4 year old can't pronounce 'Kuh' sounds

PedroC

Hi, our 4 year old boy has problems pronouncing his 'Kuh' sounds. They sound like 'Tuh'. E.g. Coke is Toke, Castle is Tastle. Has anyone out there experienced anything similar? Is he too young to be concerned? P.

SO89

My niece had a similar problem. however she had problrms with a few other sounds - s and l I think. Kids can make tuh for kuh sounds if they make sound from front of mouth instead of from back. At 4 kids are still learning sounds.

PedroC

Thanks for that. Did your niece grow out of it?

SO89

She is 8 now and has perfect speech - no indication she ever had a problem. She did have some sessions with speech therapist in local health centre.They gave fun work to do at home which she loved. I'd say she needed this help as there were a few sounds she had trouble with. I am sure your little one will grow out of it. However if you are worried you could refer her to the professionals to get their advice. They could give you advice on work to do at home.

drunkmonkey

PedroC wrote: »

Hi, our 4 year old boy has problems pronouncing his 'Kuh' sounds. They sound like 'Tuh'. E.g. Coke is Toke

lol, mammy can I have a toke......bet it gets a few giggle when your doing the shopping....:)

He's only 4 i'd say he'd be fine, I used to have a problem with Th's that was laugh out loud funny but I was fine by the time I left primary school...

snowdaze

when my little fella was 3 he used to call the go-kart .....his DOE_TART!!!
And he can say his sounds perfectly now a few years later - he had a hearing problem in early infancy though:)

raemie21

Producing a /t/ sound for a /k/ sound is developmentally appropriate until the age of four. It's quite a common process known as 'fronting' in the same way as other children may produce /g/ as /d/ although after the age of four, it would be considered a phonological delay in professional terms.

It depends on how much it affects his intelligibility - for some children, a few sound errors can have quite a significant impact while for others, not so much. Also depends if he is aware of it or bothered by it.

Can he say /k/ in the middle/end of words like 'back' or 'rocket'? Is he able to produce a /k/ sound on its own when you model it for him? Are there any other sound errors that he makes?

If it's only a /k/ error and especially if he has his /g/ sound then he'll probably get it himself but if not, then a quick assessment with a S&L Therapist would give you useful guidelines and a home programme to bring it on.

PedroC

Thanks for that.