Will speech troubles pass on their own?

[MommyInTraining]

My 1st born had speech issues and we put her in speech therapy and then pulled her out because I didn't like the feeling that they were trying to "label" her. She grew out of it and now speaks fine. My 2nd child, ds, also had issues and I just assumed he would grow out of it. All of my children seem to have language issues. I remember having to go to speech therapy in elementary school. So, back to my son, he is 7 and still not speaking clearly. His L's and ER's, are what I can think of right off. I am still struggling to teach him reading and math. I am just hoping that he is slow to mature and this is all going to work it self out.

So, can you tell me, did you have a child that had troubles with speech and he/she grew out of it without any therapy?

Thanks!

[strider]

I have a little cousin who I babysit weekly. She has always had speech issues. For years her older sister "translated" for her to others.

I spent years frustrated with her parents. First they said it must be a hearing problem and had some earwax removed. They let the problem go after that for years, saying it must be this or that, or that she would grow out of it and some kids just develop at different times. None of those explanations adequately addressed the problem.

This little girl is now in third grade. In some senses yes, she grew out of it, because she is able to make herself understood. However, her speech is noticeably different (in other words, still not "fixed") and she compensates for her speech difficulties by speaking both louder and by exaggerating her pronunciation of the syllables of a word. I get upset every time I think of it, because she needs help.

My little cousin's situation is fairly severe, and the lack of intervention has impacted her life now in the sense that she had a hard time making friends for YEARS, and even now her loudness and funny speech patterns are off-putting (dearly though I love her). If her speech patterns continue like this it WILL affect her adult life.

Labels hurt when they are used to limit what a person is allowed to do, but they HELP when they identify a legitimate difficulty and provide the help and resources needed to improve the situation. If your children have diagnosable, definable speech difficulties then the label just serves as a vehicle to get help. It's a label that will not live with them forever--they don't get tracked into special ed because of speech difficulties, and they certainly don't bring that label into any adult job situation. They will, however, bring speech difficulties with them into adulthood if they're not addressed.

Having said all this, I have no way of knowing how severe your children's speech difficulties are. Obviously my response is guided by watching my cousin's unresolved speech issues impact her life negatively. However, I urge you to carefully consider how that "label" will affect your children as opposed to lack of intervention in the long term.

[Cindy in Indy]

My son could not say his s's clearly. They wouldn't begin speech therapy until he was 9, because "he might grow out of it naturally". At age 9, he began speech therapy, which corrected his s's within 6 months (we hear the amazing improvement when we watch old family videos). The speech therapy sessions revealed some other issues, such as midline crossing and small motor skill deficiencies. I did not want him to see the school psychologist (he was my oldest, and I was afraid they'd try to take him out of home-school) and get labeled, so I pursued occupational therapy with a private therapist, not through the school. My son is 14 now. His handwriting is readable, but not great. I don't think he would have grown out of his lisp on his own. But I think each speech impediment has its own timeframe for what is considered "normal". For example, it's "normal" for a 5-year old to have trouble with the "l" sound, but not "normal" for a 13-year old. Intervention should happen before the child is too old and palate formation/habits, etc are fixed.

My daughter also had a slight lisp, but it has corrected on its own.

My 13 ds had no speech or motor skill issues.

So every child is different. I used to be wary of intervention, but I would be more willing to try it, if I had it to do over. (Hindsight is so helpful.)

I think your own judgment and common sense are your best guides.
HTH,
Cindy

[stripe]

I think if the child could benefit, why not. Don't allow it to become awful and stressful and make your child feel labelled/freakish. Otherwise, if the therapy works, then what's the label? Recovered lisper, or whatever?

My child stuttered and the pediatrician's office told me it was normal and made some suggestions (such as speaking more slowly and not trying to correct or otherwise bring more stress/awareness on the child, and trying to reduce stress in child's life) and recommended intervention only if it persisted for some time. It did resolve on its own after some time. But getting those suggestions helped A LOT both in terms of reassurance and knowing what to do and what to try to avoid doing.

[Julie Smith]

I have speech problems. Everyone thinks I have a strong accent - but English is my only language.

It never self corrected. When I was a child it was noted that I had trouble with 24 different sounds.

sh, ch, ur, ir, l, s, e, o, qu, r, ....