My 17mo old son is just starting to try and really say more words these last two weeks.
Strange thing is that he seems to be saying a lot of the words through his, well, nose for lack of a better description……it is like rather then having the words come from low in his throat to the tip of his tongue he is trying to form the words higher in his throat/nose and force them out that way. Does that make any sense the way I am describing it?!
Anyway, I’m not freaked out or anything but it does seem strange to me because none of my others did that. For any of you with experience with speech therapy issues or who have had a child like this, any ideas for what I can do to gently start helping him say the words more correctly and maybe not let him form a bad habit?
Or should I just not worry about it, could it be more normal then I realize and will be a self-correcting faze?
I’m not an expert of any kind, but I have a friend whose daughter spoke the way you’re describing and it ended up having nothing to do with “speech” per se, but rather her ears (who knew!) Come to find out, she wasn’t hearing really well due, I think, to allergies, and it was remedied with tubes. So maybe just have your doc check his ears next time you’re there. Again, I really have no idea about speech, etc., but I wanted to throw this out because I remember so clearly those “nasal” words of this little girl.
Have fun with those first words- and here’s my advise: I always end up telling my parents “guess what so-and-so said today!” and invariably, my dad says “make sure you write it down!” I finally told them, after not keeping up with all the who-said-what’s, that I believe God intended grandparents to be scribes; to write down all the things I tell them my kids say. So now it’s their job LOL!
I have four children ages dd almost 7.5, ds almost 4, ds just 2, and ds 7 months. My two oldest were speech delayed and my third is a bit…though he spoke MUCH earlier. DD was the worst…not much until 3-3.5…then worked on it at home and then professional till about 5. 1st ds, isn’t quite 4 and he is doing much better. The Speech Therapist is now my friend. She came by and listened to him the other day and agreed that he would probably continue to outgrow it. With four, going to speech therapy twice per week, is only going to happen if it is absolutely necessary! The third, 2nd ds, spoke so much earlier we thought for sure he would have no problems. However, he does have some. What I’ve learned. 1) Don’t panic! 2)It is NOT something that you did or did not do. Ear infections or ANY illness even can cause it. 3)Always check hearing first. 4)Also check to see if the child is tongue tied. Dentist can see about that. Pretty simple fix. Though it won’t fix all problems. 5)All children are different. 1st, left off the beginning and ending sounds of words. 2nd, left off the beginning sounds. 3rd, leaves off the endings. Go figure! Also found that really large adnoids can affect speech as well. We used Speechercise CDs http://www.rainbowresource.com/searchspring.php?sid=1308002323-78607&q=speechercise and Striaight Talk which is a speech therapy program to do at home http://www.rainbowresource.com/searchspring.php?sid=1308002323-78607&q=straight+talk. Note that that has two parts. You choose which is correct for your child. DD asked for speechercise just this week. It definitely helps her keep her speech crisper. Hope that helps. Joanna
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