Speech problems in older children. (pronunciation of Th and R specifically)

[Methe]

My Daughter is 7 and has problems with Th and R sounds. I have been gently correcting her for years but it isn't sinking in. We had a conversation yesterday about the weather and she said she didn't mind wain but she didn't like funder and to my shame I snapped at her about it. Clearly snapping isn't going to help matters so what can I do? I have tried doing tongue exercises to try and teach her to make the correct sounds but she doesn't seem able to. She does have quite a fat tongue (like Jamie Oliver) which she inherited from her Dad so I don't know if that is what's causing the problems. Neither me or her Dad speak badly. She had some speech therapy as a toddler as she was late talking but the woman who did it was a complete cow and was useless with children so we never went back. I have mentioned it to her teachers a couple of times but they don't seem concerned.

My DD has a good vocabulary and is excelling academically so it is just the speech we are worried about.

Would love some advice if anyone has any knowledge in this area.

Methe all the correcting in the world won't make DD say the words correctly...she needs speech therapy. I had a sibilant as as a child...not quite a lisp but almost.

I was left with it until I trained as an actor and a voice teacher showed me some excersises that helped.

It's not "speaking badly" it's a speech impediment. If I were you I would speak to your GP and get a referral.

I have an 8yo who says f instead of Th. he can say th if I correct but it isnt natural for him. I was told that he would grow out of it by a speech therapist but I'm starting to wonder if it will ever happen.

Thanks TSN it's kind of you to reply and share your experience. I will go and see a GP.

Red Now old was your son when you saw the speech therapist? I have been waiting for DD to grow out of it for a couple of years as everything I read online said that children normally do by 5 or 6 but DD isn't improving at all. Hopefully some speech therapy will help as it's really noticeable (and annoying!)

My DS is 8 and sometimes says f rather than th - and funnily enough spells words wrongly as a result! I can hear that he is developing the sound though and so not too worried. My DD is 5 and says both th and r correctly but has a lisp so we have just referred her for SALT.

In some areas the wait for SALT is ages so hopefully you can get into the system even if she suddenly makes a breakthrough with her sounds!

My DS (8) says f rather than th. We paid privately for a SALT when he was 6/7 as he was mispronouncing sh as well. That corrected under the SALT but the f/th didn't. It is improving as he gets older though so I'm in two minds whether to see the SALT again.

I think that these are the last two sounds that children are able to pronounce correctly. My dd is 4.8 and has problems with these two sounds.

MissBeehiving How did you go about finding a private SALT and roughly how much would it cost? Do you correct your DS or has it improved on it's own?

Well, we went to the GP, got a referral to the SALT, there was an initial assessment, she said that Ds could be helped by a therapist but that there was a long wait or we could pay privately. There was already a private SALT coming to the school and we paid her to DS whilst she was there. I think that it cost about £50 per 45 minute session.

However there isn't any reason you can't go straight to the private SALT yourself, which would obviously cut down on waiting - on the website of the SALT we used (who was very good), their initial assessment time is 2 weeks.

They do quite a lot of intense work within the session, working on the specific sounds, (I sat in on a few sessions), then you get exercises to do outside the appointments.

The sh sound was easier to correct, I did do that but not obsessively, at home. DS has his tongue in the wrong place for the th sounds which I think is about the shape of his mouth (I was the same as a child), I do correct it but probably need to start doing the exercises we were given which will probably be more helpful.

Mathe - he was 4. We went because he had a stutter. He doesn't do that anymore but the th thing is still there.
I haven't taken him to the GP because he can say the sound properly if I correct him. It does affect his spellings a little bit but once he's learnt it's a th he can spell it properly.

Your post just made me think that perhaps he's past the age of growing out of it and needs more help.