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22 month old speech

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toddlers
2K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  gardenmommy 
#1 ·
Hello, just wondering what is "normal" in terms of speech for an almost 2 year old.

My son has lots of words, I've never counted them but he can name most things and people in his environment and is beginning to use phrases (Where's so and so?). His receptive language is even better and he understands pretty much everything we say or ask him and can point to all kinds of objects, people, animals in books.

My question is about his mispronunciation of words. He can say Mama and Mouse but calls "mitts" "bitts". He can say Hi and Hello (well Hewo) but calls a "horse" a "morse". Bupple for Buckle and Pubble for Puzzle. Many words are pronounced correctly and many are not. Any ideas? We just keep saying the correct word (although it is so tempting to call mitts bitts because it sounds so cute when he says it:) I am just wondering if this indicates an issue or if it is just normal. I remember my mom telling me that I called "crackers" "frackers" and I'm okay now lol.

Any feedback would be appreciated:)

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
That is normal. My youngest daughter is 28 months so we've just been through that. At her 2 year old well baby visit, the dr was happy she could use 5 word sentences. She is quite a talker, though. She says "tantastic" for fantastic but can clearly say "f" sounds otherwise. She also says "prettiful" as a pretty/beautiful combo.
 
#4 ·
Completely normal. I am a Speech Pathologist and a mother. Both of my children used f for th. It is very common. Your little one is substituting earlier developing sounds /b/, /p/ for later developing sounds /k/, /z/. It sounds as though your child is capable of producing these later developing sounds but is choosing to not use them all the time. Speech is very complicated and requires quite a bit of coordination. Sometimes they just want to get the words and out move on. When a word is produced that is incorrect, pull the mis-produced sound out and have your child say it in isolation. Make a game out of it. This allows them to feel the correct placement. You are absolutely correct in not repeating their mis-pronunciation. By hearing appropriate speech and language they will begin to emulate good speech and language. Hope this is helpful!
 
#5 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLPmom View PostWhen a word is produced that is incorrect, pull the mis-produced sound out and have your child say it in isolation. Make a game out of it. This allows them to feel the correct placement.
Honestly, I wouldn't say this is necessary for a child who isn't even two yet mispronouncing some sounds. I should think this will sort itself out and eventually (not sure when?) he'll be saying it all correctly, without special exercises but just in the normal course of language development.

My son just turned 23 months today and he often says "w" as "b", so "bet" instead of "wet". He says "doos" for "shoes" and "teeping" for sleeping (which is just sooooo cute!!!!)...among many others. I find it all so cute and I assume he'll get it right when it's time so this isn't something that worries me.
 
#6 ·
My DD is about the same age and she has similar verbal things going on. I think it's normal. It's also very cute - I try to acknowledge what she says and just repeat it back correctly. There are some consonants she can't get - l and r - and combos, like sh, and her longer words are hilarious "dah-bur-der" for strawberry :) I wouldn't worry!
 
#7 ·
Thanks ladies! It is great to have the perspective of a speech pathologist as well as other mothers who are just winging it!

I feel like my son's speech is really exploding lately and I am not as concerned but I wasn't really sure what to expect. I appreciate the feedback:)
 
#8 ·
DS is exactly the same, he talks sooooo much more than most of my friends kids of a similar age (even way older) so I am not concerned at all. It is hard to not repeat their mispronounciations, his name is "Connor" but he calls himself "Nonnor". We call him Nonner sometimes cause its so cute but are trying hard not too :)
 
#9 ·
My children have all done the same thing. We didn't do anything special to correct them until they approached 4 or 5 years. Then we did just what SLPmom said. Ex: DS (5 in 2 weeks) says "sfoon" for "spoon". We started by isolating the "sp" part of the word, and asking him to say that alone. After many attempts, he could combine that sound with the rest of the word properly. I think that if, after consistently trying to teach him the correct sound he was unable to make any progress, I would consider speech therapy for an older pre-schooler. I would hate for my child to get to school-age and still be making really noticeable speech errors. I would hate for that to be something he/she was picked on for. I wouldn't really worry about it with a toddler, though. They have such a big language development between 2 and 3, and most figure out correct pronunciation without any problem.
 
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