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Expert Q&A
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| By Mindy Hudon Speech and Language Pathologist | ||
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When should you start speech therapy for a 3-year-old who occasionally says "w" instead of "r" and who has a slight lisp?
At this point, I do not think your son needs speech therapy for "r" and a "slight lisp." Developmentally, we may expect about 75 percent of children to acquire "r" by the time they are 5 years old and "s" by 4 1/2 years. A lisp can be developmental in nature as well and speech-language pathologist don't typically address this until children are much older.
As a parent of a child who lisped at 3, I understand your concerns. I would suggest modeling the correct speech sounds to your child in play. Talk about "tongue back and teeth together" to make a "snake sound s." Be silly and play with the sounds and don't place too much emphasis on his speech at this point. Over exaggerate the "r" and "s" in words while you read and play with your son. Follow up with your pediatrician at your annual visits and discuss your concerns if you feel these sounds have not developed.
The book Teach Me How to Say it Right: Helping your Child with Articulation Problems(New Harbinger Pub., 2005) by Dorothy Dougherty is a great resource on how to help your child's speech development or visit the American Speech-Language Hearing Association Web site at www.asha.org.
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