Can people understand your 3-year-old?

[jeebee]

I would definitely get some evaluation done. My 3yo has been pretty understandable since she turned 2 (i.e. could have conversations with other adults) and my most of what my 1.5 yo says can be understood by most people as well, depending on if they listen or not! Some adults I find tend to not really give kids a chance to speak, or assume they can't really talk properly so use 'baby talk' which drives me nuts. But both of mine have been early verbal developers and tend to speak clearly from an early age. I am trying to think back to when I used to help out in DD1s preschool, and I seem to remember I could understand most of the 3yos. But even 2yos I can understand generally, even if their speech is not clearly pronounced, it just takes a bit of listening sometimes. A few just didn't talk very loudly and that may have been the issue as well. I would definitely try to find out if it is some specific sounds, and then you could work on pronunciation with her.

[misskira]

My 3yo just started a special preschool class for his delays in speech. He has trouble with many sounds, cant switch sounds easily (can say mama but mommy=nini) and is short on word use. For us it affects his life in that he cnjt communicate effectively and it leads to tantrums. I cant wait for the day he can tell me what hes thinking or a story or something about his day.

[FindingMercy]

Originally Posted by jeebee Some adults I find tend to not really give kids a chance to speak,

With my mom, she is definitely listening intently trying to understand her, but has no luck.

Originally Posted by misskira For us it affects his life in that he cnjt communicate effectively and it leads to tantrums.

We have a couple meltdowns a day over it too. She will want me to do something or answer a question for her and I can't for the life of me figure out what she is saying.

[alsatia23]

I've heard that 3 is usually when evaluation is appropriate. Everyone can understand my 3.5 year old but he talks like a 5 year old and has always been very verbally forward. My (almost) 2 year old is a little hard to understand and she sometimes talks in her own language, but I'm not worried just yet.

[KrisM]

When my oldest was 3, people could understand quite a bit. My youngest is now 3 and people can understand nearly everything.

When my DD was 3, I could understand maybe half and others could understand very little. She's still in speech for it at 5, but should be done in January when her IEP is up. I'm very happy I had her evaluated.

[MamaCarina]

At 3 nobody could understand DS. I could about 50% of the time. His pediatrician wasn't worried so we decided not to be either. He will be 4 in Dec. and has made so many changes in the last few months. He is understandable now and doing great. He is finally talking in sentences, and strangers know what he is saying

[myfrugalfunlife]

Everyone can understand my 3 yr old ds, however hardly anyone can understand my 5 yr old dd We've had her evaluated twice by our school district, and they refuse to label her with a speech impediment so we could get her help

[FindingMercy]

After listening to her more specifically for missing sounds we realized she doesn't make the "k" sound either. We are going to get her evaluated for sure.

[Greenbabybottoms]

I haven't read the other replies but I will say my oldest was exactly like your dd. She had always been way ahead with her motor skills but barely talked at all until just before 3 years old. When we had her 3 year checkup the ped said that at her age other people should be able to understand about 75% of what she said so we had her evaluated for speech. They said she was still within the normal range though so we never got her speech therapy. She gradually improved and mostly caught up with her peers. she will be 5 in October though and there are still times where I can't understand everything she says but I can see improvements.

[keen1981]

My guy started talking clearly and in lengthy sentences when he was 2. He just turned three last week and everyone understands him unless he is mumbling.