Pronunciation

I guess Isaac's pronunciation is slowly improving, but there are still a few sounds that he doesn't pronounce. He truly can't say R (which is very common, I guess) or W when it starts a word. He finally can say F, S, and V, but usually doesn't, frustratingly, especially when they start a word. My theory is that because he learned to talk early, before he was physically capable of pronouncing every letter, he learned to say many words using substitute sounds. Now he'll have to relearn them.

We've started to remind him that he knows how to pronounce these letters, since otherwise it appears he'll keep using the substitute sounds (usually an H). His parents can usually understand him, after all, so what's his motivation? Well, other adults can't always understand him, which doesn't bother me that much, especially when they are polite and patient enough to figure it out. But now Isaac is beginning to talk more to other kids, and they aren't polite or patient. One of his playmates recently turned to me and said simply, "I can't understand what Isaac is saying." This made me feel really bad for Isaac.

We were at my cousin's baby shower yesterday, and Isaac was talking with a little girl a year or two older than himself. I overheard her say indignantly, "There are no cows in the garage!" Isaac looked confused, so I stepped in and explained to her that he had probably said cars. "No," the little girl insisted, "he said cows. There aren't cows in the garage!" (I've had the same problem with this pronunciation, in fact.)

He doesn't like having his pronunciation corrected, of course -- who does? We currently just try to correct words that should begin with F and S, using two different methods. One method is simply repeating the word emphasizing the correct pronunciation, and the second involves pretending we didn't understand the word. Isaac usually ignores the first method, and the second irritates him. Sometimes he'll correct himself, but more often he'll (1) rephrase his statement using words that don't contain the problematic letter, or (2) substitute an even less understandable letter as a joke.

Here are examples of his two approaches:

(1) Isaac, hoping dinner is over, asks Craig, "Are you full?" He pronounces full as hull, so Craig pretends not to understand. Isaac rephrases the question and asks, "Are you done eating?"

(2) Isaac asks me when the figs will be ripe. He pronounces figs as higs, so I pretend not to understand. Isaac gets a roguish expression on his face and asks me when the pigs will be ripe.

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He has a few other lingering weird pronunciations, like the substitution of PE for SM -- smell is pe-ell, smash is pe-ash. And CH fills in for SN, so snuggle is chuggle.

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His pediatrician did say that if he isn't making progress with his pronunciation by age three, we could consider speech therapy. I think things are improving, although I bet a speech therapist would have some fun games that would readily inspire Isaac to try harder. It's not much fun or motivation when your parents are obviously only pretending not to understand you. We'll probably just end up giving him a complex, or a stutter.