Speech issues in 3 1/2 yo - WWYD?

[MittensKittens]

My DD is 3 1/2 years old, and is bilingual, as well as understanding but not speaking a third language. She has a large vocabulary in both languages, has good grammar and knows the alphabet in one language (the other language uses the cyrillic alphabet) and reads a bit. The problem is that her pronunciation is such that people who are not around her on a regular basis have a really hard time making sense of what she says. I understand her perfectly, but as time goes on I am starting to get worried. I recently got back in touch with a friend of mine who has a DD who is six months younger than mine, and also bilingual. Well, I was really blown away by the level of her pronunciation, and am now worried my DD needs some help. Several friends have remarked that she might benefit from speech therapy.

Sometimes DD is just lazy, like she will she "Tee-ya" instead of "tortilla" when in fact she does know how to pronounce that correctly, but on many occasions she truly doesn't know.

Any advice? Any BTDT stories? Any links? Perhaps I could do some exercises with her to help her speech improve? We are expats so we don't have access to any kind of government program. If we opt for speech therapy, I'd have to pay for that out of pocket, but of course I am more than willing to do so if I think it is really necessary. Part of the problem comes from the fact that I have travelled a lot, speak four languages fluently and have a really weird accent - you can find traces of all the languages I speak in my accent. I grew up bilingually too, and went to speech therapy when I was around 6. It didn't do anything for me.

OK, sorry for the ramble. I am really hoping for some useful suggestions .

[pbjmama]

In your case I think I would opt for a speech evaluation to see where she stands. Ask around and go somewhere good that is experienced with multilingual children. This will give you an idea of where she is vs. what is average and should include ideas of ways you can work with her at home. Some basic things we did to start with my ds were working on sucking things like thick smoothies through straws, blowing bubbles, putting pb or chocolate syrup right above top lip and having him lick it off. Just basic exercises to get his tongue working.

[LynnS6]

I would have her evaluated by a speech language pathologist. The school district will do it for you, and should provide free services if she qualifies. The key will be to find a bilingual therapist (or at least someone who is familiar enough with both languages so that they don't tell you stupid things such as "don't speak your other language").

The rule of thumb is that a child should be 25% understandable for every year of life. At 3 1/2, you should be able to understand at least 75% of what she says. By 4, it should be close to 100% (at least for pronunciation). If you went to speech therapy, it could well be that your family just "late bloomers" in terms of pronunciation.