Speech issues - 3.5 year old

[goddessofdawn]

Are there any speech pathologists here who can advise me on this issue? Or mums who have experienced the same issue?

My 3.5 year old daughter (she just turned 3.5 yrs two weeks ago) still can not pronounce "g" or "c/k" sounds. i.e. goat becomes doat, mango becomes mando. Duck is dut, come is "tum".
She also says "wabbit" and "somefing", but I'm not concerned about these as most kids her age still can't say "r" or "th". I was just reading that most kids can say "g" and "c/k" by 3.5 years and wonder whether I should be concerned.

She talks a lot. She has a huge vocabulary (hundreds of words). We read together every single day and have done since she was a baby. Adults can understand her at least 90% of the time.

Is it worth getting therapy yet? As of today we've started phonics songs and various sounding-out activities.
Not really sure what to do.

[Nai]

My DD1 was the same and started saying the "g" and "k" sounds just before she turned 4. Appparently it is quite common according to her kinder teachers at the time. She has no issues now so I probably wouldn't be overly concerned just yet.

[Artechim]

My DD2 is 4 in September and doesn't have those sounds yet.

[~me~]

They all develop language at different stages. My DD can say those words you are mentioning...her trouble is words like disappear..it's pisappear She will be 4 in November.
She talks alot as well. She also over exaggerates her 'g' sound so she will say long with the 'g' sounding like it would in log.

She may say something incorrectly and rather tell her you say it like this, I usually say "oh, yes it did disappear". So just repeat in the correct context rather correct her directly. Seems to work on most occassions.

It will sort itself it out I would say.

[Olive]

Taken from info I have here:

....the age at which sound is mastered will vary, but:

By 3.5 most kids can say
b p m w h

By 4.5 most kids can say
d t g k n y (i)ng

By 5 most kids can say
f l sh

By 6 most kids can say
s z ch i v

By 7 most kids can say
th r

Blended sounds are more difficult and generally are last to appear
st, sp, sk, bl, pr, thr

Common mistakes whiles a child is sorting out speech sounds are:

Substituting one sound for another, eg.

"t" for "k" as in tar for car
"d" for "g" as in dun for gun
"p" for "f" as in leap for leaf
"W" or "y" for "l" as in wight for light
"w" for "r" as in wed for red
"th" for "s" as in thock for sock

[goddessofdawn]

She may say something incorrectly and rather tell her you say it like this, I usually say "oh, yes it did disappear". So just repeat in the correct context rather correct her directly. Seems to work on most occassions.

Yes, that's what we do I never correct her, I just say the word correctly myself. We downloaded an app for the "g" sound today and she was so excited because she thought she was saying "g"... but she was still saying "d". Never mind... I won't push it.

I like the chart above Then I won't have to worry!

[YoYo]

My DS's words were exactly the same as your DD's. He is 5 now and still doesn't pronounce 'th' so will still say 'somfing'.....but I'm not too worried. Not long ago he couldn't pronounce 'r' or 'g' or 'c' 'k' but one day it just clicked. I would show him where in my mouth my tongue went when saying the sounds and over time he got there.

[~Hestia~]

I'm sure she will get it in her own time My eldest was 3.5 in February and he wasn't saying the 'ck' sound. So when he said 'truck' he would pronounce it 'tra' and just leave the last sound off the word entirely. Now a few months on he can pronounce it properly, don't think I even realised it until I was sitting here reading your post!

[Arimeh]

Dd2 is 3.5 and can say them but can't say other things - she says "schmoon" instead of spoon for example.

Sounds fine to me

[2CheekyMonkeys]

I could have written this post 6 months ago. My dd could physically not make the c/k and g sounds. She could hear the difference but could not do it. Took her to gp who put her in a care plan to get 5 bulk billed speech therapy sessions. The speech therapist did two sessions with her and couldn't get her to make the sound either. Gave me some exercises to do with her but said come back in 6 months as she might not be developmentally ready yet. The week before her 4th birthday she started doing it. We are seeing speech therapist for follow up as she still tends to revert to old sounds in conversation. There are a lot of rhymes and games that the speech therapist can do with her and teach her so it's not a bad thing to see one so young. Also the way the tongue is positioned at back of throat is the same for the c/k and g sound so once one is mastered the other one comes too.

[spiceoflife]

Replying quickly with my SP hat on...
Yep, wait another 6mths or so and watch to see. She may not say them correctly at the beginning of words but may get it at the ends (or vice versa) and maybe not in connected speech (i.e. sentences or several words together) for a while. If she can say /k, g/ at all, these sounds will probably emerge on their own. If at 4yrs you're still not hearing anything like /k, g/, it's worth seeking a speech assessment - always best to get this stuff sorted out before starting school!

[goddessofdawn]

Thanks Spiceoflife - nice to get a professional's opinion.

Although I feel a bit silly now because I was talking to DD just then and she said "together"! She definitely didn't say "todether"... Then she actually said "mango"! Wen she used to say it, she'd say it with a really strong "d" sound but now it definitely sounds like "mango"... if she is saying "d" it's very subtle and I doubt anyone would pick it up, iykwim.

I think "c/k" is the bigger problem. That's really noticeable.