Eve is 4 and still has a lot of L/W issues ("Wook! It's Wucy!"). I asked our pediatrician and she said we could practice making the L sound with her (she can make the sound, just usually doesn't) and correct her if it was bothering us, but from her perspective it was no big.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is, maybe you could find some speech exercises that you could play as a game with Annabel to help her practice articulation, kind of like free fun home speech therapy?

evaluation in six months sounds like the first part of the plan. I have no idea if there is anything you can do to work with her at home. or what private therapy costs. I wonder too , because she is fine in vocabulary and comprehension if she will 'figure it out" herself. ( I don't really know what that means - but smart kids seem to be able to 'fix" somethings) Not against the speech therapy, I've just wandered into the realm of wondering what these deviations mean in the long run. Maybe that is the answer to what to do - research what all these numbers mean over time. will she catch up in time - or is falling further 'behind' more likely?

oh good - a mom with an idea that isn't too far from mine. I have lots of theories about kids - but since my experience with kids is limited - I try to be very careful how I say things. It is sorta like my ADHD theory. I think it is more of problem because of how we live now ( a lot of sitting still ) and there was a time where ADHD had a survival factor.

Susan, Mom was a speech therapist I can ask her what some exercise or games you can do at home with Annabel.

So I guess what I'm suggesting is, maybe you could find some speech exercises that you could play as a game with Annabel to help her practice articulation, kind of like free fun home speech therapy?

I'd like to. I'll have to do a little research and see what I can find.

ETA thanks, askye! That would be wonderful.

Maybe that is the answer to what to do - research what all these numbers mean over time. will she catch up in time - or is falling further 'behind' more likely?

Unless something changes, I think she'll catch up in time, though DH and one of his brothers had speech therapy as elementary school students because of difficulty with certain sounds. But she's definitely been making steady forward progress on all communication fronts ever since she got around to starting to talk. She was just never the kid who doesn't talk and then suddenly speaks fluently. It's been gradual, though I feel like she never had a problem with comprehension and that her vocabulary is right where it should be. The girl knows a lot. Stepping back from the part of me that says "Problem! Problem! Must fix now!", the only thing I'm really concerned about is that I think her difficulty with sound production discourages her to some degree from conversation--i.e. people don't understand her, so she gets frustrated and doesn't try. But even that has been getting better in the past few months.

Susan, I'm talking to Mom now. She asked if Annabel substitutes W for L in the beginning position -- like "wake" for "lake".

And does she say it at the end -- with wall and doll.

But she's definitely been making steady forward progress on all communication fronts ever since she got around to starting to talk

that sounds good then - so some home games and a re-evaluation and umm...patients sounds good.

She definitely substitutes it at the beginning of a word/syllable. Not sure about the end--I'll have to listen to her and see. (To some degree I don't "hear" the issue because I'm so used to how she talks--it's like adjusting for an accent after awhile.) Though, you know, I think the initial L's depend in part on what vowel sound is next. Like, I know she calls Laura Wowa and says love as wuv, but I think on lion she gets close to a correct L-sound.

And now that I think about it, her R's are much stronger than her L's. She still occasionally turns an R into a W, but not anywhere near as often.

now to whine:

I was very good. I went to the doctor and got a whole bunch of things done/tested , etc that needed to happen. including a flu and tetanus shot. I will state for the record that a tetanus shot sucks. It really hurts. Yesterday was bad, but today, I still feel bad. It is going to take me forever to clean the bathroom