I have a five year old that just started kindergarten. We also just moved from Ohio to Texas. In the past couple of weeks he has started to elongate his vowels. Caaan you ruub my Baaack, etc. I know some of this is the faciantion with teh texas language, but his teacher doesn't speak that way (she is from somewhere else). What can I do? How long should I wait before I look into therapy? He is driving me a bit insane sounding like a big HICK!
Thanks!

By Pamt on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 08:04 pm:

Hmmm...not really sure what you are asking. Is it a speech problem that he has or is he just developing an accent? Some times vowel prolongation, usually accompanied by a rise in pitch, can be a sign of stuttering, but most stuttering starts before the age of 5 so that doesn't sound like the problem. Or, is he changing his pitch? If you are just concerned that he is getting an accent then no therapy would be recommended for several reasons (1)Accent is not considered a speech problem and is never diagnosed as such. Accent *can* be treated at a patient's request, but this is usually an adult who wants to change his/her accent for professional/job related reasons. (2)A child would not be receptive to accent changes because he will constantly hear the accent that the therapist is correcting him from doing all around him in his daily life.

As I am a born and bred Southerner you would probably think that I sound like a "big hick." I have a definite Alabama accent (very different from the Louisiana accents I am now surrounded by) although I did lose a lot of my accent and dialectical markings from living in Missouri for 6 years. I no longer say "y'all," "fixing to," or "mash the button," (never acquired the Missouri standard "pop" for a soft drink either), but I still have some more pronounced vowels and more melody and intonation to my speech than someone from the midwest or northeast.

So...all of this longwinded stuff to say, unless there is more to it than I am reading, I would just accept that your son will probably have a different accent from you and that's not necessarily a bad thing. My oldest son spend ages 1-7 in Missouri and has a very neutral Midwestern accent. My youngest son was 4 when we moved to Louisiana and has a mostly midwestern accent with some southern accent (like pa-yints for "pants") creeping in.

By Kaye on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 09:12 pm:

Yep that answered by question. I know you can't live in the south and not have some accent. I guess I haven't decided if this is just an accent or something more. The stuttering thing could be interesting to watch for though. I guess I have just been caught off guard how quickly his enuciation of words has changed and not for the better! My other two kids haven't really changed at all speech wise. Anyway, thanks for the reassurance!

By Pamt on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 09:56 pm:

I just looked at the ages of your other kids. Their accents likely won't change at this date, but your youngest DS's very well might

By Pamt on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 09:57 pm:

P.S. And just because we talk slowly, doesn't mean we think slowly *eg*