My child does not pronounce well: what to do?

Pronunciation problems in children worry many parents.

The acquisition of the sounds of language progresses as the child grows. The sounds are acquired according to the degree of difficulty, so the younger the child is, the more unintelligible is what he or she "says".

As they grow they have greater control of their language and where they position it, they know how to differentiate between phonemes and understand, for example, that "s" and "z" sound different.

However, from the age of 5, if the child still does not speak well at all, there is a problem. Parents start to worry and ask themselves "why doesn't my child pronounce well?" and what to do.. Well, we are going to see it below.

Why doesn't my child pronounce well?

A very characteristic trait of young children is to have a rag for a tongue. They have a hard time imitating words, they do not pronounce phonemes well, they turn them around or omit them..

Problems articulating phonemes and speaking correctly are perfectly normal in the first years of life. At less than 5 years of age, they do not have efficient control of their tongue and the rest of the phonoarticulatory apparatus, and they have yet to learn to distinguish the phonemes that make up their native language.

Each child grows at his or her own pace and, while some may be able to speak quite clearly at the age of 3, others still struggle a bit at that same age. However, by the age of 4 or 5 from the age of 4 or 5 onwards, there is every reason to be concerned if our child does not speak very well.. It may not be anything serious, of course, but it never hurts to go to a speech therapist to evaluate what exactly is happening so that our offspring still does not articulate phonemes well.

Dyslalia

The name given to problems with the correct pronunciation of phonemes in the mother tongue. problems to pronounce correctly the phonemes of the mother tongue is called dyslalia. is called dyslalia. There are three types of dyslalia, depending on when it occurs and what could explain it.

Developmental dyslalia

As we mentioned, until the age of 4 years, it is normal that children cannot pronounce all the phonemes. This is called developmental dyslalia, that is, the difficulty to pronounce the sounds associated to the fact that the phonoarticulatory organs have not developed adequately.

With the passage of time the child will have greater control over the tongue, soft and hard palate, lips and other parts involved in the pronunciation of phonemes.. It is expected that by the age of 4 years the child will be able to pronounce properly, or be very close to saying all sounds well.

2. Functional dyslalia

Functional dyslalia is the one in which the child does not use the articulatory organs correctly when trying to pronounce a phoneme. This may be due to a problem in the mouth or simply that the child has not learned to pronounce phonemes properly.

For example, he does not place the tongue correctly in the position needed to make the sound or, even lateralizes it. He may also omit, substitute, distort or insert a phoneme.

3. Audiogenic dyslalia

In the audiogenic dyslalia the infant does not articulate correctly, not because of problems in the mouth or because he does not know how to do it, but because he does not seem to perceive the nuances between two or more phonemes.. This may be due to deafness or because he/she does not perceive or process auditory stimuli properly.

Types of errors

When we talk about dyslalia it is possible to find different types of errors depending on which phonemes are involved and how they are omitted, substituted or rotated. As we said, the main problem in dyslalia is that the infant is not able to speak his/her mother tongue correctly, however, it is necessary to make a note. When we speak of mother tongue we are not referring to the standard or the most extended variety of the language, but to the one taught at home, with its specific vocabulary.with its specific vocabulary.

Within the same language there are dialects and none of them should be seen as speaking the language badly. There may be a dialect that is more widespread than the others and that speech may have served as a reference or pronunciation model. However, this does not mean that speakers of other dialects speak poorly, they simply speak differently.

It may be the case that linguistic phenomena occur in these other languages that are radically different from the way the majority speak, but these should not be interpreted as errors in speech. should not be interpreted as errors in speech.

For example, in some dialects of Andalusian there is a phenomenon called lisping, which consists of substituting the "s" for "z". The lisp is also an error typical of dyslalias, however, it is very different from the natural lisp of Andalusian speech. An Andalusian child who speaks with a lisp at home is not a child with dyslalia but a native speaker of Andalusian Spanish.

Having clarified all this, let's take a look at the main types of errors characteristic of children with dyslalia when using Spanish. when using Spanish.

• Lisp: /s/ for /z/: "caza" instead of "casa".
• Seseo: /z/ for /s/: "sapato" instead of "zapato".
• Substitution of /f/ for /p/ or /z/: "marfo" instead of "marzo".
• Substitution of /k/ for /t/: "tizás" instead of "quizás".
• Rotacism: "gomper" for "romper".
• Nasalization: /d/ for /n/, "animina" for "adivina".
• Sonorization of voiceless consonants: e.g., /g/ for /k/, "gauze" for "house".
• Anticipation problems, saying "títate" for "quítate".
• Duplication, "alrereror" instead of "alrededor".
• Substitution or assimilation of one phoneme for another. For example, /t/ for /s/.
• Alteration of the order of phonemes: "dentífrico" instead of "dentrífico".
• Alteration of syllable order, e.g., "telophone".

What causes my child to mispronounce?

There are several reasons behind dyslalia.

1. Developmental cause

It would be associated with developmental dyslalia. Simply put, the child does not pronounce phonemes well because he has not yet developed his phonoarticulatory apparatus completely, but sooner or later it will be fully formed.but sooner or later it will be fully formed. His age is between 2 and 4 years, so it is expected that he mispronounces a few phonemes. However, it will be necessary to see a speech therapist if pronunciation problems persist beyond the age of 5.

2. Auditory perception problems

There are cases in which the individual cannot pronounce correctly because he/she does not hear correctly, and this would cause an audiological dyslalia. There may be a lesion in the ear, a problem in the auditory nerve or an encephalic lesion that prevents the child from hearing well one or several phonemes, processing them and being able to differentiate them.and can process them and differentiate them from other phonemes. This causes the child to confuse phonemes and hear them as the same.

3. Damaged phonoarticulatory apparatus and poor motor control.

As the child grows, it is normal that he/she acquires the motor ability to move the tongue and lips, emitting the phonemes he/she wants. The older the child gets, the greater the control and the better the pronunciation. However, sometimes it happens that the child still has not developed the necessary musculature or has an injury to lips, tongue, hard and/or soft palate, teeth, jaws or nostrils that causes his or her pronunciation to be limited.

4. Lack of comprehension

Sometimes the problem is neither in the mouth nor in the perception of sounds, but in comprehension. The children omit sounds, substitute them or deform them even though they could make them correctly. In some cases speech may be unintelligible if many sounds are affected.

The problems behind this are more psychological, such as a developmental disorder or personality traits like shyness or disinterest in what their peers do. of what the people around them are doing.

Likewise, they are aware that they do not speak well, feel frustrated about it, may show poor school performance and be aggressive in frustration because adults repeat to them, over and over again, how they should say things.

What to do if a child over 5 years old still does not pronounce well?

Again we emphasize the importance of going to the professional in charge of this problem: the speech therapist. Through his evaluation he will establish a diagnosis specifying the cause behind our child's pronunciation difficulties. If the child is having problems because he/she does not understand how to say things it is most likely that the speech therapist will be in charge of teaching him/her how to speak correctly..

On the other hand, if the problem is due to a possible deafness, lesions in the mouth or there is a suspicion of neurological injury, other professionals will be called in, but not without leaving aside the speech therapist. This professional will check the progress made by the child after the relevant surgical interventions, and will evaluate if the dyslalia has improved or worsened.

However, it is very important to also work on the child's dyslalia, it is very important to work at home as well.. Parents and other family members should serve as role models to teach children how to speak. Even if you are not a speech therapist, there are many ways that can be used to correct your child's pronunciation problem.

The first thing that should be clear is that we should not encourage the child's infantilized language, i.e., imitate or use the same mispronounced words. For example, if he says "tetota" instead of pelota, we should not use the same word, but the correct one, no matter how funny it may seem to us. The important thing is that he understands that this word must be said according to the way we pronounce it and that, if he wants to make himself understood, he must learn to say it correctly.

It is very important that, when correcting these mistakes in pronunciation, do not put pressure on him or demand the correct way of speaking.. That is to say, if he has said "tetota" do not say "Say ball, repeat after me: pe-lo-ta". It is best to respond by saying the correct word, for example "I think I saw the pe-lo-ta over there in your room". It is also very important to avoid using phrases such as "that's not the way to say it" or "it's wrong", since doing so could make him feel self-conscious and discouraged, making him not want to talk.

At 4 years of age, children no longer need bottles or pacifiers. They should have stopped using them a long time ago, specifically from the age of 2. Using bottles and pacifiers beyond the age of 2 years does not allow the organs of the phonoarticulatory apparatus to develop correctly, and is very counterproductive in the acquisition of correct pronunciation.

Chewing is a very important aspect. Chewing is oral gymnastics, training the muscles that we will use to make the phonemes. That is why it is essential that, when he already has teeth, we stop giving him soft foods. Let's avoid all purees, porridges, juices and move on to a solid diet. Of course, it should be cut and be soft enough so that he does not choke, but resistant enough to chew.

Bibliographical references:

• Aguilar-Valera, J.A.. (2017). Communication disorders from the DSM-V. The need for differential diagnoses. Neuropsychology Notebooks (11) 1: 144-156.
• Bauman-Wängler, Jacqueline Ann. (2004). Articulatory and phonological impairments: a clinical focus (2 ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 978-0-205-40248-9. OCLC 493612551.