Pronouncing the letter "R"

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Forum -> Parenting our children -> Preschoolers

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Ima'la

Thu, May 31 2007, 9:43 am

My son is 4 1/2. There are several consonant sounds that he does not pronounce correctly and he is in speech therapy to work on it. They started with 'L' and he is doing well...but since until now he had been pronouncing 'L,' 'R' & 'W' as 'W,' when he wants to say something correctly, he says 'L' instead of 'W.' If it's a 'W' word, I can just tell him the right way to say it, but that's hard to do if it's an 'R' word, which he can't pronounce! So I asked the speech therapist to work on 'R' with him, but she doesn't seem to have a good way to technically explain to him how to position his mouth, as she did for 'L.' I know it's a hard letter...she told me she tells the kids to "Roar" like a lion...but my son "Woaw"s like a lion! Any speech therapists (or anyone else!) out there with concrete suggestions for pronouncing 'R'?

madys

Thu, May 31 2007, 10:27 am

My daughter is 6 and also can't say her r's

My son is 3 and is hearing impaired, so he recived speech therapy, and I have asked his therapist to listen to my daughter.

She said that the r is very difficult to learn, and it is not expected of them to say it properly until 7!!

It has gotten better for her in the last year, but it's still not perfect. She is self consious of it, and had even requested therapy.

I called the district, and we will have her evaluated soon, but my son's therapist said she probably won't qualify.....

She also can not pronouce the hebrew "ch" like in challah - she says Hallah, or her friend is michal, and she says it miHal - that bothers her too...

amother

Thu, May 31 2007, 10:54 am

I imagine you're talking about the American pronunciation of R. Is he able to say it the Israeli way? I imagine its easier to say though harder to teach.
Dh, an Israeli, still has a hard time with the American and chassidishe way embarrassed

Ima'la

Thu, May 31 2007, 12:17 pm

His "raysh" is not perfect, but definitely better. And easier to teach. When they got up to that letter in my older daughter's gan, the teacher had them all gargle water to learn how to pronounce it correctly!

At his age, it is much easier to teach. It is very difficult for an adult to learn new letter-sounds. That part of the brain closes at around age 6-7, I think.

amother

Sat, Jun 02 2007, 9:31 pm

My son had trouble with the letter R when he was little. People who didn't know me thought we were from England or perhaps a mix of Chassidish and British. I took him to a speech therapist who really didn't help him that much, so after about 6-7 sessions I started working with him on my own. If you can get him to bit down on the sides of his tongue while almost closing his mouth and saying rrrrrr - that might work. I know it worked for my son. Good luck.

mumoo

Sun, Jun 03 2007, 1:22 am

Mom of 3 is right. R is one of the last letters to be articulated properly. Age 7 is not too late. An evaluation will show if it is just normally delayed or if ther are other reasons/difficulties that warrant intervention

Tue, Jun 12 2007, 8:19 am

My son is 3 1/2. He says 'liver' instead of river - it is very cute!

Shif

Sun, Jul 08 2007, 11:11 am

My daughter is getting speech therapy also. Over the summer her therapist told me to help her say her "r" properly by making sure the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth and the lips make an "o" shape. It seems to produce the sound very clearly.

greenfire

Sun, Jul 08 2007, 11:18 am

my son had some issues pronouncing some letters ... he also tried making up for it by moving his bottom lip to the side ... you know what that stuck more than the "s" problem ...

Mishie

Sun, Jul 08 2007, 1:28 pm

My almost 6 yr. old DD is also going for Speach Therapy to work on her "S" "Z" and "TZ"s......

The next thing they will be working on is: "R" and "L".
I'm a little concerned about this, because her speach therapist is British, and in our family, we pronounce it the American way. (which sounds different....)
I hope this won't be a problem....

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