might get him to focus on how he speaks.

 

HTH

Jacqui

[Pamela H in Texas]

My son did not just grow out of it. We've been doing the speech thing for awhile. It's an ongoing process. I wish we would have followed through better when he was much younger. It's much harder at 13 (only letter left is R though S is sometimes fuzzy).

 

However, my friend's daughter, at 9 sounded like she was from somewhere else (regarding R sounds). And yet, at 15, talks just fine.

 

I just don't think I'd risk it though.

[Carrie12345]

I received speech therapy for slurred S's when I was about 6 or 7. I think it was less than a year. Today, I don't exactly sound like Cindy Brady, but I most definitely continue to slur my S's slightly. More than slightly when I'm tired.

 

A friend of mine was also in ST around the same time, for R's and L's. His therapy was a bit longer, but not nearly long enough. At 33, he sounds exactly like he did when we were little. As does another friend of mine who never received ST.

 

I'm sure some kids do grow out of it, but that isn't a risk I would personally take. Not at that age.

[abbeyej]

Haven't you met older kids, teens and adults with obvious speech problems? There are many people who don't simply "outgrow" these things.

 

Now it might be possible to work with him at home on certain sounds (especially if the child is now *capable* of saying the sound, but has just become habituated to the old, incorrect sound), but if that simply isn't happening (there are so *many* things to do in our worlds! and some just get pushed to the sides), or if it doesn't appear to be helping, I'd look for professional help. Speech issues can seem precious coming from little ones, but the can be real obstacles to older kids and adults in social and professional environments.

[Paintedlady]

My dd(8) didn't outgrow her speech problems and I currently have her in therapy. She definitely sounds better now that she's in therapy. I know many adults who have speech problems that they obviously never outgrew. I wouldn't delay to get him help. hth!

[Pongo]

My ds has horrible speech issues and so did his very close friend. I decided to get him started on speech, mostly because I have a deaf sister and if not for intensive speech therapy I don't think ANYONE would understand her.

 

My ds does not have hearing issues but, I decided anyways to catch it early, and if it is something that he would have naturally grown out of, no harm done there, so off to speech he went. After 2 years at home then 1 year through the school he speaks perfectly.

 

Now, for his friend. My df decided to wait and last year at 7 the kids were having a hard time understanding him, and if he gets excited it was worse. My husband who is his Sunday School teacher told her the class including himself were having a hard time understanding him. She decided to have him evaluated(even though I told her for 2 years) and he has been going 2x's a week for a year, with no change:001_huh:

His speech therapist had him go for an evaluation to see if he had a tear where the air passes through because she thought that it had to be something more to it. Well everything checked out fine, they had to chalk it up to some bad habits. He still goes 2x's a week, hopefully he'll have some progress.

[msjones]

If I were you, I'd get into a pediatrician pronto. My son's doctor said he'd grow out of his lisp -- to just wait a year.

 

Well, the year passed, and he was still lisping at age 8! Turns out, the insurance would only cover speech/language therapy until age 7. UGH! And the therapy sessions were going to be $150/hour. If we hadn't waited so long, insurance would have paid for the therapy. I had missed the chance at private speech therapy.

 

Soooo...I did the therapy myself. It worked! In about 6 weeks his lisp was diminishing, and after 3 months, it was truly gone. We've had no problems since then.

 

I don't know the websites anymore, but I found a LOT of help online. I also used to teach elementary school, so I had some idea of what the speech therapists did with my students who had articulation problems.

 

Obviously, I'm not trained in speech articulation therapy, so I probably made some mistakes, but it was better than nothing and much simpler and faster than getting therapy through the school district.

 

Maybe a speech therapist on this board could recommend some sites for teaching 'l' and 'r.'

[jacqui in mo]

There are some self help books for teaching individual sounds here: http://www.speechbooks.com/

However, if there's more going on than the L & R sounds I would still strongly suggest getting an evaluation at the very least. And especially so since there are struggles with math & reading,

[texascamps]

My sons have/had the R/L issue. My neighbor across the street is a speech therapist and she said they would probably grow out of it. By the time my older ds was 8/9 it really bothered him because he couldn't even say his name in a manner that people understood so he and I worked on it together and he fixed it himself. He was able to resolve it quickly on his own and has no evidence of a speech issue. My younger ds has the same issue plus he had others. The others have resolved themselves. I'm not sure how long I will let it go before I intervene.

 

I am reminded that my older ds has a friend the same age (12) who still has a very obvious r/l issue. However, I know his family life isn't all that grand and I wonder if the mom is all that involved in fixing it. I am a big believer that a mom or dad may have to take the first step.

[Kathy in MD]

My younger sister and my ds had far, far worse speech and language problems than I had as a child. Both my sister and ds received professional ST at an early age. My mom and dad helped me as a preschooler, but it wasn't until the 4th grade that I received any professional ST -- and it was limited.

 

Fast forward. My sister makes her living in communicating to others. She designs and tests adult training seminars for major corporations. She is great at selecting the right words and tone to get people eager to solve problems and work together. She can smooth over hurt feelings, yet be firm and make her displeasure known when she must without being offensive. She is very social and parties of all types don't bother her. Her old speech problems don't affect her ability to communicate and interact with others.

 

My 14 yo ds isn't nearly as good as my sister, but he can now participate easily in conversations. He also enjoys large groups of boys (not girls, yet ;) ). The noise and conversational give and take doesn't other him. Even more startling is that he helps me - the one with only minor speech problems - understand and pronounce sounds in English drills and Latin.

 

I had very, very little speech therapy, and what I had was over 40 years ago, so the techniques have improved a lot since then. It wasn't until I turned 30 years old that I finally became comfortable in English -- and English is my native language. It is the only language I even heard except for school-taught languages through high school. My friends and husband often had to help me pronounce difficult words. Social occasions with multiple conversations in the background were torture. I couldn't follow the conversation I was involved in. I often couldn't get witty comments out without stumbling. Even walking and talking with only two friends could be a problem at times.

 

My advice, don't wait any longer. Speech problems affect the individual's interaction with other people far more than parents realize. It can embaress the individual, isolate the individual and affect his career and career choices. Don't wait!

[flyingmommy]

My sister needed intensive speech therapy as a child. Unfortunately, she only got what the public schools offered. That was many years ago and it was woefully inadequate. As an adult, she is extremely difficult to understand. She does not articulate. As one of her friends puts it, "She sounds like her mouth is full of marbles."

 

Also, no one worked with her at home. She pronounced "glue" as "blue" till she was about ten.

 

I know how hard it is for my sister to communicate effectively with people. If she'd had more intensive therapy or my parents had pushed more, she would probably have responded and progressed so much more. My sister is not the sharpest knife in the drawer anyway, but she comes across as much less intelligent than she is due to her speech issues.

 

In light of that I would think the sooner you get therapy for him the better.

 

Jeannie

[nutmeg]

Our daughter outgrew her issue without therapy, but I did informally consult with our next-door neighbor, a speech pathologist.