I feel terrible now

amother

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 1:22 am

I find that my almost 6 year old son has a very hard time saying anything that starts or ends with an R . Last year he pronounced with L sound instead of to use the R sound. This year he picked up the rrr sound but he still says it a very interesting way , it comes out like a real reish sound (the yiddish way, but so thick like almost the way the Israelis use a R . And depends the word , some words are easier to say for him than others, but when he talks with the thick reish R-R-R sound it started to annoy me very much . Its not typical way how he says it , and I tried to help him today to say it regularly and practiced with him. like I said CAR and the R couldnt come out , like he couldn't say it and it got too overwhelming for me to teach him . I dont know if he doing it on purpose (I dont think )but when I tell him to repeat what I say he repeats pretty ok, so I feel terrible because while I told him how to say it right , I told him he has to say it well cause than his classmates can make fun of him. I feel tremendously terrible now that I have said it . I really dont know what to do . The thing is , he is talking excellent bh and all other parts are good , its just the R sound which he picked up recently, but hes saying it with a big accent since its a hard sound for him . Would he benefit from a speech therapist? Should I just let it go and he will outgrow it? If I know that insurance would pay for an almost 6 year old I would hire one for him . I need advice how important this is or any other suggestions how I can help him out? I feel terrible that I gave the comment that kids can make fun. I guess I was beyond exhausted by then. I know it was a bad thing to do and I hope it will never come again . Now im coming to ask how to deal with it ? Actually hes doing much better than the past , but I can tell he is having a hard time because he says it with such a strong REISH/R , but could be he is ok with it. Dont know what to do . Dont know why its getting to me like this . Cause I know the answer would probably be to let it go and he will become better with time .
Do u think speech therapist would still be crucial??

mommyX2

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 1:41 am

in the school system by me they dont address Rs until age 8 I think. but they def can be worked on with a speech therapist earlier. maybe ask him how he feels abt it, say it might be something he grows into but there is a teacher that can help him and would he like that? if he is capable of saying it properly and just not carrying it over into his conversations you can set aside time a couple times a week that you will play games and practice with him using the proper R during that time and give prizes. but I wouldnt bug him abt it the rest of the day. as he gets better using it during the games you can pick times during the day that you will remind him to repeat with a good R. not all the time though bec you'll drive him nuts. and this is only if he's actually able to produce the proper R sound. if he's not I wouldn't work on it and would instead get a speech therapist to do it. once he's able to produce the sound well you can take over.

amother

Sienna

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 7:53 am

My 7 year old son cannot say the r sound either. In addition his “L” sounds more like a “w” but sometimes a guttural “r””.

He’s had speech therapy since he was 2. This is as far as we can get. The speech therapist said at this point he has to be very motivated to change his mistakes. Although he needs therapy and is not speaking well we stopped for now. I also don’t want him to feel self conscious... so I don’t correct him all the time.

It’s hard to know what to do.
If you can find a good therapist, it doesn’t hurt to try but r is one of the last sounds many kids get so it just might be a matter of time.

FranticFrummie

Tue, Feb 25 2020, 8:09 am

I had speech therapy at 7, for tongue thrust and a lisp. I am so very grateful to my parents for being on top of it! (My grandfather used to be a radio announcer, and he was a stickler for perfectly enunciated language. I'm pretty sure he paid for it.)

When I work with kids who have trouble with the R sound, I have them say Grrrrrrr! like a lion. They can always do it! Then I just add the sound to the front of a word, like Grrrrrrabbit (rabbit). Eventually we drop the G, and practice going Rrrrrrrabbit. Then the R sound gets shorter and shorter. It turns into a game, and the kids always have a good time with it. I generally don't worry until around age 6, but I've had great success with kids as young as 3.

There's no correction involved, just lots of praise and practice. I never correct with speech therapy, I find it very counterproductive and makes the kids miserable. Low self esteem from something they can't control can harm a kid for life.