Speech delay in 5 year old?

my 5 year old boy Max started Pre primary this year and his teacher picked up a delay in his speech ( quite bad) he has met with the speech/language therapist. It was concluded his delay is developmental.


Any ideas, tips, sites, educational tools, activities would be appreciated.


He has trouble making certain sound like " s, v, g, th, c, j, x etc.


and omits the ending sounds to most words. He doesnt complete the whole word.. eg. instead of saying "park" he says "par" etc.


he can make the sounds by themselves but simply doesnt say it.


He also gets confused when trying to construct a sentence. he knows what he wants to say but has trouble putting the words in the right order "syntax"


My 3 year old boy seems to be following suit.


thankyou.

Speech delay in 5 year old?
I am a speech pathologist. Oral motor problems are not the only or main reason for speech delays. You said your child is omitting final consonants, We call that "Final Consonant Deletion" That is a phonological process. What that means is all children usually go through specific patterns of simplifying their speech when they first learn to talk, then they grow out of it. For example, Cluster reduction is when a consonant blend such as in "star" the st is usally reduced and the child just says "tar". I would expect a child to stop using Final Consonant Deletion by the age of 3.


Here are a few handouts to explain it further:


http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pd...


http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pd...


http://www.linguisystems.com/pdf/LinguiS...





The other poster suggested oral motor exercises, these will not help unless your child has oral motor weakness. ask the speech therapist. there is not point in doing things like blowing up a balloon if that is not the cause of the problem. Your speech therapist should have explained this better to you and given you information. Ask her, she can be a resource, if you want to help him at home specifically ask her to send materials to you to work on.





This is a nice website with much information


http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen...





Take care when taking advice on this website. People offer suggestions when they have no professional education or knowledge. Always look for them to expain why they offer information, like personal experience or a professional degree. otherwise, disgard it.
Reply:Oral Motor skills are the usual cause when articulation is inhibited...
Reply:I know it is hard to see your child struggle. I have 6 six year old who is also developmentally delayed. He struggles on a daily basis in communicating with his brothers and his frustration can be palpable.


Work on blending segments of words. (ex. Br an ch) so he understands how to make these words. Also practice enunciation, by making each sound in a word distinct and clear. Encourage him to look at your mouth to see how the sounds are formed. Mostly, talk with him. The more practice he gets the better he gets. Try to keep these lessons stress free as not to promote anxiety, further feeding his delay. No judgment , no hard expectations. Working in conjunction with a speech therapist is an excellent choice and she can guide you to more methods to use at home. Good Luck God Bless





By the way some exercises can include: drinking from a staw, and(if old enough to be safe) blowing up balloons. If it is a muscle development problem you may notice that blowing a balloon may be difficult for him. These exercises will help with tongue and mouth control and coordination..


www.speechville.com might be helpful