Is it normal for a 5 year old to have trouble pronouncing Sp words?

My son just turned 5 years old. He will start kindergarten this year. Developmentally he's always been on the right track but he still hasn't gotten the grasp of the sp sound. For example, he'll say "fiderman" instead of spiderman, and "fongebob" instead of Spongebob. Everytime there's a word that involves sp it comes out as an f sound. I've tried getting him to slowly say ssss pppp but it just reverts back to the f sound, I've also had him try saying the words without the s "piderman" he says it for a couple times and then goes right back to the f sound.





Is this normal?

Is it normal for a 5 year old to have trouble pronouncing Sp words?
Yes this is quite common, even up until around 6 years of age. More often than not, this is common with children who are thumbsuckers. I'm not sure if yours is or not, but this could be part of the reason for the delay. Most times the problem arises from the child inserting their tongue between their teeth while speaking. Once he starts kindergarten he should grow out of this. Hearing other children around him will help tremendously. In some cases, a speech therapist will have to be consulted.
Reply:He's normal. He's still learning. L and TH are commonly mispronounced too.
Reply:Yes that is normal some kids do have a speech problem with certain words. Give it time he might grow out of it. If he doesn't and when he starts kindergarten and if he will say those words, and if the teacher hears him then they will have somebody to come in and test his speach. Then they will talk with the teacher then the teacher will talk with you, and probably give you ideas on how to help him. Good luck
Reply:i had a speach impediment when i was a child about his age.


i replaced the 's' sound such as in Cindy or seat with an 'sh' sound. i was put in a speach therapy class with 4 other children and a wonderful teacher. after one semester i was speaking correctly. to this day i don't remember ever speaking with the impediment. get him help early and it will be the best thing in the world you could do for him.
Reply:Yes, it's normal. He just turned 5. Blends (sp, bl, tr...etc) are the hardest to pronounce.
Reply:yeh jus give him some time and the more he uses the words that begin with sp the more he will learn how to use them, jus make sure u say them right when he is listening to u
Reply:Yes it's very normal my god daughter has the same problem . it's just a faze .
Reply:Yes..quite normal. Lots of kids do this. I remember when I was little I couldnt say things like Spaghetti...they came out like Pa-sketty.
Reply:dont worry. he will start progressing when he is in school. my son has been in speech therapy for 3 yrs. he is now 6. he still cant pronounce some words correctly. but all kids develop differently. it is probably age appropriate. call the school and ask if they do speech testing. its worth a shot to see if he is ok.
Reply:Yeah. Most little kids have trouble with the majority of the "s" combination sounds.





Work with him on it, get him to say it over again. Be patient. He'll get the hang of it.