GD is behind in her speech

Thanks for all your replies. My GD has attended nursery one day a week between 2 and 2 and a half and 2 days for the last year which she loves. The only time she didn’t attend was during last winter’s lockdown between December and March as the nursery closed.

She didn’t verbalise much until she was 2 unlike her brother who already has a couple of words. She doesn’t rush her words though, unlike her male cousin who spoke so fast he got very muddled when he was younger. Her baby brother showed very distinct signs of jealousy by the age of 3 months and often screams at the top of his lungs if mummy goes anywhere near GD. She does get plenty of mummy time at bedtime though. DD provides lots of activities for them both. Until this year GD had never attended another child’s birthday party again due to pandemic restrictions. She is a very easy child to be with but we live in trepidation for when we take on her brother one day a week from April when DD goes back to work. ?

OP

Please do not compare the timing of the milestones of both kids - big no no

Your daughter is aware of the issue and had it handled.

If you live in trepidation for the 1 day a week babysitting - is it a good arrangement then?

You are making a mountain of a molehill

Chill! Your time of raising kids is done!

Step back and enjoy your family.

I was very concerned that my daughter aged three had difficulty with her speech. Despite having an extensive vocabulary, she just couldn't make certain sounds. She used to get so frustrated making herself understood, that she just gave up trying and found a similar word.

I was so concerned that it may have been caused by being deprived of oxygen during a difficult birth, that I spoke to my GP.. He said he would refer her for speech therapy, but unfortunately there was a very long waiting list.

A few days later her nursery teacher approached me and said that a speech therapist was visiting the nursery and would I be offended if she assessed my daughter. Offended? I was so relieved.
This resulted in my DD having speech therapy on a weekly basis for three years, from the age of three,
As an adult, she now has an extensive vocabulary, but there are still a couple of sounds, she still can't say.

When I was teaching, I saw a fair number of children starting school with speech problems, which should have been addressed at an earlier age. If your daughter has concerns, she should ask for advice sooner, rather than later.
By the time my DD started school, there was vast improvement in her speech.

I googled and found out that a child of 3 should have a vocabulary of around 500 words and recognise another 1200- so I think you are worrying unecessarily.

Children develop at different rates, you know.

IF she is difficult to understand when she starts school, I would expect the teacher to approach her parents about the problem.

Flopsy is HER bunny, if she wants to call him/her Wopwee then quite honestly it is no business of yours. My aunt insisted my Teddy was a boy when I was 3, while I knew that my teddy was a girl! Result one very cross niece.

Stop correcting this child and let her chatter as she likes - at least she is willing and able to talk and has no hearing problems. Articulation and pronounciation will probably sort themselves out in the course of the coming year.

Why is she frustrated with her little brother? Could this be why she is still holding on to her version of baby talk?

Any 3 year old who feels a smaller brother or sister is hogging the limelight will either start talking baby talk again, wetting herself or demonstrating some other form of "baby" behaviour.

I think there may be a problem with her hearing concerning specific sounds, as the speech therapist suggested. I am surprised her Nursery hasn't picked up on this and suggested referral to an audiologist to check her hearing, then possibly a speech therapist for advice.
Unfortunately some nurseries are inclined to leave it to school to sort out, and parents also.
If she does have a problem the sooner it is identified the sooner it will be sorted out, particularly in the Early Years where the ratio of adults to children is higher and there is more one-to -one support.

eazybee, I agree. The sooner, the better.
My daughter had an extensive vocabulary at three years of age, she just couldn't formulate certain sounds.

Leaving schools to sort it out, just extends the waiting times, which can be quite lengthy.

This thread has reminded me of something I had completely forgotten. I could not pronounce "S" at all until primary 3, when I suddenly got it and have been fine since. It was quite a problem at the time as my full name had 4 xS and my address had 6! For either S, SH or F, I said TH and was told I had a lisp (or lithp), The GP thought it was because I was very slow to acquire teeth. Anyway, it sorted itself out in time.

My son had a complex speech 'problem' until he was 6 or so. He swopped letter sounds all over the place! The speech therapist said it was hard to put a name to it. However he was chatty, happy and confident. Other children in his class would sometimes interpret what he said for the teacher. I took him to speech therapy. It was boring - for him and for me sat watching. Tedious in the extreme. After a year or so I stopped taking him and just talked more to him and read more books together. He grew out of the problems. It was all just a maturation process. I wish I never took him to speech therapy as it did neither of us any good and it was just a matter of time

Two thoughts for you glammagran:

I've always found reciting nursery rhymes, that the children know and enjoy, in a slow exaggerated way, making a game of it, helps them listen to the individual sounds in a word and gives them time to try them out.

I've also always understood that a child's mouth and tongue shape and size aren't fully developed until the age of about eight years, so they literally can't physically say some letter sounds clearly at a younger age.

I do a lot of work with Speech therapists in my job as an early years teacher. We are seeing a huge number of children with delayed speech and the number grows year on year. I’ve dropped a photo of the speech sounds chart we use - you might find it helpful glammagran. The best practice at home is to practice recasting, so when your GD says something - asking for wopwee for example, say ‘let’s go and get flopsy so that she hears the word said correctly every time. If you isolate particular sounds that she’s struggling with, you could try and sit side by side looking in a mirror so that she can copy your tongue/lip positioning. Hope these quick tips help until speech therapy becomes available.

My 5 Yr old Granddaughter too has a speech problem. Again formation of certain words. Sadly she was ref to speech therapy but due to Covid it didn't happen.
She started school in
Sept ( her nursery school years cancelled due to Covid) my DIL informed the school while they continued to chase up the Speech therapy. The school has picked it up she is in a little group with children. They were told it's a fixable problem just in the few months she's been at school, huge improvement.
Fully understand your concerns, I had them too, but she's made big leaps so far.

I am quite sure that Wopwee is NOT what she actually wants to say. I’ve seen her practicing saying Flopsy but she just can’t. She has a doll she called Jasper and this is a word she pronounces clearly. She recites songs she’s learnt at nursery but more often than not we can’t understand what’s being said. She loves books and being read to and often asks questions. She remembers the words and pretends to read out loud to herself.

It’s interesting the comment about tongue tie. DD was sure her baby brother had tongue tie but GP/HV both dismissed it. As he was waking up to 15 times a night at 7 months she was referred to a paediatrician said he did indeed have a posterior tongue tie and he would have to be admitted to hospital as he was over 6 months if she wanted it done. She’s declined for now. The reason he woke so often was because he struggled to feed though he gained plenty of weight. Since eating solids and quickly having 3 meals a day he sleeps far better. He also had a very obvious dairy intolerance.

Maybe tongue tie is GD’s problem too though she didn’t struggle to feed.

Thank you Sarahmob I shall look into this.

OP

You worry about circumstances that out of your control and can do nothing about it.

Please do not make this harder than it has to be

glammagran, they're all different - so I really wouldn't worry too much. My six year old GD still can't say words beginning with S (used SH instead) or Y (L instead) but does still manage to make herself understood. (Of course, I do try not to laugh, but lunch becomes 'Sh*t down for shandwich and logurt!')

A friend of mine had a child with issues pronouncing the "t", he would pronounce as "f" instead

His favourite toy was a firetruck and we had a hard time in the beginning not laughing when he said than word, for his own sake.

He got over it eventually.

The main thing - at this age things change so quickly.
Don't worry too much.

My nephew had serious speech delays due to hearing loss. It was impossible to get anyone to help until he was close to school age. He's a young man now and speaks just fine. It took a good bit of speech therapy when he was 5.

My smaller grandson couldn't say "R" properly when he was very young. (Too young to worry about therapy) so he would just leave them out.
The older one used to think up words for him to repeat.
"Say currant"....

It may be worth taking her to the dentist! I have twin GC & one used to translate for the other. Turns out he has a high palette, I think that's the word, the roof of his mouth and so was finding it hard to pronounce some words!
He's fine now, never shuts up, but speech therapy helped.

My niece's speech was like your GD's. Her beloved scooter was called 'tootie' for a long time. Her parents were very worried and had lots of speech therapy for her but it mainly resolved itself on its own in the first year or so of school.

I am so late to this that my input may not be seen, but here goes anyway. My DD is an August baby. I knew she would one of the youngest in her school year and I was worried about her slow speech development. One sound she couldn't say was S . Unfortunate as she is called Sarah. I decided that speech therapy was needed but knew that the chances of her seeing one were limited. So I approached it from the "I am worried that she may be deaf" angle. As a result she had umpteen hearing appointments, including the local university. Then got to see a speech therapist. I think it helped and was quite fun. For me the highlight was a series of pictures to teach them certain sounds. Unfortunately for them the picture of a car was a volvo estate just like ours. No way would our DD say "car", only "volvo" !! Thirty years on, my DD has a stack of high A levels and a 1st class honours degree as well as a high level job in her chosen career as a speech therapist!.
Make sure there is no physical cause for her speech such as deafness or tongue tied. Then just talk a lot with her, sing songs, learn nursery rhymes etc. When she talks, repeat what she says in a relaxed casual way as part of your conversation. Not as a " this is how to say it" way. Let time take its course. And perhaps start the ball rolling for Speech therapy. But try not to be over anxious. The worst possible thing would be for your GD to feel that her speech is "wrong" and for her to stop talking all together.

I hope you manage to get some speech therapy but while you are waiting perhaps you could try giving her a little help in the form of games. For example her pronounciation of "Flopsy" indicates dificulties with the "f" "l" and "s"sounds. Have a day playing with one sound. S is the easiest. You can go round pretending to be snakes or angry cats and hissing everywhere. If she has real problems making the sound you know she may have a physical problem. For "f" show her your face as you make the sound and exagerrate putting your teeth over your bottom lip then just say the sound several times and move on to words that begin with "f". Do the same with"l" But always make sure it is just fun and a game. If she does it wrong don't criticise just model it again for her. Don't let her think it is anything serious just a game to fill the time.
I couldn't say "r" as a child and I remember my mum and dad teaching me to roll my rs and saying over and over "Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran"

Thanks you very much later posters. Your replies are greatly appreciated. DGD’s birthday is 2 days before September so she is very likely to always be the youngest in the class.

DD said that the nursery told her this week GD saw a boy being mean to another child and she then told him “to take a deep breath and to have a think about what he was doing and to be kind” (in her own articulation).

glammagran she sounds lovely. One of my DSs has a birthday on 31st August. Things were much more flexible then and when he started school he only did half days to begin with. He did struggle sometimes. He eventually chose to spend 3 years in 6th form, so when he went to university he was more confident and still the same age as his fellow students.

UPDATE
During the last few months DGD’s vocabulary has increased immensely. Sadly her pronunciation has not. She began school in September, just 3 days after turning 4. She seems to be enjoying it but we have noticed she has become more inaudible and I suspect she has become conscious that others cannot understand what she is saying and she is embarrassed. On a positive note the school has picked up on it and referred her for speech therapy. Her day nursery were adamant that lots of children spoke unclearly. I just hope it’s not too late - I can understand her 17 month old brother better.