"What’s that, Josiah?"
"I see a con-uction bo-ding site".

Most kids substitute some consonant sounds, maybe "D" for "TH" or "W" for "R", but Josiah would drop letters entirely and substitute vowel/consonant combinations such as "O" for "IL", giving words like "ack" for "stack" or "moke" for "milk".

"Say ‘ack’", we would tell him.

"ack", he would reply.

"Say ‘tack’".

"tack".

"Say ‘sack’"

"sack"

"Say ‘stack’"

"ack".

Most of the combined consonants were a problem, so we tried asking him to speak the first letter, then the rest of the word, so he now says "sa’nack, sa’nake, and sa’leep" for snack, snake, and sleep.

He has visited a speech therapist, who suggested the root of the problem is his nasal congestion, and he has been taking some medication to clear that up as well as going to speech therapy sessions during the summer. He still often breathes through his mouth, which is why his tongue is not used to making sounds that require it to stay behind his teeth.