Would you see a speech therapist?

[meljemillie]

My dd2 is almost 4.she goes to daycare twice a week and speaks very well..she has a great memory for everything and is a bright child. .However she cannot say L's
Eg her little sister is Lucie and she calls her ucie
Leg is eg
Lolly is olly
When reciting the alphabet she can say L but when its at the start of a word she cannot...
I don't know what to do about it..we have tried pronunciation with her but it makes no difference. .would a speech therapist help? Or do you think perhaps as she gets older she will be able to say L's??

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[MsMummy]

L is a tricky one. My son has just turned 5, and he says Y for L, I think.

I had him assessed at 2 (delayed speech), 3 (within range) and then just recently (some dodgy pronunciation).

I can't remember what they said about L.

I seem to remember her saying that they should not drop sounds, if they can't pronounce it properly, then they should use the mispronunciation rather than omit. Eg. my son says geen from green. he can't say the r, which is nomral, but he should say gween rather than omitting sound completely

I probably wouldn't bother for the sake of 1 letter at 4, but would reconsider before school.

It's amazing how they just suddenly pick it up though. My son has never been able to say words like snake, spider, swim (says nakes, piders, wims - moves s from front to back where word starts with an s and a hard vowel). Then recently he could just say them properly.

[Jellyfishie]

I wouldn't worry, L is one of the later developing sounds. Usually around 5ish. If that is the only tricky bit for her and she has picked up other sounds fine then I would suspect it will just come with time

[FearlessLeader]

My DS says Y for L at the start of a word and W in the middle of a word. I vaguely remember seeing a chart of which letters they should have when, and L wasn't until 6 or so.
I don't know about the omitting/substituting thing though. Have you been for her 4 year check at the health nurse? You could ask her.

[willowhope]

Hi. I'm a speech path. Given that your daughter is omitting l completely, I think a bit of therapy is warranted. These phonological ( sound) issues are different to lisps ( where the sound is said but distorted) and have implications for literacy development also. All in all, then, a couple of sessions can make quite a difference - not just to her speech. Hope that helps.

[darla87]

I used to say y for l. Lucky was Yucky for example. I learnt to pronounce l's properly when I was around 7. My mum used to show me how tto make the sound with my tongue and repeat words like "lion, lollipop" etc.

[CleverClogs]

Hi. I'm a speech path. Given that your daughter is omitting l completely, I think a bit of therapy is warranted. These phonological ( sound) issues are different to lisps ( where the sound is said but distorted) and have implications for literacy development also. All in all, then, a couple of sessions can make quite a difference - not just to her speech. Hope that helps.

Sorry to sabotage thread but my almost four has a lisp quite noticeable and he cant pronounce c/k. He always says d. Is this a problem? DD never did this so not sure what is normal?

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[willowhope]

Sorry to sabotage thread but my almost four has a lisp quite noticeable and he cant pronounce c/k. He always says d. Is this a problem? DD never did this so not sure what is normal?

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Hi ck2b. In a speech path world (crazily obsessive sound land) substituting k for d is considered a phonological issue ( technically fronting - saying the sound towards the front of the mouth - and voicing - substituting the 'soft' t for the voiced d). Lisps are the same sound, said 'not quite right'.
This substitution ( k > d) is reasonably common for a 3 year old, and if he is making the g sound, he will probably manage k before long. That said, as you move into 4 years of age, assessment would probably be appropriate. Another trick you can try ( if your DS is comfortable and it's a fun and positive experience) is to trying getting him to hold down the tip of his tongue as he copies you saying k ( best if you show him how by doing it to your tongue at the same time). This mechanically forces the back of the tongue (where k is made) to move - and voila!

[CleverClogs]

Thanks for that. There are quite a few other mispronounced words. F stead of s d instead of th. DD could speak well early on so compared to her there seems to be a problem but I'm not sure what's normal. DD was seeing a speech path for vocal cord nodules so I've worked with them before but for different issues. Thanks for that though. ..he'll be 4 in December. Might get the MCHN to have a listen.

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[misho]

We started to see a speech pathologist as ds can't say F. Eg fish = pish.

Preschool picked it up and our Dr also suggested it.

He's been going for 4 weeks and is pretty good but you have to remind him as he forgets to use F.

You can always try it and see how you go???