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.....cos she can't pronounce her words properly

She is 2 and 4 months.

Am I right not to be worried, I mean she is definitely not advanced in terms of her speech but she has loads of words and is now saying things like "light on" or "light off" or "sit down" or "mummy's coat" and "no poo poo" (if she doesn't want her nappy changed) all in context.

opinions greatly appreciated. I have a fairly relaxed approach to this, I know she is definitely average in terms of speech (maybe even slightly below average I'm not sure) but I can see definite progress as the weeks continue.

My DD is 2y2m and it sounds like they are on par. I certainly wouldn't think she's deaf. I'm actually a little bit annoyed for you.

Every child is different, but I would think your DD sounds like she's doing good for her age. The fact DD understands and can speak in context is a huge relief. Speech/clarity can take a good while to catch up IMO.

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Little Miss is 3

The Dude is 1

I wouldn't worry one bit. dd1 had her own little language at that age, now she is a word perfect 7 year old

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M/C Sept 23rd '03 and Sept 12th '11

dd1 8yrs
ds 7 years

thanks Alban! yep I am a bit annoyed too (have enough to be dealing with at the moment but that's another story)

My mum is a bit ridiculous I think. Yes she's definitely speaking in context if the bedroom door's closed she will point and say "ssshh dada sleep" (he works funny hours). I think my mum's expecting the Queen's english

Appreciate the response and the support.

I would keep an eye on it and if you still think it is a problem ask your GP to check her ears when you are in there...I know my guy mispronounced words at that age and he did have glue ear ...I was told he was fine by the phn but I knew myself there was more to it but he had a lot of colds etc which was the reason for the glue ear.

hi this is realy good link with what is normaal for two and half year old speech it is good guide xxx http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=a ... omRasIy4KA

thanks ChocolateMummy, Louboo and babeno4

thing is she doesnt really mispronounce stuff, well no more than I think is normal at that age.

She's never had an ear infection.

babeno4 thanks for posting that link.

I know mothers say things the wrong way but sometimes they do have good intuition when it comes to kids. Keep an eye on it and if you are concerned, you could ask for hearing test.

leaving the speech/pronunciation aside, is your DD good at understanding and following instructions - "can you get me the pack of baby wipes?", "can you put your doll in her pram" etc? This would be a good indication that she is listening/hearing and understanding.

Speech and pronunciation will come at different stages for different kids. I can see a huge difference in my DD's vocabulary and pronunciation compared to DS's at the same age.

DS's pronunciations in particular would have been behind compared to other kids the same age as him. He struggled mainly with "S", "R" and "L" sounds along with sound blends like "Sm", Sp", "Sl" etc. I mentioned it to the PHN (he was probably about 3.5 at the time) and she said that those sounds would be some of the last to develop so not to worry a huge amount, she said the R sound takes quite a while for some children and isn't considered a problem until the reach the age of 7. She also said not to keep overcorrecting him when he mispronounced words - just repeat the word back to him the correct way but not to try to keep forcing him to say it properly. It all came together over the past year, and his pronunciations are all good now. It took until about a month or two ago for him to finally get the hang of "L" sounds - he's now able to call his sister Julie rather than Jewie!!!

I found this chart quite helpful - you can see with some of the various sounds that there is a huge range in the age that the sounds are acquired - http://www.kidworkstherapy.com/ArticulationChart.pdf

LMN

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DS - January 2007
DD - November 2009

Deafness or ability to hear isn't like being pregnant - where you are either pregnant or not pregnant. It is possible to be a little bit hard of hearing. Just like it's possible to have a very mild short or long-sightedness.
I would imagine that you would definitely know if your child was in fact deaf. What may escape a parent's immediate notice is if a child maybe isn't hearing some tones etc or has one ear working less well than the other.
A child can be very skilful in doing some basic lip-reading or even context reading which may mask a minor problem.

Even if she is hard of hearing at some levels or in one or both ears it may not be a permanent problem - it may be a blocked ear or adenoids etc which can cause problems.

On the other hand, she may very well have perfect hearing and is just not a prolific talker yet. She is young and has plenty time to develop this once an underlying problem is detected or ruled out.

One of my children was a little behind in pronounciation and in talking in sentences. A hearing problem was ruled out in this case and we just had to do a few exercises with her - such as not giving her questions with yes or no answers. And expanding her sentences. So when she says 'car' we say 'yes, a red car'. Then when she says 'red car' we say 'you're right, a shiny, red car' etc.

Good luck.

I have a friend who found out her 4 yer old ws blind in one eye and miniml vision in other so I wouks never presume we know every thing ,but my mum would have said the same about 2 of my children as they dont nswer when spoken to or turn hed when called they are high funtioning as and have perfect hearing xx

If you are worried at all, ring the PHN and get it tested.

As for your mother, you should say "it's only when you are around she is so quiet? When you left yesterday dd said clearly "isn't granny very pass remarkable"

even better get it printed on tee shirt [love it carmella xx ]

Like!

To be honest I'm not worried, there is one girl on the road who's speech is AMAZING! she's exactly 4 days older than DD but seriously its almost unnatural how well this child can talk.

There is another who is one week older than DD and her speech seems fairly similar to DD.

My mum is.....well she expects a lot, as she did from us when we were kids, over-achiever by proxy!

That sounds like something I would have said a few years ago. I thought other children were unnaturally advanced and the milestones in the parenting books were 'unrealistic'. It took me a while to realise that my child was actually behind in a lot of areas.

I'm not saying that your DD's speech is behind, but you could always mention it to the PHN if you think it is. The speech therapy waiting list can be very long in some areas and there's always a chance that your DD could be one of the ones whose speech doesn't improve without help. The appointment can be cancelled if she's caught up by the time she's called.

Your mother probably just means that a child's hearing is always the first thing to be checked if there's any type of speech or language delay as even a small hearing problem can hold them back.

oh meant to ask does she suck a dodo some times it slows down prenuncation of words too .[oh try this in a very quiet room go to the corner while she is at the other side and open bar of choc [she will hear it ]do the same in room with tv on and usual noise a few days lter I bet she will hear it too ]Some times kids just filter out things cos they are enjoying what the do ,or if there is lot of noise filter out the loud sounds lwouldnt worry too much ,also call her when she is not looking just walk up behind and softly say jellies bet she turns round xxx

Ok, I'd just like to say that I am not in denial, this little girl is very advanced in her speech, it wasn't me who made the initial observation but another neighbour and my Mum relayed it to me. And as I pointed out there is another girl across the road who's speech appears to be on a par with DD's (and she has two older siblings which DD doesn't).

From what I can see DD is meeting her milestones. She's combining words, using the possessive, identifying body parts, telling me if she has a dirty nappy and learning new words every day.

My post may have been unclear but the focus should have been on

"cos she can't pronounce her words properly" and I was trying to emphasise the fact that I think it's fairly normal to pronounce words incorrectly until about 3 or 4 no? like certain sounds, that's all.

Thanks for all the replies!

My DD is 26 months and a chatterbox - very verbally precocious (I'm just telling it like it is...DS didn't use two word phrases at the same age so god knows this has nothing to do with my parenting ) but a number of those words would be mispronounced. My favorite being "pickish" instead of "picture" (that's actually gone in the last few days - now we have "picksha") and yesterday she said, "L make me some gobbled (scrambled) eggs." I can't imagine how many words I'd be mispronouncing two years into learning a new language!

I would ask your GP/PHN at the next routine visit, but if she can understand you and follow directions...it sounds like you have a normal two year old!

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The little boy is 7
The littler girl is 3

I would get her checked, with DS's eyesight it was another person who noticed that they thought he had problems and mentioned it to me. I wasn't annoyed at all, I was very glad they did.

Yes, DS is a bright kid, meeting his milestones blah blah but he still needed help.

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Even if I'm playing a superhero, it has to be steeped in reality.
Michael Fassbender

I think she sounds fine 2.5 years to 4 I was told by s+l often lisp ,draw out words nd miss prenounce words they tell you to ignore it compleatly dont mention around her and dont let sibblings tease also dont correct the word just add it into a following sentence to reinforce it .