make sure he has a hearing screening as well. many years ago, a friend's son had a lot of articulation issues at age 3--turns out his hearing was impaired. he had passed the regular ped. screening test but a more in depth one revealed issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs a speech therapist. People cannot understand him

at what age is this true? op's kid is 3, but would this also be the case for an 18 month old?

See the links posted above. From 2-3, should be understood by people who know them.

Another note, private SLPs often have really long waiting lists. So, it doesn’t hurt to go ahead and get on the schedule for both. If EI seems like sufficient care, you can always cancel the private evaluation.

Definitely get an evaluation. Like any therapy, speech therapy is much more effective if started early. If you can’t pay for a private evaluation, call the Infants & Toddlers/Early Intervention program for your county. The quality of those services are hit and miss depending on location and varies from therapist to therapist, but it will at least give you a baseline. Then you can decide to either continue in the county program or find a private SLP. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He needs a speech therapist. People cannot understand him

at what age is this true? op's kid is 3, but would this also be the case for an 18 month old?

No. Just let your kid develop .

From this site:
From 2yo to 3yo, understood by people who know your child
From 3yo to 4yo, most people understand your child

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/34/

I would have him/her evaluated.

Get services from the state/ dc. They are free and fabulous. Our youngest had a lot of developmental delays. We got services young and with their help she outgrew everything before kindergarten.

Does he have an overbite? Misalignment makes some sounds difficult to produce.

Anonymous wrote:I would get him evaluated and go from there. A certified speech/language pathologist should be able to tell you whether his speech is typical for his age or delayed in some way.

OP,, please get him evaluated professionally. Ask your pediatrician for references to pathologists who are experienced with kids this age. You will hear from family and friends (and here online) things like "Oh, just wait, he'll outgrow it," and while he may indeed outgrow it -- NOT all speech issues do get outgrown, and waiting too long to start speech therapy can make the therapy much harder work for the child. Just get him evaluated and see what you do or don't need to do from there.

Anonymous wrote:He needs a speech therapist. People cannot understand him

at what age is this true? op's kid is 3, but would this also be the case for an 18 month old?

I would get him evaluated and go from there. A certified speech/language pathologist should be able to tell you whether his speech is typical for his age or delayed in some way.

Anonymous wrote:He needs a speech therapist. If People cannot understand him

He needs a speech therapist. People cannot understand him

That’s typical of preschoolers.

My 3 year old has speech issues and does not articulate his words. I’m wondering if any of you had children who have had speech problems at a young age? If so, did they grow out of it at an older age or still have speech problems?