how do I get him to say it

[Guest guest]

My wonderful little guy who is now 4.2 years old has been struggling

to say the 'p' sound in a word. He can do it for a blend

(ex. " please " is said as " pee " so he drops off the second letter of

the blend and the final consonant sound) but he can not just say

the " p " sound without a blend. It comes out like " t " . He can

imitate putting the lips together and blowing with the lips

together, but as soon as you add voice it becomes 't'.

What is strange is that for the 'sl' sound he will say " pa "

perfectly. So I will have him say " slide " and he will say " pa " but

then I will immediately ask him to say " pa " and he will say " ta " .

He does this everytime.

Is this apraxia or just a phonological error? He can make the

sound, but how do I get him to do it at the right time? I am

working with two speech therapists who are stumped as to what to do,

and so I am hoping I can get some suggestions here.

Thank you.

Michele