Hunny, throw that dummy away. I have a 2 1/2 year old who sucks on one all damn day. As a resault his speech is slury and lispy and hes not talking like he should be. He has started to get used to not having it as much as people I know say to him "yucky dummy!" and he spits it. My youngest however speaks beautifully and he has always had a dummy, just not a lot.
HOWEVER! He is only 3 and if he isn't ready to get rid of it dont make him. Keeping in mind its usually a couple of days before they stop pining for it.
Try not letting him talk with it in his mouth. If he speaks to you and has his plug in say "Please take your dummy out and talk to me" or "I dont understand you, take the dummy out please" as I am doing with my babe. Should help a lot.
As for speech therapy, go to a health nurse. She can help you work out if there is a problem and if you need to see one. I would say no.

Hi

Just wanted to tell you as a 51yr old grandmother of 2.5, lol, my oldest child had a dummy and she had no trouble with speech at all. If you feel comfortable with him having a dummy then let him have it, and he certainly doesn't need speech therapy. Alot of kids have trouble pronouncing letters, my 54yr old b/f can't say the letter v, he always says "th". He says pathers instead of pavers, etc. Take my advice, let your little one grow and enjoy his childhood, he will eventually grow out of it anyway. Good luck and enjoy your baby while he is still a small child.

My daughter was born in August 05 she also has problems with speech. she also suffers with a lot of tonsillitis she has seen the ENT and is on a waiting list to have her tonsils and adnoids removed the doctor said her adnoids could more than likely causing her speach difficulty, hopefully she wont have to wait to much longer to see.  if that fails i will be taking her to a speach therapist. She also had a dummy and a drink cup until santa took it on sunday night. so far so good she asked for it tonight i told her where it was and she said oh ok mummy. My June 01 daughter has never had any spech problems she just graduated from Kindy off to year 1 in 07 only gave her dummy up last xmas.

you can do speach therapy at home yourself

My son had a dummy until he was about 2 and I think it did delay his speech a bit. He had a slight lisp and by 3 he still had difficulty pronouncing some sounds such as "L" and his R's sounded like W's. I spoke to a speech pathologist over the phone who sent me some speech exercises to work on with him. They did the trick and he never needed an appointment. Getting rid of the dummy IS a good idea and probably sounds more traumatic than it actually is. Before my son went to bed one night I told him that his dummy was all yucky now and had to go in the rubbish. We put it in the bin together and he went to sleep no problem. The next day we waved goodbye to it as the garbage truck took it away! He asked for it the next night and I reminded him that it had gone in the truck. He never mentioned it again after that. The longer you wait to get rid rid of it, the harder it will be on both of you.

Maybe the dummy is a problem.  I will also say get rid of the dummy, if not for his speech, consider how it may effect his teeth, and if it could develop into a nasty little chewing habit whereby he can't deal with not having something in his mouth at all times.  Hey, it's gotta come out eventually, you wouldn't send him to school with it would you?  Get rid of it and if after a couple of months his speech hasn't improved, then a visit to a speech therapist certainly won't hurt.  There are some sounds that children don't quite get right until much older, but if nothing else it will address any concerns you have and pick up anything you might not have noticed.  With things like this it is always better to get any help that is needed as soon as possible.

hi there, i also thought the same thing with my daughter who is nearly 4, she would often and still does have trouble with words and sounding letters out. i wouldnt stress to much if it hasnt gotten better my the age of 5 then i would be a bit concerned and mabey start speech therapy. most kids go through it and most grow out of it. its all a matter of time. happy new year and good luck

Three is still quite young to be speaking precise English. Quick goggling told me that only 75% of three year olds can be understood by adults not in direct contact with them.

That being said, if you feel there is a problem, talk to your paediatrician. As the mother of a hearing impaired child - early detection of any problem is very important (so is smacking doctors up the back of the head when they dont believe you).

Most importantly, don't stress and make an issue of it with him. When he pronounces a word incorrectly, just gently say the word correctly and leave it at that.

If he is using the dummy full time, make sure he removes it when he tries to say something. Just tell him "Mummy cant understand you with the dummy in your mouth". Believe me, if he wants to say something, it will come out.  If he only uses the dummy at bedtime, or when he is sleepy, you will probably find that the dummy will be gone soon. So that wont be an issue.

I've always understood that sibilant sounds, such as s, sh and th, most kids can't pronounce properly until they are about 5.  So it doesn't sound at all unusual that your son is having a problem with "sh" and still speaks with a lisp.

However, if you're concerned, why not start with talking with your doctor or baby health nurse about what is appropriate at his age and if there's anything you can do.  If there is an actual problem, then its always better to tackle it earlier rather than later.