When should I be concerned about my son's speech?

[quelindo]

My son will be 4.5 in a few weeks and while people can mostly understand him, sometimes I still have to "translate." His "R's" are the most difficult for him -- he sounds like he has a Boston accent (and we live in Wisconsin). In addition, his "L's" are often a "Y" sound -- instead of "Look, look!" it's "Yook, yook!"

I know these are common and I've never been too concerned since I know kids often outgrow this kind of thing, but I'm wondering when I should start being concerned. I think he'd get free therapy through our school system (he's not in school -- we're homeschooling ATM), though he might be resistant to it if I can't be there with him.

[LynnS6]

not until he's about 6 or 7.

R and L are highly variable sounds - some kids master them early, some don't master them until school age. If those are the only two sounds that he has trouble with, he's generally easy for you to understand, then I wouldn't worry. At 4, he should be mostly intelligible to you (95% of the time), and highly intelligible to others.

If you find yourself translating for him a lot, I'd have his hearing checked by an audiologist and him assessed by a speech language pathologist.

[KatWrangler]

My son will be 6 next month and sometimes I have trouble understanding him. Especially when he starts talking fast and is excited about something. His teacher hasn't said anything about his speech.

[snoopy5386]

I would get him evaluated by the school system ASAP. I know here in Maryland, if you decide to homeschool you are no longer eligible for speech (and other) services. It happened to a friend of mine - she is homeschooling her daughter for kindy this year - her daughter was able to get speech services up until this September when she would have started Kindy. Now she is no longer eligible. Her younger sister who just turned 4 is still eligible and goes twice a week. It is sad since the older girl could really still benefit from the speech services. Since your son is only 4.5 and not "officially" supposed to be in school yet, I would get the services while I still could.

[Shaki]

My DD is 4 and in her second week of speech therapy. She has always said "t" for K and "d" for g--Like "That's a cool dog" would sound like "that's a tool dod". She LOVES her speech therapy and is already making the K sound.

So, just a happy voice here for early intervention. If the services are available to you why not at least get an evaluation? Could be nothing to worry about or could be something that needs a little attention. No harm in checking it out. I think DD is happy about having the issue addressed, and feels a lot of pride and new confidence in learning how to say these sounds.

[hipumpkins]

My son does the "T" "K thing also. We're not worried. I feel like by 7 he will be caught up.
I do show him sometimes how I place my tongue when making those letter sounds but he doesn;t quite have it yet.

[Aridel]

I just posted this on another thread too; a chart that I've found helpful. It really shows what sounds a child should have at what ages. I would check it out and see if there are any your son is missing. Sounds from the OP like his errors are typical for his age for right now!

[sapphire_chan]

According to this chart:
http://lester.rale.k12.wv.us/articulation%20norms.htm

he's still in the range of normal for both sounds. It looks like you should expect him to be articulating the "l" within a year and a half and the "r" should come through within the next 4 years, if not before.

eta:
Oh good, it agrees with Aridel's chart which is the one I was trying to find when my Google-fu failed me.

Oh, and another good resource from the site Aridel linked that you might play with even though he's fine, http://www.talkingchild.com/toysbooksartic.aspx Has suggestions for read-aloud books that emphasize different phonemes.