When Should Children Know How To Spit?

[Laura5287]

I have a boy who will be 5 soon and cannot spit yet. He also may have speech problems. I have mentioned this to his parents several times and have been working with him. He has trouble with ch, sh, y's, L's and r's. I am assuming that it is all related but I could be wrong. I know some letters are harder than others. I have a hard time figuring out what he is saying esp. when he is excited. I have also noticed that he is waving his hands when he is excited. Not sure what that is all about. I have had him since he was 2 1/2. It seems like he has something going on but I cannot figure it out. I mention things to the parents but not sure what they do about it. He is now getting up all hours of the night at home and the parents are exhausted.
Any suggestions on what to look for or what to do?

[Unregistered]

Does your school system do a pre-kindergarten screening?

[Josiegirl]

Hmmm, what does his pedi say? Has anyone done an evaluation on him? It sounds like he should have been having speech therapy working with him. The longer they wait, the harder it is for him to catch up.
If you check out http://agesandstages.com, see if you can print off the right age assessments(I'm not sure but I think you can??)and have the dcps fill one out at home and you can fill one out, then get together and talk about it.
I'm not sure if spitting is related to that or not??

[Starburst]

Hmmm, what does his pedi say? Have anyone done an evaluation on him? It sounds like he should have been having speech therapy working with him. The longer they wait, the harder it is for him to catch up.
If you check out http://agesandstages.com, see if you can print off the right age assessments(I'm not sure but I think you can??)and have the dcps fill one out at home and you can fill one out, then get together and talk about it.
I'm not sure if spitting is related to that or not??

That's what I was thinking, spitting is usually considered a frowned upon action often seen as unsanitary or a sign of disrespect. But I suppose it can still be seen as an important skill for development (like pinching can be important for small motor even though it's often discouraged).

But I do remember once I had to teach a 12 year old with autism how to hawk a lougie; we were on a walk and he kept clearing his throat and didn't want him to get a sore throat from clearing his throat too much in the dry air (and honestly it was just getting irritating to listen to after all day). It didn't work and I just decided to head back inside so he can get something to drink.

[Laura5287]

I don't normally encourage spitting but he can't even spit out toothpaste, water, something he doesn't like the taste of. He is still on training toothpaste at this point. I have tried taking cups of water outside, showing him the water in my mouth and letting it fall out. He tries but cannot get it. I have even tried spitting water contest. Nothing.
I will be talking to his parents again. He will be starting kindergarten in Aug. so maybe they will get the help he needs then.

[Starburst]

Can he drink from a straw? It might help develop the mouth (articulation) muscles. I had a ECE teacher that said most standard sippy cups can actually delay some speech because they get in the habit of lazy sipping (some of the tops are really just hard plastic with 2 or 3 holes that just drip when you tilt it).