judyw0607@...

I'm looking for ideas to help my 7 year-old son improve his speech/pronunciation.  He doesn't clearly articulate some sounds many young children have trouble with...mostly the Sh, S, and Ch sounds, and R and L to a lesser degree.  I would judge his trouble as mild to moderate.  


At home, we all (I, my husband, and our 9 year-old son) can understand him fine, but once in a while, he will say something even I don't understand without his repeating it a couple times...and that frustrates him.  Out in the world, he is mostly understandable, too, but his pronunciation differences are noticeable. 


If he were in school, I'm sure he would be tagged for speech therapy.  Our pediatrician has suggested we look into it as well.  So far, I've taken a "wait and see" approach to whether his speech would improve gradually and naturally as he gets older.


I believe my son's trouble is a matter of tongue placement.  Vocabulary and his ability to communicate clear, complex thoughts are definitely *not* a problem.  And, being at home, he has every opportunity to speak, so he gets lots of practice!  


I've only occasionally tried to help him enunciate certain sounds as they've come up in conversation, but he isn't very open to that.  I don't want to be annoying or do more harm than good, but I do want to help him improve if there are some things we could try that would be truly helpful.  Any suggestions?


Judy



Vicki Dennis

Look for ways that he can actually hear what others hear.   Does he have any desire to make instructional videos for youtube?   Or participate in a play or skit even if only for family members?   I can remember even at age 10 or 12 being shocked to hear myself.  What I heard when I spoke was so totally different than what I sounded like on a tape recorder.   That was long long ago when recording was not so simple.    These days most phones have the ability to record.   If he can develop an ear for what his speech sounds like, he may decide it is worthwhile to learn some enunciation techniques.

vicki

On Mon, May 11, 2015 at 2:27 PM, judyw0607@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]> wrote:
 

I'm looking for ideas to help my 7 year-old son improve his speech/pronunciation.  He doesn't clearly articulate some sounds many young children have trouble with...mostly the Sh, S, and Ch sounds, and R and L to a lesser degree.  I would judge his trouble as mild to moderate.  


At home, we all (I, my husband, and our 9 year-old son) can understand him fine, but once in a while, he will say something even I don't understand without his repeating it a couple times...and that frustrates him.  Out in the world, he is mostly understandable, too, but his pronunciation differences are noticeable. 


If he were in school, I'm sure he would be tagged for speech therapy.  Our pediatrician has suggested we look into it as well.  So far, I've taken a "wait and see" approach to whether his speech would improve gradually and naturally as he gets older.


I believe my son's trouble is a matter of tongue placement.  Vocabulary and his ability to communicate clear, complex thoughts are definitely *not* a problem.  And, being at home, he has every opportunity to speak, so he gets lots of practice!  


I've only occasionally tried to help him enunciate certain sounds as they've come up in conversation, but he isn't very open to that.  I don't want to be annoying or do more harm than good, but I do want to help him improve if there are some things we could try that would be truly helpful.  Any suggestions?


Judy




Cheri Tilford

My daughter's name is short and simple, with an L in the middle. She used to say Ls as if they were Ys. When we moved to a new town, I noticed that when she would introduce herself to other kids at a playground they wouldn't know what her name was, and I would clarify for her. I offered the suggestion that we could practice saying Ls so she could tell other kids her name all by herself, and she was highly motivated. Within 2 weeks of being shown where to place her tongue and practicing, she could say her name. She was also really excited to say "I love you" clearly. The Ls in other words slowly filtered in.
As with all learning, motivation was the key.
What is your son's motivation? Does he want you to point out when he's mispronouncing something even if you can understand? Are there a few words to start with that would be most helpful, and then the concept can spread out across his language naturally?
I like the idea of recording his voice so he can hear what others hear, and if he wants he could hear his progress as he practices.


cheri

cpkilgour@...

I have a slight hearing loss.  I say slight because I have never needed hearing aids but it did affect my ability to learn how to speak clearly and was only picked up when I was about three which is rather late considering children these days are tested not long after birth.

Up to about the age of 10 I went to a speech therapist.  Most of what I remember doing is being given each month a  number of different tongue twisters that I had to say at home in between visits.  They were pasted in to my big folio book. (Just a cheap book big enough to paste A4/letter size print out in).  I do remember that r is actually a hard letter to pronounce and can be early teens before it is mastered so he is doing well if he doesn't have problems with it.

I remember having to do She sells sea shells on the sea shore for example.  Possibly if we hadn't moved at age 10 I would have kept attending but service provided in the new town was more focused on public speaking rather than the mechanics of speach which I needed.

As for getting him to listen to himself it isn't vital to improving speech.  I only remember hearing myself once when younger and that was when a specialist my uncle knew came over for dinner so he could give some feedback to my parents, having listened to me without me being on my best behavour because I knew I was being listened or watched.

Latter as a teenager my grandmother lost much of her sight and Mum decided it would be a good idea to have all of us talk on a cassette and send it too her.  Even though it was years latter I remembered what I sounded like the last time I had heard my voice, yuck.  Just one more go listening to myself was enough that I refused to again.  If I wanted to change something I had said I would go get my Mum to rewind it to the right spot with me out of the room.  I hated how I sounded and got really upset that I might hear myself against my will. (Your son may not react like this, my sister and her best friend who lived next door loved recording and listening to themselves, I think they were encouraged in case I might join in what my big sister was doing but I never did as my feelings on the subject were that set)

The reason we hear ourselves so differently to how others do is we are picking up the sound of our voice from the vibrations along our jaw bone as well as through the air.  When we hear others we are picking up the vibrations only coming to us through the air.

It might be worth your time contacting a therapist so you can discuss ideas direct with them and tell them which letters you are wanting to work with your son on so you can get some suggestions on how to help him.

Catherine
 

anita_loomis@...

I had speech therapy as a child through my school.  I think it lasted maybe 6-9 months. It actually was fun (tongue twisters were my favorite) and I felt good about it. I still use some of the exercises I learned then as vocal warmups when I have an acting job.  The confidence I gained in speaking probably influenced my career choice.  I teach the same exercises to aspiring actors as well, since vocal flexibility is a vital part of the art and can make a difference in whether or not you get the gig!  When I am tired, my mouth goes back to doing it the old way.  My daughter notices when I am reading to her late at night and pokes me:-) So I was a motivated learner and enjoyed the learning environment.  I do not know if I would have "grown out of it." 


If it's important to your son, he can probably do it when he wants to (like my teenage acting students do). A speech therapist might know if there are physiological challenges that are more easily met at certain ages. I'm an actress, not a doctor. If my daughter (6.99 yrs) were to want to do something regarding a speech pattern then I would find someone else to help her in a specific setting and otherwise not point it out to her.  As it is, she has an interesting habit of repeating ends of words or parts of sentences as she is building her thoughts as she speaks (that's my impression of what/why she is speaking this way).  I just make sure to give her all the time she needs to finish what she is trying to say. You probably know how irritating it is to have someone finish your sentences for you!  If I really didn't get what she said, I'll ask a clarifying question like "Are you saying Pinkie Pie forgot where she put the party cannons?" rather than "What?"  Which I think models more communication skills.


We can become clearer writers without losing our own style.  Similarly, I think we can become clearer speakers without having to ring out the King's English. 


Hope this helps.


Anita

Kari


My ten year old has a lot of pronunciation difficulties... mainly, he drops the second letter of any blend, struggles with l, and several other sounds. 

However, he also cries at the mere mention of speech therapy (so I don't bring it up), and I tried to direct him to google voice search as a way to work on his pronunciation but that just really upset him as well. 

Ultimately, my husband told him a story about Jonathan Ross (an English TV celebrity) and how he made it big in spite of not being able to pronounce his r's, and although it didn't help with pronunciation, it made my son feel better and put the issue to rest for us until Toby (my son) decides he wants to change how he speaks. 

Kari



-----Original Message-----
From: anita_loomis@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]>
To: AlwaysLearning <[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, May 13, 2015 7:08 am
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Re: 7 year-old with speech, pronunciation difficulties

 
I had speech therapy as a child through my school.  I think it lasted maybe 6-9 months. It actually was fun (tongue twisters were my favorite) and I felt good about it. I still use some of the exercises I learned then as vocal warmups when I have an acting job.  The confidence I gained in speaking probably influenced my career choice.  I teach the same exercises to aspiring actors as well, since vocal flexibility is a vital part of the art and can make a difference in whether or not you get the gig!  When I am tired, my mouth goes back to doing it the old way.  My daughter notices when I am reading to her late at night and pokes me:-) So I was a motivated learner and enjoyed the learning environment.  I do not know if I would have "grown out of it." 

If it's important to your son, he can probably do it when he wants to (like my teenage acting students do). A speech therapist might know if there are physiological challenges that are more easily met at certain ages. I'm an actress, not a doctor. If my daughter (6.99 yrs) were to want to do something regarding a speech pattern then I would find someone else to help her in a specific setting and otherwise not point it out to her.  As it is, she has an interesting habit of repeating ends of words or parts of sentences as she is building her thoughts as she speaks (that's my impression of what/why she is speaking this way).  I just make sure to give her all the time she needs to finish what she is trying to say. You probably know how irritating it is to have someone finish your sentences for you!  If I really didn't get what she said, I'll ask a clarifying question like "Are you saying Pinkie Pie forgot where she put the party cannons?" rather than "What?"  Which I think models more communication ski lls.

We can become clearer writers without losing our own style.  Similarly, I think we can become clearer speakers without having to ring out the King's English. 

Hope this helps.

Anita

K Pennell

Hi,
I work as a speech assistant in the schools. When my son (unschooled) was younger (six or seven), he had a lot of trouble with s, z,, j, ch, and sh. We worked on them occasionally, if he expressed frustration at not being understood with a certain word, but I didn't push it. What helped most, honestly, was losing all his front baby teeth and having the bigger second teeth come in. His baby teeth had lots of gaps between, making those sounds lispy. Not sure if this is the case for you, but figured I'd mention it.



From: "judyw0607@... [AlwaysLearning]" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Monday, May 11, 2015 3:27 PM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] 7 year-old with speech, pronunciation difficulties



I'm looking for ideas to help my 7 year-old son improve his speech/pronunciation.  He doesn't clearly articulate some sounds many young children have trouble with...mostly the Sh, S, and Ch sounds, and R and L to a lesser degree.  I would judge his trouble as mild to moderate.  

At home, we all (I, my husband, and our 9 year-old son) can understand him fine, but once in a while, he will say something even I don't understand without his repeating it a couple times...and that frustrates him.  Out in the world, he is mostly understandable, too, but his pronunciation differences are noticeable. 

If he were in school, I'm sure he would be tagged for speech therapy.  Our pediatrician has suggested we look into it as well.  So far, I've taken a "wait and see" approach to whether his speech would improve gradually and naturally as he gets older.

I believe my son's trouble is a matter of tongue placement.  Vocabulary and his ability to communicate clear, complex thoughts are definitely *not* a problem.  And, being at home, he has every opportunity to speak, so he gets lots of practice!  

I've only occasionally tried to help him enunciate certain sounds as they've come up in conversation, but he isn't very open to that.  I don't want to be annoying or do more harm than good, but I do want to help him improve if there are some things we could try that would be truly helpful.  Any suggestions?

Judy