10 year old boy can't say the "r" sound...

[Anonymous]

So, my ten year old stepson cannot say the "r" sound. It was cute when he was little. As he got older, I flagged it for DH. I don't know if he thought his ex was going to do something about it or what. Anyway, it seems really late to do something about it now, but I'm willing to nudge DH again if there is a possibility speech therapy can help him. Anyone have any experience with a tween who can't pronounce R's? Any chance he will outgrow it? (I think DH and exW think he will outgrow it and that is why they haven't done anything about it).

[Anonymous]

If he hasn't outgrown it by 10, he probably needs some extra help. If he were mine, I'd get him speech therapy now.

[Anonymous]

At 10, he is unlikely to outgrow it on his own. Speech therapy will help.

[Anonymous]

Speech therapy is expensive, and R is very difficult.

Unless it is impacting his spelling (documented by teacher), or causing emotional/social distress, it will be very hard to get them to address it at school.

You could try recording him saying words with R and then your DH and you saying them so he can hear the difference.

[Anonymous]

Poor kid. Do something. Now. Someone has to.

I had a friend who was divorced and she and her ex fought about this all the time, and as the kid got older, it became something they just accepted and stopped fighting over who was going to pay for speech therapy. Fast forward to high school, poor kid has yet to go out on a date and he's a senior. He was a friend of my son's his whole life (we moved away last year, but they are still close). I always thought it was so sad for this kid that grownups never helped him. He does not get teased or bullied, but its a major issue in his life for him.

Its never too late. Please do something for this kid if the parents will not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he hasn't outgrown it by 10, he probably needs some extra help. If he were mine, I'd get him speech therapy now.

+1

The speech therapist will give him homework to practice and there are apps you can get as well.

We have friends whose son is in his early teens now and still has major speech issues. We only see them when we're visiting their state every couple of years and we are always startled when we see him that he is still so difficult to understand. I don't know if they just don't hear it because they're so used to it but I can't imagine it isn't affecting him at school. He seems like a confident kid--very smart and quirky. But it won't be good if he goes to a job interview and is still speaking that way.

[Anonymous]

Does speech therapy do something that parents couldn't do on their own? Can you download programs, or look up the exercises? That is, if you cannot afford the speech therapy, I mean. Doesn't seem like it's either pay the expense or do nothing, there must be some middle ground? Or maybe I'm clueless and there's nothing a parent can do to help.

[Anonymous]

I'm a speech pathologist and if he's not able to produce "r" correctly by now, it's not going to correct itself. PP is right in saying it also most likely will not be addressed by a school speech pathologist unless he's spelling with a "w" or perhaps if it is having an emotional impact on him (he's stopped raising his hand to answer questions because he's embarrassed, etc). For some other sounds, I might say a parent could watch a video and help but for r? Not really. It's extremely complex because you can't see how it is made (all tongue movement takes place within the mouth) and typically takes a while to remediate. An option could be you attend a few speech therapy sessions with the child and have the therapist teach you how to help him. You could also find a place that takes insurance, or look into local universities with speech clinics. Those are typically cheaper and on a sliding scale.

[Anonymous]

Get speech therapy. Insurance may cover part of the cost (mine does), so it's not really that costly if it does. I estimate I've paid out of pocket about $1800 for a full year of speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he hasn't outgrown it by 10, he probably needs some extra help. If he were mine, I'd get him speech therapy now.

Seems obvious, doesn't it? OP, it's time to say something. It isn't cute at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does speech therapy do something that parents couldn't do on their own? Can you download programs, or look up the exercises? That is, if you cannot afford the speech therapy, I mean. Doesn't seem like it's either pay the expense or do nothing, there must be some middle ground? Or maybe I'm clueless and there's nothing a parent can do to help.

They can. But the standard American r sound is hard, even for professional speech therapists.

-parent of child with r problem who did speech therapy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Speech therapy is expensive, and R is very difficult.

Unless it is impacting his spelling (documented by teacher), or causing emotional/social distress, it will be very hard to get them to address it at school.

You could try recording him saying words with R and then your DH and you saying them so he can hear the difference.

You sound cheap, do you also refuse to get orthodontics unless the teeth are coming out sideways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does speech therapy do something that parents couldn't do on their own? Can you download programs, or look up the exercises? That is, if you cannot afford the speech therapy, I mean. Doesn't seem like it's either pay the expense or do nothing, there must be some middle ground? Or maybe I'm clueless and there's nothing a parent can do to help.

I successfully remediated my daughter for the /r/ sound when she was 4 years old. I do have a background in elementary education and linguistics, though, so even though I don't have any speech teaching experience, I was able to understand what to do.

I found this resource online and ordered many of the manuals and books and games. All told I think it cost about $200.

I worked with my daughter a few times a week for several months and her very severe problem with /r/ sounds went away. Did she just outgrow it? Maybe... but I could see her improving a few steps at a time, always on the things we were working on, so I feel like the work helped immensely.

Entire World of R: Instruction Booklet

http://www.sayitright.org/EWR_Instructional_Workbook.html

"The Entire World of R™ Instructional Workbook, by Christine L. Ristuccia advances a new phonological strategy for evaluating and treating the /r/ phoneme. Centered on the 21 basic phonological components of the /r/ phoneme, the strategy offers easy to follow steps as well as a wealth of activities for students.
This is the original phonetically consistent approach to /r/ remediation program guide.

The core of the book consists of classroom and homework activities at the word, phrase, sentence and carry-over levels.

Each chapter focuses on a distinct variation of /r/; Initial /r/, /ar/, /or/, /ear/, /ire/, /air/, /er/ & /rl/. All chapters are further organizes activity sheets by initial, medial and final word positions.
Created with the busy therapist in mind, the workbook also includes sections on evaluation tips, treatment strategies and step-by-step case studies with detailed actions showing how to implement a phonological strategy. The workbook is designed for therapists that work with articulation errors. The material is appropriate for classroom therapy and is reproducible for homework assignment.
The book complements the previously released The Entire World of R™ Playing Card System.

Finally a phonologically based /r/ program that is easy to use and fun for your kids. Centered on the 8 variations of /r/ and word position, this 224-page book contains worksheet activities for word, phrase, sentence and carry-over levels. A complete phonetic strategy for treating /r/ is included as well as evaluation protocol, treatment tips, case studies and mouth positioning diagrams. Also includes tactile and visual awareness exercises designed to get your students saying /r/ in no time!
Ages 4 and up."

The assessment book was very useful as well:


http://www.sayitright.org/advancedscreening.html


You can get the whole package (including games and activities) for about $270 I think. Way cheaper than a speech therapist.

[Anonymous]

"Why the /r/ phoneme is so difficult to crack":

http://blog.sayitright.org/the-vocalic-r-mystery/

[Anonymous]

"Got R problems? A phonemic approach to R remediation":

http://www.sayitright.org/media/files/-Got_R_Problems_Presentation.pdf