DS can't hear the difference between r and w

[Loowit]

If I am dictating a word like "rat" he will ask if it is a w or an r.  Today one of his words was stray and he wrote "stway".  He tells me that they sound the same to him.  Any ideas on how to help him?  He is 8 years old.

 

He had his hearing tested a number of years ago because of a speech delay.  At the time his hearing was fine, but he was about 18 months old.  For the most part it isn't a huge deal, but I would think at his age he should be able to hear a difference.  Is this something that he will grow out of?  Speechwise I don't hear a problem when he is talking, but it could be I am so used to hearing him talk I miss it.  My older son has a much more pronounced speech problem with vocalic r's and is in speech therapy at the local public school.  I am not impressed with the speech teacher, and the evaluation process was frustrating so I would like to avoid doing another with this son if I can.

[ElizabethB]

Have him listen while watching.

 

Also, r sounds slightly different at the beginning of a word than in the middle or at the end.

 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

[fdrinca]

Watch your mouth forming sounds, watch his mouth forming sounds in a mirror.

 

If he says "rat" and "wat," can he hear the difference?

 

Does he mix these sounds in his speech, using "r" when he means to use "w"?

 

Would he use an "r" instead of a "w?" (The opposite of the examples you gave.) So, for instance, would he write or say "rater" for "water" or "rait" for "wait"?

[kolamum]

We have this with F & th.. my child is older but had chronic ear infections as a baby. As in each time he cut a tooth up until about 2.5-3ish he also had an ear infection. Cut two teeth? Double infection. It was rough. I've wondered if that has caused issues, but thus far he's not failed a hearing test. I make him look at me while I say the sound.

[dbmamaz]

fwiw, I do remember having this problem.  My name is Cara, and I said Cawa.  I clearly remember my father trying to get me to say it differently and getting excited because I said it correctly and i could NOT hear the difference. i have no trouble now.  I might have been 7 then?

 

With my youngest, who was late to talk, I did try to show him the difference between how the mouth is shaped for different letters.  His difficulty hearing the differences did affect his spelling.  We didnt actually do spelling until he was 9, and we used Logic of English, and I think it also helped his understanding of the differences between some sounds he had still been fuzzy about.

[Loowit]

Thanks everyone.  I will try working on having him watch me saying the sounds more.  He does interchange r and w both ways, but most of the time it is putting a w instead of an r.  He has very bad seasonal allergies and often will have fluid in his ear even if it isn't infected.  I am considering asking his pediatrician if we should get his ears rechecked, I am just not sure if it is worth our time.