Unclear speech:
what is typical, when to check

Sounds arrive in an order

In Japanese, sounds like pa and ma come early, while sa and ra rows settle later; English has its own late sounds (r, l, th, s-blends). A child growing up with two languages may show a mixed pattern — a late sound in one language, an early one in the other. That on its own is not a problem. What we look at is intelligibility and trend: can people understand, and is it getting clearer?

What to do at home

• Do not correct — reflect. When your child says "fith", say "yes, a fish!" naturally. The correct model goes in without a lesson.
• Speak slowly and clearly, and let them see your mouth.
• Protect them from teasing and from being made to repeat — by siblings, relatives, anyone. A child who is laughed at starts to talk less.

What not to do

When to see a speech-language therapist

• Errors still clearly present around the last year before school (年長)
• So many errors that your child is hard to understand
• Your child is starting to avoid speaking
• Any concern about hearing — check this first

What the therapist does

A speech-language therapist assesses where the difficulty is — hearing, the sounds themselves, the movements that make them, or the language underneath — and then builds practice into play, so that it never feels like drilling. Four speech-language therapists are on staff at our classroom; this is everyday work for them. Tell us about the languages at home, because it changes how the sounds are read.