Anyone here had a toddler w severe articulation issues?

amother

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 10:36 am

My toddler has severe articulation issues. Speaks in full sentences but can’t understand most of what child says. Garbles many words, can’t pronounce many sounds, and substitutes consonants.
Child cries from frustration because no one understands.
Yes, toddler is getting speech therapy but progress is very slow. Will my child ever speak clearly?

amother

Rainbow

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 11:31 am

How old is toddler and what level are they speaking that you can't understand?

I was looking into this recently and came across this article which also links to another one with charts on what sounds they should have by what age.

https://teis-ei.com/blog/artic.....ical/

amother

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:05 pm

amother Rainbow wrote:

Thanks. Almost 3. Speaking in full sentences but the words are unintelligible

amother

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:07 pm

Wondering if someone had a toddler like this who eventually started speaking clearly

amother

Clematis

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:08 pm

Sounds very frustrating OP I'm sorry youre dealing with this. Im a school based SLP.
Are your child's errors consistent?

amother

Goldenrod

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:09 pm

Has the therapist given any exercises to do at home or food suggestions? My son's therapist actually recommended Taffy. She often gave him as a reward. And yes, it usually does get better. My son still can't make certain sounds but is understood at 7. Have you checked for tongue tie? That can contribute. We clipped his tongue at 4 weeks but not my daughter and she still slurs some sounds.

amother

Feverfew

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:13 pm

My friends toddler had that. When they took her tonsils out it also helped her speech.

amother

Emerald

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:21 pm

Check hearing and pressure in the ear.
Other thoughts are dysarthria.

amother

Clematis

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:31 pm

amother Emerald wrote:

Check hearing and pressure in the ear.
Other thoughts are dysarthria.

My mind didn't go to dysarthria. What makes you think that?

amother

Beige

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 12:36 pm

I’m sure you already checked hearing because it’s always the first thing they say to do, but double and triple check hearing. With a real audiologist, not just a screening

amother

Amber

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 1:00 pm

SLP here. A few thoughts:
1) How old is your child? At age 2, it is normal for a child to have 50% intelligibility, 75% at age 3, and at age 4 we expect full intelligibility with some errors on later developing sounds. And if your child has great vocabulary and syntax, it's possible that her language skills have outpaced her motor ability.
2) Therapy is not an overnight solution. How long has your child been in therapy? I would expect it to take months to see improvement. However, you also want to know if the methods your therapist is using are appropriate. I personally use a cycles approach (look up Barbara Hodson) for these types of kids, but there are other great approaches as well. But your therapist should be able to tell you what her approach is. It shouldn't be just "we're working on her speech".
3) Are there any possible contributing factors that need to be addressed, such as fluid in the ears, or any oral issues? Years ago I evaluated a 5 year old student who had "garbled speech". When I commented that he appeared to use one side of his mouth more than the other, his mother told me he had been bitten on the face by a dog a few years prior! This is an extreme story, but there could be other subtle things going on such as a tongue tie.
4) Ask the therapist to give some ideas for helping your toddler with conversation breakdowns to avoid frustration. For example, teaching them to say, "I need help."

amother

NeonOrange

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 1:01 pm

See an audiologist first

amother

Phlox

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 1:04 pm

My son had very garbled speech and getting his tonsils and adenoids out really helped.
Second the suggestions for checking his hearing and tongue tie too. Hatzlacha.

the world's best mom

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 1:54 pm

Some of my children had severe apraxia. I had one who was like your son- she spoke a lot, but completely not understandable in most cases. I had 2 boys who were a lot worse- they couldn't say any sounds until they were 3. BH they all talk pretty clearly now.

Does the speech therapist use prompts? They are extremely helpful.

amother

Marigold

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 1:58 pm

I’m an SLP who works with a few kids like this, with a severe phonological disorder. Ask your SLP if she can help you get your child a AAC device so that they can effectively communicate while they continue to work on their speech. I do this for my clients and it helps decrease frustration a LOT! Insurance will usually cover this- even Medicaid- it is considered to be medical equipment.

amother

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 3:07 pm

Thank you all.
No tongue tie, no fluid in ears, but haven’t gone to audiologist. I will try that. Speech therapy has been for almost a year now but I don’t find it really helps.
Tonsils and adnoids out scares me. Child has never had strep

way2go

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 3:58 pm

Yes! Go to a GOOD audiologist! Rule out any contributing hearing issues!

amother

Caramel

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 7:01 pm

amother Marigold wrote:

Where are you that this is a 2 minute process (or at least you make it sound like it is!)?

Dc with a severe structural issue and trach waited a couple of months for AAC eval at HJD and then was put on a waiting list to start an intensive therapy program to determine which device dc needs, and only after that do they start insurance auth process. The waiting list took about 7 months. Meanwhile, TYH our other lead, which was through EI came through, now this evaluator/therapist is phenomenal, but literally the only person doing this in NYC. We were really lucky that from start to finish we had our P2G device in around 8 months.
The good news was, that at that point DC was actually tolerating a PMV and starting to vocalize and say words, albeit very unclear, and yes the device was great and actually helped dc speech as dc loved tapping on words repeatedly and imitated and speech blossomed. And our device was almost going to be a toy, but we’ve been lending out to friends till they can secure theirs.

Sorry for my long Megillah, but while I value and am a huge advocate for AAC, I don’t think this is the route op needs to take, especially as its so hard to come by and so many kids who have no voice at all are waiting for years to get one.

Op, if you’re in NY area, we had a great program set up for dc by Rebecca McDaniel. We traveled a couple of hours and paid cash for an intensive eval, but worth every penny. We now have dc school therapist work with this program and Bh saw lots of progress with dc current articulation issues.

amother

Narcissus

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 7:22 pm

My daughter had severe apraxia. By age three, she also was talking sentences in total gibberish. She had maybe 10 words that were somewhat understandable.
She has intense speech therapy for a year. Then we took an unexpected break (Covid) and she started therapy again through her school at age 5.
She is now 8 and still receives speech therapy services in school. She is nearing the end though. Her speech is almost perfect BH!
She has lots of friends and is doing well in academically.

amother

Smokey

Sun, Sep 10 2023, 7:42 pm

At 2, my toddler got a huge number of consonant sounds wrong. He had to repeat a ton. We did a lot of home work, including jaw muscle tone and tongue work. He had his tonsils and adenoids out, not for this, but it seemed to help him. B"H, he now leins for my shul.