Forget-Me-Not Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking for some wisdom from the board :D My daughter has trouble pronouncing her 'R's and always has since she started speaking. We kept thinking she'd outgrow it, but now she's 5.5 (6 in June) and still doing it. So are we at the point that we should look into speech therapy for her? Anyone have any experience with this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bdeutmeyer Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) :bigear: DD4 is the same way. At this point it's still kinda cute & charming, but in the back of my mind, I am a little concerned. She says a few other things a little differently too. For example "will", she says "wee-oh". Her "r" sounds more like an "o" to me. My mom is dating a man named Mark. She calls him "mah-ook" Edited January 27, 2011 by k2bdeutmeyer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I would like an answer for this, too! My friend's 4 yo uses the "s" sound in place of a "f." She's not homeschooling, so I guess her school next year might pick it up, but wouldn't it be better to work on it before it's ingrained even more? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 My dd (5 in September) was evaluated in November and started speech in January. She sticks her tongue out to say sounds in the "s" family. She also does not pronounce r's. They haven't started working on the r's, because that is still within the range of normal for her age, but the 's' should have cleared up by now. They plan to fix the s, and then see if she still needs help with the r. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I would like an answer for this, too! My friend's 4 yo uses the "s" sound in place of a "f." She's not homeschooling, so I guess her school next year might pick it up, but wouldn't it be better to work on it before it's ingrained even more? It depends on the sound. The speech therapist has a pretty specific chart of when sounds should be made correctly. Some of them are not until 6--7? We had dd evaluated at 3.5. Everything was within age normalcy, so they didn't start her. 1.5 years later, she did improve in areas, but sticking her tongue out is a bad habit that I wish they would have started on earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bdeutmeyer Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 DD sticks her tongue out too, but she does it for the "th" sound, which is appropriate, but in her it's exaggerated. She does substitute "f" for "th" a lot too, but I think that's probably still age appropriate?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda in FL Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 (edited) The R sound was the one problem my daughter had. I already knew from going through Speech Therapy with son #1 that she would need at least 5 sounds before qualifying for services through the state, so i never had her evaluated. She's ten now and I think she finally can say her Rs correctly!! It had been so long that I don't know when she finally got it - probably at about age 9? And to answer the title of your post - when my son was 3 years old and one of the other children in his Sunday School class said he was talking baby talk! That's when I decided it was time to look into speech therapy for my oldest!! Edited January 27, 2011 by Brenda in FL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snickelfritz Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 I tend to be overly cautious, which may be obvious since I had dd evaluated at 3.5 But, the assessment process is very easy and non-traumatic. Now that she's in therapy, she loves it. They play games, which has been the only motivation needed for my dd. An easy, and probably cheaper, thing is to talk to your pediatrician first. Since co-pays cover it, if you have insurance. At 3.5, the pediatrician didn't think it was necessary, but I took her anyway. At 5, she agreed we should have her assessed. Our insurance does not cover speech, so we pay out-of-pocket for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cortana Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 All 3 of my kids are in speech therapy. My best piece of advice is if you are concerned, it certainly wouldn't hurt to have your dd evaluated by a speech therapist. Whether or not your dd will need services, they will be the best people to answer your questions and concerns. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking for some wisdom from the board :D My daughter has trouble pronouncing her 'R's and always has since she started speaking. We kept thinking she'd outgrow it, but now she's 5.5 (6 in June) and still doing it. So are we at the point that we should look into speech therapy for her? Anyone have any experience with this? R's are harder to say and may not develop until much later. At what point you go for speech therapy may depend on if you want someone else to cover it or if you plan to pay for it yourself. I took my dd to a private speech therapist for an evaluation and I'm really glad I did. My dd didn't qualify for school district or insurance help yet but the private therapist would work with her if we wanted to pay for it out of pocket. I opted to work with her at home and I'll go back if the problem doesn't resolve in a year. Here's a good speech therapy link to materials for R's http://www.sayitright.org/EntireWorldofR.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dakarimom5 Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 My 4yo dd has a speech issue. I have had her tested by the school system twice. Both times they have said she is easily coachable to say the sounds, which I agree with, so they will not put her in therapy. My problem is that no one but me can understand her. And I can't get her to make the sounds correctly..unlike these trained people. And they also made a big deal about me homeschooling and it not effecting her in a school setting. I tried to argue that it effects her in life but they would not be swayed. They told me to come back when she is 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 R is one of the last sounds to be mastered. It is not considered abnormal for this sound to not be mastered until a child is 7-8yo. However, if it is interfering with the child's school, or they are bothered by it, take them in. R is one of the most difficult sounds to learn...it is difficult to teach a child about tounge placement, because it can't be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbgrace Posted January 27, 2011 Share Posted January 27, 2011 Looking for some wisdom from the board :D My daughter has trouble pronouncing her 'R's and always has since she started speaking. We kept thinking she'd outgrow it, but now she's 5.5 (6 in June) and still doing it. So are we at the point that we should look into speech therapy for her? Anyone have any experience with this? I contacted the school speech therapist (and a private one too) when my son was about six and still struggling with r. They both told me it was a late maturing sound and unless he was doing something abnormal with it (replacing for an unrelated sound rather than the typical things like w maybe...I can't remember) they didn't worry about it at even six. I forget what the age was for mastering but I do remember the school saying bring him if he's still doing it in 2nd grade (so 7/8). He's really improved this year. I don't know if he's 100% in all word positions on r but he's close. I think he's going to get there. His other sounds he was struggling with (like th...sounds that are earlier maturing and so were really late at his age) at the same time have come in nicely too. He'll be seven next month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 My dd9 is just now going to get speech therapy for her r's. The speech therapist at the school told me that they wouldn't have even considered her before age 8 for remediation on that sound. They won't consider any speech therapy (outside of major speech delays/problems) until age 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 Thanks all for your input :001_smile: Looks like we can probably sit on this for a while based on what some of you have said. I'm glad to hear that it's a late-maturing sound. She doesn't seem to have any other speech problems-- in fact, with the exception of Rs, she enunciates very clearly and often uses multi-syllable words with no problems. She just sounds British, and hey we can live with that :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted January 28, 2011 Author Share Posted January 28, 2011 :bigear: DD4 is the same way. At this point it's still kinda cute & charming, but in the back of my mind, I am a little concerned. She says a few other things a little differently too. For example "will", she says "wee-oh". Her "r" sounds more like an "o" to me. My mom is dating a man named Mark. She calls him "mah-ook" This sounds a lot like my daughter! Around age 4, she'd say "Gil-ell" for 'girl' and had similar mispronunciations for 'world' and 'squirrel'. It was so funny and cute. She's outgrown that in the last 6-12 months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lostinabook Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 My dd was doing some odd speech things at about that age. I took her to the school to be evaluated b/c my mom, a retired special ed teacher, insisted. The therapist said that what dd was doing was age typical but to come back if she was still doing it in a couple of years. It was nice to have the peace of mind that I couldn't do anything about it right then, but that help would be available if necessary later on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bdeutmeyer Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 This sounds a lot like my daughter! Around age 4, she'd say "Gil-ell" for 'girl' and had similar mispronunciations for 'world' and 'squirrel'. It was so funny and cute. She's outgrown that in the last 6-12 months. :) DD says something like "g-oh-el" for girl (boy that sure is hard to type out). Or..."cah-oh" for car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deacongirl Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 I would say now. We had the same issue with my daughter at around age 5 or 6, and I felt she would outgrow it, but several STs strongly felt it was much better to address sooner rather than later. My parents' neighbors have a beautiful teenage daughter who should have gotten ST for the same issue much younger--sadly she still cannot say her Rs and as a result just chooses not to talk, or takes forever to think of words that don't have Rs. I don't see any reason to wait. It was only a few (maybe 3 or 4?) months of ST for my dd and it wasn't an issue after that. I think it really can't hurt to get a professional opinion now--if they feel it is appropriate to wait, then you can be confident it is the right choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virg Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 In most states either the PS or Early Intervention will do a free assessment, which one depends on the age. My twins both had major speech issues, both had tons of speech therapy from age 2 on. One is still working hard and is really far behind but the other one is doing great now. The assessments are fun and can't hurt :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Honestly, I've found speech therapy to be a complete waste of time and effort. DD1 (who is now 6) began speech therapy at 20 months old and came out when she was about 34 months old. Then she went into it again right after she turned four until the end of this past May. She still speaks exactly the same. We have seen two different therapists so it's not just that one was not working. We are now seeing a lady for auditory and visual therapy. Hopefully this will help with her reading issues as well as her speech ones too. I'm not holding my breath on the speech ones though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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