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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Preschool teachers often have no training or educational/special needs background.  People often rely on them for advice but they may not have the experience.

Do get a speech evaluation.  More than likely your child may only need a few months to correct it.  The longer you wait the harder it is to correct and it can impact him in school.  Many people dismiss it and say wait, but waiting is the worst thing you can do.  My child has been in speech for years and gets penalized for articulation issues when it comes to reading. [/quote]

9:19 here.  My youngest has apraxia of speech and is currently on his 9th year of therapy.  He is still unable to consistently articulate certain words/combinations, especially in spontaneous speech. He is not penalized for this because he has a documented disability.  If your DS does not have any underlying issues, he [i]should[/i] be penalized for articulation issues as this is a habit he needs to unlearn and not the result of an underlying issue.  It's not any different than vocal fry or ending every sentence with the inflection of a question. If your DS has underlying issues, get an IEP and he won't be penalized.

My two older kids also had ST for various issues, one for articulation issues when she was in 4th grade.  After a few ST sessions, my DD was able to articulate her challenge words correctly in structured environments but it took longer for her to do so in spontaneous settings because of habitualization and she wasn't mindful.  As people commented on her articulation, she became more mindful and replaced incorrect articulation with correct. I understand it is hard to unlearn a habit but if the skill is not developmentally appropriate for the age, there is no value in starting therapy early.  It's like trying to make your kid learn to read or to walk earlier than they are ready. Even with my kid with apraxia, we did not work on his ability to say 'th' until he was in 3rd grade because it just wasn't developmentally appropriate - and 'th' is in his name!  He pronounced it as an 'f'.

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