Articulation/speech at home (yay or nay?)

[sbgrace]

As we work on reading I'm seeing articulation issues in my son I never noticed before. He's six. His /th/ is /d/ but he's only six and that one seems relatively easy to address. But his /r/ is /w/ and in reading the last few days about articulation that one seems a lot harder. I'm afraid I will teach him wrong and make a bad problem worse (?). His /l/ is /w/ too and a speech therapist told me that makes it less likely he'll outgrow the /r/ issue.

 

We absolutely can't afford private speech therapy. I can have him assessed through the school system but school is almost out and I'm wondering if he'll even qualify and, if he does, how helpful it will be. Is there a way to address /r/ issues at home that isn't likely to make things worse? I hate to wait until next year (if that..I'm really not sure in talking to the school therapist they will even address before 2nd grade) but if I should not attempt this at home of course I will wait.

[JudoMom]

As we work on reading I'm seeing articulation issues in my son I never noticed before. He's six. His /th/ is /d/ but he's only six and that one seems relatively easy to address. But his /r/ is /w/ and in reading the last few days about articulation that one seems a lot harder. I'm afraid I will teach him wrong and make a bad problem worse (?). His /l/ is /w/ too and a speech therapist told me that makes it less likely he'll outgrow the /r/ issue.

 

We absolutely can't afford private speech therapy. I can have him assessed through the school system but school is almost out and I'm wondering if he'll even qualify and, if he does, how helpful it will be. Is there a way to address /r/ issues at home that isn't likely to make things worse? I hate to wait until next year (if that..I'm really not sure in talking to the school therapist they will even address before 2nd grade) but if I should not attempt this at home of course I will wait.

 

I've had good luck with Super Star Speech.

[Embassy]

The r sound is a difficult one. Some kids do outgrow the problems and others do not. I would recommend finding a speech therapist when you are able to. She may be able to do some sessions and get you set up on a home program. As for qualifying it depends on the school district. It may be likely that he would not qualify until he is 7 or 8.

 

The only thing that could make it worse (in my opinion) is if he starts to feel like a failure because he isn't pronouncing them correctly. While you are waiting for a speech therapist you can model the r, th, and l sounds and have your son watch your mouth and try to copy.

 

A former speech therapist

[nukeswife]

I had some similar issues with dd and we tried the "Wait and see approach" it never did resolve and she's now 8. Last year (near end of PS school year) I did take her in and have her evaluated in the PS, our insurance wouldn't cover private therapy because the PS is supposed to even though she's not enrolled. It was a bit of a hassle with all the meetings and red tape but in the end I'm glad we did take her. Her speech therapist is nice and she's managed to work through all of her "l" sound issues and most of her "s" and s-blend issues. All we have left is a little work on "sh", "r" , and r-blends. This was with speech only 30 minutes once a week. For a long time I thought it was a waste of my time, but my dd enjoys it and has recently made a huge jump in progress. She'll continue with it next year to try and hammer out those last few sounds but her therapist has the opinion that she will then no longer need speech therapy. I did buy some games from http://www.superduperinc.com to use over the summer so we don't back slide.