Sharon37127 Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 My 7 1/2 year old still has problems pronouncing the R sound. It comes out just a bit like W. The pediatrician isn't concerned about it- so no therapy. Is there any tips or tricks we can do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hobbes doesn't have much of an 'r' sound. He had therapy for other issues and the Scottish therapist mentioned the 'r'. She said that if he had been Scottish she would have worked on it, but that it fit right in with his southern English accent. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I wonder at what age most of our kids get the "r" sound. Neither of my kids (age 5) seems anywhere near to having it down. The only thing I can think of is if your kids watch those movies where they say "arrrrrr" or "arrgh" or whatever . . . though personally, that stuff irritates me. When I want to teach my kids to improve their pronunciation, I get down at that level and make them look at my mouth as I make the sound. I slow it down and mention which parts of my mouth are doing what. This seemed to help with the ones we have tackled so far (L and TH). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardening momma Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 When I was in first grade someone (an adult) told me I needed to work on my "r's." I can't remember if it was a teacher or someone else. I can distinctly remember being at school, walking down the stairs to put my lunchbox away in the kitchen (very small church school) and practicing my "r's" out loud. I was a little late, so there was no one else around. I would recommend: 1. make him aware of the problem 2. show him the right way to say it (he needs to see your lips and hear the sound) 3. have him practice with you 4. have him practice in private where no one else can hear him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiddenJewel Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 The only thing I can think of is if your kids watch those movies where they say "arrrrrr" or "arrgh" or whatever . . . though personally, that stuff irritates me. And that would be teaching them an incorrect sound anyway. That just teaches how to say the letter name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Most kids get the R sound when or by the age of 7. Our speech therapist wonders if my daughter will still not say it (mid/end) when she is 7. SHe can't wait to work with her again if she doesn't. She did work with her on the beginning R sound as they were solidifying the rest of the speech before she was discharged. But it wouldn't have been ethical to continue before she was considered "behind" again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 My dd is 10 and still has issues with it from time to time. Of course it doesn't help that she has a weird accent (kind of boston, kind of bronx) and tends to drop her rs in words like car, jar, bar, far etc. In doing some research it's a lot of times it's about tongue placement. You need to teach them to get there tongue back. Our friend that's a therapist has my dd start by saying an "L" sound and then pulling her tongue back it will sound kind of like "LLLLLERRRR" but in the end my dd gets the clipped r sound. After speech therapy through the local school this one trick seems to be helping her the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansamy Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hearing test. He should be pronouncing the r sound by this age if his hearing is normal. If your pediatrician can't adequately test hearing, take him to a pediatric ENT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 That's not what I was told and read. I've heard as old as 8. My son's hearing was tested and there were no issues. :iagree: My dd did speech therapy at 8.5/9 and she had no hearing issues that caused her speech problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theYoungerMrsWarde Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I taught it as a grrrrr/bear sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in Neverland Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 We got our ds a copy of the children's book "Jamberry" and he reads through it with us several times a week to practice. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisB Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I don't know if this home-"grown" trick is correct, but this is what I teach. I have them look at my mouth first and I exaggerate the movement. I instruct them to pull the tip of their tongue up and back, but not touch the roof of their mouth, like a cup, and then try to make a R sound. Even if they are still making a W sound with their lips, the R sound comes out and most of the time they are able to do it. Once they realize they can make the sound, then it is just a matter of me reminding them to practice. Our twins had a problem with their Rs. DD was able to start making her Rs properly soon after I showed her what to do because she practices. DS still has trouble because he doesn't practice. He really has to want it himself. But, using this trick, he is able to make a proper R when he tries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hobbes doesn't have much of an 'r' sound. He had therapy for other issues and the Scottish therapist mentioned the 'r'. She said that if he had been Scottish she would have worked on it, but that it fit right in with his southern English accent. Laura :lol: Both of my five year old twins have difficulty with their R sounds -- beginning R, middle R, and ending R. The probable cause in their case is an attached lingual frenulum (literally "tongue-tied"). The pediatrician advised us to wait until they were five years old to see if the frenulum moved back on its own. It hasn't moved at all, so we plan to have surgery to cut the attachment. Hopefully that will free up their tongues enough to make a difference with the R sounds. My friend the speech therapist said to practice making "pirate sounds" (aarrrrrrrrr) and crowing like a rooster ("rrrr-rrr-rrrr-rrr-rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"). She also said to have the child hold a Cheerio on the tip of the tongue, and hold the Cheerio up to the front of the roof of the mouth. This exercise is to strengthen the tongue. Other exercises were: Have the child suck pudding (or yogurt) through an extra-wide straw (to strengthen the mouth muscles) Have the child roll an M & M around on the roof of the mouth Have the child do tongue sit-ups -- stick out the tongue and move it up and down I don't think any of this has helped my girls, but their tongues are attached to the very tips. We'll see after surgery what, if anything, changes. HTH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I downloaded this from Currclick and it helped: SuperStar R& L http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=21284&it=1&filters=0_0_0_30508_0_0_0_0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sahamamama Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Hearing test. He should be pronouncing the r sound by this age if his hearing is normal. If your pediatrician can't adequately test hearing, take him to a pediatric ENT. This is not true. Hearing can be perfect, and a person still might have a speech disorder. There are many factors that affect speech production, besides hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I've learned how to work the system, so I'd just lie to your pediatrician and say that it is greatly affecting your child's reading ability and you are VERY concerned and NEED a speech evaluation. I've grown tired of waiting for doctors and I've learned that pediatricians rarely know what they are talking about when it comes to therapy. They are not the powerful all-knowing. For what it's worth, in most schools they tell the child to pull the tongue up, but our SLP said not to do this. She says the focus should be on spreading the tongue wide across the back teeth. My dd also does the W lips. Her SLP (in PROMPT) has taught her to tighten her upper lip, almost rolling it under- exaggerating the tightness. This prevents her from making W lips, and naturally retracts the tongue. It's SO easy to teach kids bad habits out of good intentions. I'd really just try to go to an SLP. If the r is the only problem, it should be a quick fix. He may grow out of it, but I'd just get to speech. Bad habits are reallllly hard to break. Just my experience. And, other posters are right. 7 is still in the ok range for this sound. I just have a dd with severe speech needs, so I don't mess around waiting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgo95 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 One of my DD's has always had more difficulty speaking clearly. She still can't make the R sound correctly (it sounds like a W) but after looking online, it seems there's still time for her to figure it out (she's 5 and we're going to wait to see if she figures it out by age 8). In looking around online, I saw something called Speech Buddies which is a handheld tool to help them make the correct sound (different tools for different sounds). I also saw in which an ESL teacher tries to teach the difference between the R and W sound. I haven't tried it out practically but I thought it was interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Here's a website with products for speech therapists called "The Entire World of R" http://www.sayitright.org/EntireWorldofR.html There's a wealth of information there. The video clip on the page linked above is a great place to start. I've bought several of their products. You might also look at finding a speech therapist with lots of positive experience remediating r's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I like this website: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# I recommend it to my remedial reading students who also need a bit of speech help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaughingCat Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We just started working on this ourselves - the ST told DD: pull the lips back (like a grimace or fake smile) and pull the tongue back tight and low in the back of the mouth. She also had DD hold a tongue depressor between her teeth to get a feel for where her lips should be and quickly corrected any "errr" or "arrr" sounds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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