Molgrips [quote]My daughter has always had trouble saying and apparently hearing consonant clusters (she’s 3). She used to say the word ‘squirrel’ a bit like ‘swirl’.
Consequently, cinnamon swirls are known as cinnamon squirrels. We used to try to correct her but she wouldn’t accept it, treating us with a sort of condescending contempt… “It’s swirl” “No daddy, it’s squirrel” “Meg, trust me, it’s swirl. SwWWWWWWWirl” “Nonono daddy, s-KK-wirrel” and so on.[/quote]
I’ve just been to the first parents evening to see my son’s teacher. My son has problems saying “ck” and it ends up as a “t”. Cue words such as:
Chittin (Chicken)
Clot (clock)
Tit (Tick)
Tot (Tock)
So the Kesha song “Tick Tock” ends up as “Tit Tot on the clot”.
His teacher explained that they hear the words perfectly, but just mispronounce them. She said that as they learn further word pronunciation, then it usually ironed out.
I tested this by asking him if he wanted some Chittin for tea, and he said “No Daddy, it’s not Chittin, it’s Chittin!”.