My daughter - 4 yrs. is imitating her friend's poor speech. C and K becomes T. ETC.?

Question

She normally is very articulate, and enunciates her words clearly. I have tried talking to her, telling her I don't understand her when she says Tatoon instead of Cacoon, or Tar instead of Car. How about Talt instead of Talk. It's very frustrating, and I am losing my patience. She is a smart cookie, and I know she is doing it intentionally. She will say it wrong, then when I say something she will say it correctly. This started 2 days ago, so it's a new thing, and I need to nip it before it becomes habitual. I have tried explaining that her friend has a problem with her speech, she is getting help to learn to say her words correctly, and talking the way she is, doesn't help her friend to learn the right sounds. It doesn't matter, she keeps doing it. Any suggestions on how to get her to stop?

Answer 1

Do the same with her name and favourite things, pronounce them wrongly, see what happens.

Answer 2

Don't chastise her, she is four. Instead ignore what she is saying and instead say " that's right we are going to the CAR"

Be positive when she pronounces something correctly.Speak to all who care for her and let them know that you are ignoring it and reinforcing it with the correct pronounciation of the word .She will get bored and move onto something else that will annoy you!

Answer 3

Talk to her like that too and after a period of time, ask her if she likes it

Answer 4

Positive Punishment. Punish to demolished the behavior for example tell her to take a time out  for 5 minutes and she has to say the word the correct way in order leave time out. Also talk to the teacher to make the teacher catch it and punish her by doing time out as well for her.

Answer 5

My 4 yr old niece does the same thing. She has a 5 yr old cousin who has a very bad speech problem caused by prolonged sucking on pacifiers. It is really hard to understand her. So my niece pronounces the words just like her. I guess they think it's the right way to say it. All we have to do is correct her and my niece does fine. She forgets that she was speaking like her 5 yr old cousin.

Answer 6

If she is doing it deliberately, she may be looking for attention. She may realise that her friend gets attention because of her speech difficulties. I would try to ignore it and repeat the words she mispronounces properly after her. If she can already speak properly this will only be a game she is playing.

Please don't punish her for speaking like this as it could have a negative effect on how she views her friend and she may try to punish her friend for not speaking properly. It might also make a bigger issue out of it than necessary. I do agree with praising her when she speaks well. Then she gets attention in a positive manner.

Answer 7

I teach 4's and I deal with this on an everyday basis. What is frustrating is that my own 4 year old brings it home with me! And the worst is that I catch myself talking like one of my students with very impulsive speech at home. He says things so passionately and intense that it is just fun. :)

I wouldn't ignore this because then she may keep it up and form a habit. I would be consistent about it - set up a rule that if she says she will go into an immediate punishment - no warning. Even if she looks shocked and says "Oh sorry" she still needs a time out. After her 4 minutes remind her what she did and what she should say. Brag on her about proud you are she can speak so well.

Good Luck. SD

Answer 8

Four year olds will try just about anything to control their environment. If she is imitating, that means she knows the right way to speak. The more you try to control how she talks, the more she'll want to keep speaking the sounds wrong. Even though it's hard, let her experiment with it. She'll go back to the right way when she's ready or gets bored with it.