My son's speech is not clear........help please Post Reply

[newbiemom]

Hi all. When my 3 year old son speaks, his words are not clear, almost like he is slurring his speech. He used to be able to enunciate properly but as his vocabulary got bigger, I recently noticed I cannot understand him sometimes. He is going to be referred to a speech therapist via nursery but there is a long waiting list. What else should I be doing to help? I feel guilty as I am a full time working mom, and sometimes feel I should be spending more time with him.
On another note, does anyone have any recommendations for good starter tools to learn the alphabets and phonics. I have been concentrating on teaching him numbers and he is doing really well with that. Maybe I have ignored the alphabets and phonics? Thank you so much.

[FLH03]

Have you been to the GP? They can check him for various things and refer him to an ENT specialist. Glue ear is a very common problem in little ones, causing hearing and speech problems, and can be treated easily. My daughter spoke gobbledygook compared to her nursery friends, it turned out glue ear had reduced her hearing by 50% in both ears and she just could not work out the distinction between the sounds. Grommets and speech therapy completely sorted it all out.
Good luck, hope it works out for your little lad.

[jessknits]

Hi newbiemom,

Firstly, don't be too hard on yourself, I'm sure you're doing an amazing job at being a mum and working FT.

A friend's little one had the same issue at the poster above, her speech was behind her peers and they then discovered she had little to no hearing for the previous year due to glue ear.

I'm not sure if this is the same route you're going down with the nursery referred speech therapist, but I've seen Wandsworth Council advertise their speech and language team on their website and Twitter feed, for parents concerned about speech. The email address is wandsworthslt@nhs.net (if you're in Wworth - I guess other boroughs would have similar resources?)

A useful alphabet/ phonics toy we have (I say toy, as our little one has learnt the letters and sounds incidentally through repetitive play, rather than us forcing it on him)...is this:

http://www.leapfrog.com/en_gb/families/ ... onics.html

We actually have the earlier version which is magnetic and lives on the fridge (an Ebay find), but the newer version is mainly the same I think?

Anyway, wishing you all the best and hope this helps a little.

[MamaH]

We found it was quicker to get an appointment with the speech therapist through the GP surgery (via the health visitors actually, even though my son was five). This was on the recommendation of the school, who said it would be quicker. Took a month or two to get an appointment.

My son, mind you, was discharged on the grounds that while he was still not clear in some sounds, this is developmentally normal. He was utterly unable to make certain sounds until the summer we started to take action. Still, they would appear to have been right. I mention this because it *might* be nothing to worry about. I think you are doing the right thing in checking thing in checking though.

I think the advice about going to the GP to check for physical causes is good too.

Another thing to check out is the charity iCan, which is dedicated to helping kids with communication difficulties. I believe they have a helpline to get advice. http://www.ican.org.uk/

[Speechandlanguage]

Hello!

I saw your post and thought as a speech therapist you might like my input..

Before I see any little one for speech sound work I always recommend a hearing test, so you have been given some excellent advice. And yes, it could well be glue Ear, large tonsils etc. The GP is the first place to start and yes, they could refer you to an ENT specialist.

I would suggest you approached your GP in the first instance. They may be able to tell you there and then if it is Glue Ear or refer you to a specialist for a hearing test- a real one not a nursery/school one!

I am more than happy to chat to you should you wish to discuss further.

Best Wishes

Abi

07855 367 609

[newbiemom]

Thank you all for your responses.
Jessknits thanks for the leapfrog recommendation.
Speechandlanguage, the nursery is referring him to a speech therapist not
an ENT specialist or audiologist.
I will take him to the GP and take things from there.
You have all given some very good advice, thanks. I really appreciate your taking the time to do this.
Thank you to those who sent me private messages, after speaking to the GP, I will get in touch with you all.