At what age does articulation improve?

[kittykat2481]

I'm just wondering when some of your children have mastered sounds like /l/ and /r/. I've noticed that, although DS had an extensive vocabulary and language ability, his voice and articulation sometimes sound more "babyish" than his friends. Granted, some of his friends are 4-5 years old. He's running around the house right now saying, "Awh you weady foh bwast off? Hewe we go! Bwast off!" and "I caught some fiss wif my fissing poe." His favorite drink is "wem-oh-wade".

His preschool teacher plays a game with him where they look in the mirror and practice making faces. When they do this, she has him pay attention to how she moves her mouth when she makes certain sounds. Since she started doing this, DS will sometimes saying things like, "Mommy, wook at dat rrrllled car." He gets /r/ and /l/ mixed up because he's trying so hard. Obviously no one is really pushing him. It's just that he can hear how it's meant to be said but has a hard time articulating it.

For background. I think he's pretty easily understood by most people, but it's hard to say since of course I understand everything he says. When he was an infant he had 40% hearing loss from fluid, and got tubes at 11 months old. He had speech therapy from 17 months until almost 2 because he was late to babble or make any sounds like dadadada or mamamamama. He also had oral motor/sensory issues, and still drools if he's really into something or excited. He just forgets to swallow. He doesn't walk around with a wet shirt anymore, like he used to though. His hearing has been tested twice since then and he passes hearing tests. At 2 his speech took off, and he can now talk circles around his same age peers. I only wonder about his articulation.

I'd love to hear others' experiences!

[Alyantavid]

My oldest son started kindergarten not able to say "c" "k" or "r".  He went through speech therapy at school for a few months and was able to pronounce everything after that.

My younger son is 4.5 and he can say "l" fine when he thinks about it.  "c" "k" "r" and "th" he still can't say.  But he's the same as your son, he can say and uses an amazing amount of words but they just don't come out perfectly.  I'm not worried at this point, but we do work on it.

[beebalmmama]

My ds 5.5yrs is currently receiving minimal services at school for speech (he's not quite behind enough for full services).  He was tested at 4 yrs too but wasn't quite "behind developmentally" to receive services.

He still has trouble with blend especially those with 'r' and 'l'. The SLP was mostly concerned that he hadn't gotten the 'c' and 'g' sounds, it was still developmentally appropriate at 4 but should be coming by 5. We worked a lot on those at home and he did get them although in daily speech he'll still often drop them. Same with blends, he can get most of them when he slows down but often starts talking so fast he drops them.

You could have him seen by an SLP again. They could give you a better idea about what sounds are developmentally in line for his age and what he might be behind on. The SLP my son saw before kindy gave us some paperwork and ideas of games to play with ds to help out.

I do worry now that he is in school and I know that sometimes his teacher and peers don't always understand him.

We're considering doing private speech therapy (where the $$ will come from I don't know) since the school district can't or won't offer more at this point. I really don't want it to get worse before they offer him help.