My child is 4 years old and still has slurred speech. What’s going on?

The reasons why a 4-year-old child still speaks slurred words may be due to the following aspects:

Hearing problems: Some children cannot receive and process sound information normally due to poor hearing. As a result, language development is affected. If the hearing loss is severe, it may even lead to congenital deafness.

Intellectual Developmental Disabilities: Some children have difficulty understanding and expressing language due to intellectual development disabilities, resulting in unclear speech.

Structural deformities of the oral cavity and throat: If a child has structural deformities in the oral cavity and throat, such as cleft lip, cleft palate, etc., it may affect normal pronunciation and lead to unclear speech.

Influence of family language environment: If a child has been in a confusing language environment for a long time, such as someone in the family speaking a dialect, someone speaking Mandarin, or there is too little language stimulation, it may affect the child's language learning and expression. .

Lack of collective environment and peer communication: If a child lacks communication and play with peers, it may affect language development and expression.

The impact of electronic products: Some children often use electronic products, such as mobile phones, TVs, etc., which may reduce opportunities for language communication and affect language development.

Lack of exercise of oral masticatory muscles: If a child eats too much liquid food and lacks chewing exercises, it may cause oral muscle relaxation and affect the clarity of speech.

Tongue tie problem: Tongue tie is too short or the tongue is not flexible enough, which may also cause unclear speech.

It is necessary to analyze the specific reasons and take corresponding measures, such as conducting hearing tests, intelligence assessments, oral examinations, adjusting the family language environment, increasing group activities, reducing the use of electronic products, and improving oral masticatory muscles. Exercise etc. If necessary, it is recommended to seek help from a professional doctor.