ds can't say her r's!

[johnnydeppsmistress]

ds is 4 in June, due to start school in Sept. and cannot say her r's (comes out as w instead!). Like all other mums, I really don't want the p..s taken out of her at school and would like it to be sorted. If I discuss it with the Health Visitor will she think I'm just being a paranoid mother? It was discussed at her 3 yr check but she said it would sort itself out... and it hasn't! What should I do?

Our nephew was the same and also left out some consonants so "horse" became "hore". He started school last Sept and is now much better. He did have some SALT sessions though from about 3.5 so no, they shouldn't think you are paranoid.

Hi JDM- My dd is 4 and due to start school in sept too. She cannot say her R's or her L's, she either mispronounces then or misses them out completely. Can be quite funny, she said she'd been hunting for cocks at nursery the other day. Obviously she meant clocks. It was picked up at her 2 yr check but then they said it was o.k. I have since taken her back and the h.v has reffered her to speech therapy. She said it is something that she'll probably grow out of, but it's worth getting her assessed especially as it seemed to have got worse, and she was starting to stutter sometimes to.
If you are worried about it talk to your h.v, and put your mind at rest HTH

My dd is 4.5 and still says 'r' as 'w'. SHE recognises the difference in what she's saying but we find it tough.

I must admit I'd rather not have to encounter my HV ever again so am interested to see what people say to JDM

My 6 year old stepson can't say his rs and has a slight lisp. My friend's 5 year old can't say his rs either. Maybe it's something they grow out of but does anyone know at what age?

My dd is 3.5 mo old and can't say her r's too well. At the start of a word they are w's and in a word they are rolled liked the italians pronounce them. Our surname starts with r so I hope it will sort itself out. She used to have other letters she couldn't say like s and f but since starting nursery in January she is really getting so much better that I am not too worried about the r's. I think they may just be late in coming.

The english/american way of saying r involves putting your tongue in a place that some people have great difficulty with. My stepson (now 10) still says w instead of r. However, I have noticed that when we go to Italy and I get him to say Italian words, he can pronounce the r perfectly in the Italian way (ie a rolled r). It involves putting the tongue in a completely different place in the palate. Funnily enough, when I took japanese lessons i was complimented on my accent because the funny r/l sound that the japanese do, involves putting the tongue in the same place as the italian r. That's why japanese typically cannot pronounce the western r. Anyway, all of this is to say, why don't you try teaching your ds to pronounce r words in the Italian way (with a rolled r). Probably less likely to incur teasing than a w sound.

I don't think the English pronounce r's very well. Listen to someone saying 'fire' it sounds more like 'fieu' (can't really write this very well!) - the r is hardly sounded at all. In Scotland we roll our 'r's very well - some words can sound completely different.

heres an idea i've just tried with my son who's exactly the same w's instead of r's

Get your child to growl a 'grrrrr' sound

now make him/her just do the 'rrrrrr'

failing that do more grrr words like

grrrrreen,
grrrrreat,
grrrrrowl.

try to explain to them no G at the start.

start them on rrrrrred then progress from there.

Maybe easier if you make the 'rrrrr' with an angrrry face then get them to copy you.

Thats my best advice keep practising and good luck!