Do You Correct Speech?

[kitkat]

This.
My younger daughter was one of those kids and needed minor speech therapy (they knew it was something she would outgrow as her mouth muscles developed, but wanted to work with her so it would happen sooner rather than later)

IIRC, we were told to NOT correct her, but to always pronounce correctly back to her if appropriate (as some parents think certain speech issues are "cute" and prolong it by pronouncing the word the same as the child )

There is a big difference between gently correcting a child's grammar, which they can help and learn from, and a speech issue that may be beyond them. Unless you've been given exercises by a speech therapist who is working with that child, I would NOT correct them each time.

This is exactly what my concern was and why I haven't corrected. Thank you!

[Sunshine74]

I 100% agree with this. ^^

Model the proper sounds/words but don't correct.

My child said certain sounds/words incorrectly and was corrected so often that he simply began finding alternative words to use in place of those he had trouble with.

He also developed some really tough self-esteem issues and started being really hard on himself about his inability to say things correctly. It profoundly effected how he felt about himself.

I would leave the correcting to the speech therapist and just stick with role-modeling. Too many people correcting a child can be tough on the child when sometimes he simply wants his message heard without all the technicalities added in. We're daycare/child care not school.

I agree with this, especially the bolded part. I've had a slight lisp since I was in elementary school. I had speech for it for about a school year when I was about 7 or 8, but it wasn't bad enough to continue longer than that. My mom would correct me nicely, but it still made me really self conscious. When I get tired or when I say a lot of words with s's in them (think Dr. Suess ABC book) it is worse, and it still makes me feel self conscious.

[Play Care]

My 6 yo has 3 separate articulation disorders which combine to make him very difficult to understand. His SLPs have always been very adamant that we NOT correct him but only model the words correctly by rephrasing his sentences as we talk to him (which he also likes because it verifies that we understood him correctly). Mostly so that he doesn't feel nagged about his speech all the time but also because of the specific exercises they do and how they do them.

I know it's not the same thing as your case, but just another opinion on why it might not always be best to correct.

Thanks! I knew there were reasons behind it, but it's been so long I couldn't remember ::

It really used to bother me when a DCD who was here at the time would repeat/correct things that DD was saying. It wasn't something she could help and I didn't want her feeling self conscious/embarrassed about it. It's hardly noticeable now, though occasionally I will notice a "lazy" r when she's tired or excited.

All that said, if I had a child in my care with speech issues, I would be asking the parents to have an eval (in my state that is free and painless so there is no reason not to get it done) and go from there. I would also welcome therapists in my home to work with the child if needed, and implement any exercises *they* give me to do.