Parents frequently struggle to know how to assist a child who has speech and sound issues. They frequently have a greater understanding of their child's speech than people who only sometimes interact with the child. But occasionally they might also find it extremely difficult to understand what their child is saying. Stress, disappointment, and even humiliation may result from this.

In this article, we outline a few different strategies parents and guardians can use to support a child who has a speech or hearing difficulties. Before we do that, let's quickly go through speech sound issues and the difference between a speech delay and a speech problem.

What exactly are speech sound issues?

Children gradually learn how to say various speech sounds when they are first learning to talk. When a child is learning, it's common for them to make mistakes with speech sounds. There is an illustration of a speech error that all frequently developing children make.

By a certain age, children are expected to be proficient in a variety of speech sounds. Speech in children may be abnormal or delayed for their age. Please take a look at our blog post on the topic for more information on the typical speech-sound course of events.

A Speech Delay is what?

A child with delayed speech or a speech sound disorder who is developing their speech sounds later than predicted is said to have a speech delay.

A speech disorder is what?

A child with disordered speech or a disturbance of speech sounds makes speech sound errors that don't follow a typical pattern or may make a wide variety of difficult-to-understand speech sound errors.

Advice on the best way to assist a child having trouble with speech sounds

1) Provide a credible model

Make every effort to avoid telling your child directly that they made a mistake if they make a speech sound mistake while uttering a word. Avoid saying things like, "No, that is correct, repeat that... try not to say TAR say CAR." Provide a reasonable example by repeating the word and emphasizing the proper speech sound with your voice by lengthening it slightly. Try repeating the term a few times in succinct expressions.

Before a child can pronounce a word correctly, they may need to hear you speak it often. When you set a good example for your child, they start to pay attention to proper speech. You implicitly change them, but they are not required to use the same word twice. As a result, they won't feel as though they don't fully comprehend something or lose confidence when speaking.

2) Have discussions in a certain situation

Also, more context-rich conversations will provide you with more opportunities to clearly demonstrate target terms to your child. It will typically be much easier to grasp what your child says once you start talking about the current time and place. There are several opportunities for this during recess. There are also a ton of routine activities that can set the scene, like taking a shower, getting dressed, and getting ready for bed. Assuming your child makes mistakes, be careful to repeat words and emphasize the proper speech sounds rather than telling them they made a mistake.

3) Slap the ears

If you couldn't hear what your child said the first time, you might be able to understand if they repeat themselves. Try to get a favorable job search for redundancy by accusing your ears. For instance, you might ask, "Could you please say that again? My ears didn't hear things like "my old ears didn't hear you." To politely signal that you think your youngster should repeat, place your palm behind your ear. Accepting responsibility for your child's ignorance might boost their self-assurance and lessen their reluctance to engage in the same activity.

4) Attempt to explain the point.

Because children typically inform you of events that are not now taking place, there are times when you will have no idea what your child is talking about. It can help to clarify the subject to which your child is referring. Ask them if everything they say to you is true or false, for example: "Would you say that you are providing me with information about something in the room? Would you say that at playschool you are educating me about something? "As soon as you understand what your child has said, repeat it to them so they can hear the words being articulated clearly and know that you have heard them. contact the top speech and language therapy and Child Occupational Therapy for your child.