Speech issue- does not use "L" sound

DD talks very well and I am excited how quick she has gone from using one word, to some 5-word sentences. However, she does not use the "L" sound. For instance, ladybug is said "Wadybug", love is said "wuv", like is "wike",etc. I never hear an L and it is always replaced with W. I do not correct her, but I have been saying these words more clearly to her. Should I worry, or is this normal and will correct itself?
This is the only letter she does this with. I don't think I would think it is such a big deal, but she has had such a language explosion, it seems she should use that letter.

TIA!

 

Joey is 3. She didn't really start talking until 2 years, 3 months when her language exploded. Right now she does the same thing. She says Ewie for Ellie, Wacey for her baby Lacey. Her R's are not quite accurate either, but I can't describe it well. Her former speech therapist, whom we usually see every week at Toddler Time (where she sees her other kids), told me it was nothing to worry about at this age. I was concerned as well, so I had asked her about it. So at least for while I am not going to stress about it. If Joey is still doing this in a year, I plan to ask again, and see if there's a next step.

Hope that helps!

 

My RaeLynn didnt use the "L" sound until this year (4 years old) and noone seemed to be concerned if we got it corrected before kindergarden. She would use the "r" instead like, "my name is RaeRynn I Rike you." "My baby sisters are ARyssa and AshRey" We really worked on it this year with some pointers from a speech therapist and she changed it almost overnight once we emphasized it. She also used the "G" instead of the "D" when 1st learning to talk like Duck=Guck Dog=Gog but that went away on its own as she started talking and listening more.

 

Click HERE and scroll down to TABLE 4, which shows phonetical development by age.

The phoneme /l/, according to that chart, is listed at age 4. So sounds like you have a couple years before you start to worry!

FWIW, I love that chart. It gives me total peace of mind considering my kids have terrible articulation!!! I have it bookmarked and refer to it every few months.

 

I think that's pretty normal, based on having watched my niece's speech development. Grace definitely says Wiwee for Lily, but I think that's normal at 2.

 

Thanks everyone. She's my first one who has had any issue like this (2 older DDs) but it seems normal. I also Googled it and I actually didn't get bad news.

 

Thanks for the chart, Kate!

 

Thank you for posting this question. I have been wondering about one of my girls also. I love the link that Kate listed, and will spend a bit more time checking everything out.

 

When my oldest ds was learning he called himself Yee-um. My sister also had problems with her daughter and saw a therapist. The therapist said it was perfectly normal and all they should do is repeat it by saying La La Liam or La La Love and the kids get a kick out of saying things that way. HTH

 

Great link...I didn't realize some of that speech stuff lasted until around age 5! My girls can't say v's...they sounds like b's. They also have trouble with l's...they sounds like y's.

 

Mine are saying "w" for /l/ and /r/, as in "wed"(red) or "wight"(light). Ainsley still doesn't say beginning "h", as in "elp" (help). She needs to go see Henry Higgins, lol. Bea just started saying some blends, like "spot", she was saying "sot".

 

It's comforting to hear that it's normal and that others here have kids that do that. I just thought it was odd that she did it with that letter EVERY time.
I appreciate the link as well.