Affricates and fricatives are some of the hardest sounds for children to pronounce. Raisingkids.co.uk's guest expert, speech therapist Claire Dorfan, explains ways to help your child learn without frustration.

Raisingkids member's problem
My daughter is 3½ and seems to have trouble with quite a few sounds- 's', 'sh', 'ch' etc. She can't speak clearly at all. I can understand her, but other people have trouble. My health visitor has referred me to a speech therapist. Can you tell me what they will do to help her speak properly, as I have tried to help her but she gets embarrassed and clams up. I can't see that she will speak to a stranger, if she won't even try for me.

Claire's advice
Many children of your daughter's age experience difficulties within the category of sounds you mention - fricatives and affricates. 'S', 'z', 'ch', 'j' and 'sh' require the air necessary for speech sound production to be exhaled through a small space formed by the lips, tongue and teeth. No small feat of co-ordination for a 3 yr-old!

Can your daughter produce these sounds (albeit not very clearly) or is she substituting other sounds in their place? In the former case, she may need help with positioning her lips, tongue and teeth accurately to produce a clear sound. If she's substituting sounds, she may be having difficulty in making the transition from 'stop' sounds ('p', 'b', 't', 'd', 'k', 'g') to this more complex group of sounds that you list.

When working with 3 yr-olds, speech and language therapists work through play. Activities are selected to engage and interest the child whilst working towards specific aims. Parents work in partnership with the therapist to support therapy aims at home between sessions (this is called a home programme).

If your preschooler is reacting negatively to your attempts at correcting her then I would advise you to provide a 'model' of the correct pronunciation for her by gently repeating the word - corrected - in context. For example, if she says 'Mummy, I can't find my dock', you can reply 'Oh, can't you find your sock?'

However, at this stage I would not pressure her to repeat the difficult word. At present, it is possible that she cannot physically do any better and will become frustrated, upset and angry of pressed. Hopefully, your assessment appointment date will be seen and you both will have some support with this concern.