My 8 year old cannot say the letter "R". What shall I do?

[MommyX8]

I checked with our insurance carrier and there are no speech therapists in a 250 mile radius of my home.

 

We live in Virginia and we have a religious exemption. I'm just not sure if I can ask the school system for access to a school speech therapist.

 

I need ideas of what to do to help her or if I should further pursue the school to help us?

 

Blessings,

Kim

[Jenn in Mo]

My 8 year old is going through the same thing. We are using the school system though. It is wonderful. They are being so great about everything. I called up and asked the secretary and she had me call someone else who had me call someone else and leave my name and number. In the end...the secretary called me back and asked how I'd feel about not filling out any paperwork on it...it was all so complicated and they'd never done it before - could we just do it under the table? lol!

 

You are paying school taxes, so school services should be available to you. I know state laws are different and yours is probably much more stringent since you had to file for religious exemption in order to homeschool, but it can't hurt to try. Just turn on your smile and your friendliest voice and make friends with that secretary! :)

[kokotg]

you should definitely call the school district and ask. I think it might be a federal thing that they have to provide services for special needs, but I'm not sure. My six year old has been in speech therapy (for Rs, too), and we've just run into some trouble with the insurance company that we may or may not be able to resolve. So I may be going the school route myself soon. I know I've been told that in GA they have to offer services, at any rate.

[HollyDay]

I would be very cautious about using the school system if they want an IEP form. IF you are an HSLDA member, give them a call. They can be very helpful in explaining options like the ones you are speaking about.

 

THere is a great book you can get from Amazon called "Help me Talk Right: How to Teach a Child Say the R Sound"

 

There must a speech therapist locally since the school system has to have one. He/She might not be on your insurance and you might have to pay out of pocket though. Check with your nearest college to see if they have a Speech Therapy Dept.

 

If you dont already have a referral from you medical doctor - get one for an eval. Most insurances will cover an eval at at Dr request - the therapy gets sticky. But, once you are in the door for the eval - you can get more info about private therapists in the area

 

R sounds tend to develop late anyway - so hang in there -

[Pamela H in Texas]

I like the idea of trying the school district and my 12yo who is in therapy and struggling with the /R/ still would encourage you to get to work on this. It does develop later for many kids but 8 is plenty late enough. R is a VERY used sound in our language and causes LOTS of misunderstanding of my son who is almost 13. It is a major issue now though it wasn't as much at 8.

 

Of course, working on it yourself is an option and there are a few options for that. I just highly suggest DOING it.

 

HTHs

[katilac]

I would call the school district and ask for information. My dd had speech therapy via the local school; it cost us nothing, the teacher was wonderful, no problems whatsoever.

 

If you can do that, it's a very simple solution.

[Claire]

that don't provide services to homeschoolers. Maryland is one, but I don't remember the other. They passed a state law saying they don't have to provide services to private school students, and they define homeschoolers as private schools. This is probably contrary to federal law, but the law would have to be challenged in federal court to be overturned (I think. I'm no lawyer!).

 

All of other states provide some form of services to homeschoolers. Almost all states provide speech services because it is so critical to child development.

 

If you are worried about contacting your school district, first look up homeschooling organizations in your state. Just Google homeschooling your-state to find them. Most have a hot line you can call to leave a message, and someone knowledgeable will get back to you. Mention your specific school, if you can. In any case, it is likely that someone in the organization has had experience navigating speech services through the school system and can give you advice.

 

My major concern is that, if your son has only this one problem with speech articulation, he may not qualify for services anyway. When my dd was tested by the school system, only children who scored in the 1st and 2nd percentiles were qualified for an IEP. My dd scored 1st percentile, so she qualified, but I did wonder about the many children who must have been slightly better than she was.

 

Straight Talk is a home therapy I have heard good things about. You might want to check it out at http://www.nathhan.com/straight.htm . If you decide to go the home therapy route, I would still advise getting a professional evaluation to make sure you have correctly identified all the things he needs to work on. Many school speech therapists are happy to moonlight by working out of their home, so you may be able to get an evaluation and advice that way. It would likely be half the cost of getting an evaluation through a speech clinic.

[Carpe Diem]

I don't know all the laws for various states but generally speaking your child can be served by the public schools. A previous poster said to avoid an IEP. Can someone tell me why that would be necessary? An IEP is for the child's protection saying that a certain amount of services are guaranteed and what the goals/objectives are for him/her. As far as I am aware, without an IEP you won't be able to get services unless it is done in secret.

 

HTH

[MoniMoni]

FWIW, My 2nd daughter had this issue and the speech therapist suggested using a mirror so she could watch her mouth as she makes the sound. She would watch us and then watch herself. It was almost an instant fix. DD had no idea her mouth wasn't making the correct shape until she saw it...

 

Hope you get the help you need.

[MommyX8]

We are members of HSLDA. I will call them on Monday. I'm not sure, though, that they will really help me as their goal is to keep me independent of the public school system, so this goes against what they believe.

[CLHCO]

When my daughter was about 7 1/2 and still couldn't say it I got a book called "Teach me to say the 'R' sound" and after just 2 lessons she had it down and I never needed the rest of the book. She was old enough to participate in her improvement at that point, which wouldn't have been the case if she were much younger. It simply walked a kid through what an English 'R' feels like, how the tongue tightens in the back, etc. You use a mirror as well. The book says it's to be used along with a qualified speech therapist but in honestly, it was pretty self explanatory. That suggestion is probably only for trouble shooting if it is beyond what the book can solve and if that's the case you would probably need to spend the money on a therapist at that point.

 

One of my best friends had 3 of her 6 kids with that issue. The oldest couple cleared it up at around 8 for one and 10 for the oldest. Her son is 8 and he hasn't yet. I was leery but she was confident they would on their own stating that you almost never hear adults with trouble with the 'R' sound. (Not exactly true. Barbara Walters was mocked for it but she has been clear of speech issues for a couple decades at this point.) I wouldn't have trusted waiting as long as 10 because there are speech patterns that last into adulthood but she was right in this situation and being homeschooled, there was little chance of peer trouble which is always public enemy #1 for fixing speech issues.

 

If that 'R' is the ONLY issue you may be able to fix it yourself. From what I understand, certain sounds are more of a problem than others. If access to speech therapy is difficult, I'd give that sound a try yourself first if you can do it in a very positive way.

[MommyX8]

Well, I called the school and the speech pathologist called me back. She told me that no letter r is still age appropriate until 3rd grade.

[Kathy in MD]

you said:

 

, there was little chance of peer trouble which is always public enemy #1 for fixing speech issues.

 

Are you saying that peer pressure makes it difficult to fix speech problems or did you mean that peer pressure made it urgent to fix a speech problem for the child's self-respect?

 

If it was the latter, may I assure you that it's not peer pressure that makes even a minor speech impediment a problem for a child. Yes, some children will make fun, but even if they're kind it's difficult when people don't understand what you're trying to say. And if the impediment is caused by not understanding sounds, it's even worse because you don't understand what's going on around you.

[Lisa at Home]

My son is 8, and my has "R" issues. Sound familliar?;)

 

We do speech therapy through the local elementary school.

 

Initially, we started looking for help when he was three and I couldn't understand a single word he said. We had an evaluation from a speech pathologist (not sure if that was the right word) and she wanted to do early intervention for some oddities, but our insurance wouldn't cover it. The local school system at the time (Tennessee) wanted to blow us off until he was seven, and we didn't have any alternatives.

 

When he turned 7, we were already in Va, so we tried again. It was fairly simple, but I had to find the person who was over special ed for the county and go through her. You might try calling the school board.

 

They weren't really sure what to do with us, since we're the first homeschoolers to receive any services, but it has been a fairly nice experience. They did want to do an "IEP" of sorts, but it really was just a paper stating their goals. It was specific to the speech therapy, and nothing else.

 

Your experience will vary by the attitude towards homeschoolers in your area, most likely.

 

~Lisa