I love teaming up with pediatric experts to bring answers to your questions. I recently had my Facebook followers voice any concerns they had regarding their child’s speech development. The response was incredible; we all share so many of the same issues and worries. My favorite Speech Language Pathologist, Liz Blake addressed my readers’ questions with her exceptional expertise and professionalism. She is incredible at empowering parents with the tools they need to help improve their child’s speech.
Questions from my readers:
Stephanie: My stepdaughter is allowed to baby talk (like how a child learning to talk sounds like) at her bio mom’s house and when she comes home she has issues with annunciation and making letter sounds. She is going to be 10 this year and this issue has been present for almost 4 years now. What can we do to help her?
Liz Blake: Thank you for your question. You stated that you have observed your stepdaughter using an immature speech pattern. This is not common in a 10 year old. If the child attends school while living with you, I recommend you contact her classroom teacher to determine if these speech patterns continue in the school environment. If so, then you can discuss with the teacher a referral to speech pathology. In general, what you can do is: 1) model correct pronunciation after she makes a speech error. Do not ask her to repeat, simply say the word again correctly. 2) praise her “appropriate” speech when you hear her using more mature speech patterns.
Improve your child's #speech and #stuttering with this expert advice! #SpeechTherapy Click To TweetCarolyn: My son has trouble stuttering at the beginning of sentences. When he finally gets past it, he’s so out of breath that he rushes through the rest of what he’s saying to the point of exhaustion and I can’t understand anything he said. Are there any exercises to help him with that?
Liz Blake: Thank you for your question. What you describe is a difficulty with fluency of speech. I recommend you visit two websites to learn more about what this is and how you can help: the Stutter Foundation and the National Stuttering Association . There are guides and resources to help you determine if your child would benefit from an evaluation of his speech. Early identification and treatment are very important.
It would be inappropriate for me to make recommendations about exercises to help any child without the child receiving an evaluation. Children go through periods of disfluent speech at different times in their development. As you will read at these two websites, it is recommended that you NOT ask your child to slow down. Adults who stutter report how frustrated they were with individuals asking them to “breathe” or “slow down”. They all report “it was not about slowing down or breathing”.
Jennifer: I think our 2 yr old just thinks faster than her mouth can make the words (tested at a 6 yr old level fir responsive but expressive is that of an 18 month old). How can we help her to slow down so she can be heard? She already is in speech three times a week and getting better with animal sounds.
Liz Blake: Thank you for your question. Your child has already been evaluated and is receiving speech therapy. That is great news. There is little you can do to slow down her thinking and talking. I would encourage you to NOT ask her to slow down or say things like “take your time”. Instead, you can model using pauses in your talking. I advise parents to try and use “Mister Rogers speech” – take longer pauses where they would naturally occur – at the end of sentences, at commas; and use a ”thoughtful” pause before you respond to questions from your child. By “modeling” these pauses, you are encouraging her to do the same. Your speech pathologist can make other recommendations geared to helping your daughter have more success in communicating.
I want to sincerely thank Liz Blake for taking the time to address my readers’ speech-related concerns. Ms. Liz has helped our family for the past four years. We are grateful to her for working with our son and giving us the tools we needed to “smooth his bumpy speech.” She rebuilt his confidence, and that was a beautiful transformation for us to witness as parents.
I highly recommend seeing a good speech therapist for any of your child’s language development concerns. If nothing else, getting reassurance that everything is “on track” is peace of mind worth its weight in gold.
Reach out to Lizanne Blake with any questions or to schedule a consultation.
Lizanne P. Blake, CCC-SLP
800 Village Square Crossing, Suite 120, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
Email: lizpblake@att.net
Don’t miss: “When is Language Development a Concern” – Liz Blake shares her valuable insights.
I am glad I read this, I have one grandson that talks a bit different and I think he should be saying words already, I don’t know if its because of mom and dad being busy and he being the last child not getting all of what he should be , but I am going to share this , just maybe reading this might help the parents on there journey with him..
We have speech issues with our 3 year old, there are some great resources here!
Thank you for sharing this! My almost-4-year-old is very smart but has difficulty pronouncing a few sounds like Ls and Rs. I’ll definitely check out the links you provided to see if I should be worried or if it’s just normal for her age!
Wow this is fantastic! I especially like the practical advice, like not having the child repeat the word but rather correctly saying it yourself. And I agree about the not asking the kid to slow down. I read that when kids stutter, the best thing is to just act like he’s speaking normally. Drawing attention to it actually makes it worse because they usually don’t even know they’re doing it but now are conscious of it.
I have never liked baby talk. My kids started out talking using normal terms for things. My daughter had a friend that spoke baby talk even when she was in High School! Drove me nuts!
this is really nice to know, i believe in help when needed
This is really great info my grandson is non verbal and we have been working with a therapist so this is great info for me thanks
I love the idea of modeling correct speech to your kids. Often we speed along or use slang and forget we are examples!
This is some great advice–I’d never thought of it quite like this before.
Good advice. I just wanted to also mention that each state has an early intervention program for children under 3 that need it. It’s free to families in my state and many others. Children 3 and up can be referred to the public school system.
This is great info!! My son is behind in speech and we have been told to take him to speech therapy but Ive been trying to give him time. Hoping that he will catch on!! He has definitely picked up lately thankfully 🙂
Interesting to know we shouldn’t ask our children to “slow down.” My brother stuttered badly, but luckily he outgrew it (he still talks really fast, though!).