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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

4 year old can't pronounce letter 'R'

22 replies

MNetter15 · 20/08/2015 12:36

My 4 yo dd cannot pronounce her r and uses a 'w' in its place, eg rabbit is wabbit. I've read that it's normal but people are having difficulty understanding her at times. Eg, 'over there' will sound like ova they a...

She had 2 sessions of SALT at 3y 9m as she couldn't say 'ca', she was saying 'ta', so car for eg was tar but she got it very quickly once we worked on it, within days actually.

I know we shouldn't ever compare kids but we were at a 3 yo birthday party yesterday and I was really surprised at how clear the other kids were.

I suppose the obvious answer is to bring her back to the therapist? Any thoughts?

OP posts:

purpleme12 · 20/08/2015 12:53

I still can't promise my Rs I've not been bothered by it really. But if you're bothered you could take her back see what they say

AbeSaidYes · 20/08/2015 12:56

My child is four and says 'ee' instead of 'we' and 'w' instead of 'v' .., no one has ever mentioned it being a problem. I was assuming these things get straightened out one way or another once they start school. I remember my DB having speech therapy at about the age of 8 to correct his Rs.

Original poster

MNetter15 · 20/08/2015 12:59

Thanks for replies. Dh thinks I worry too much. I'll leave it be for the time being I think.

OP posts:

Pipbin · 20/08/2015 13:01

It's fine. It is one of the sounds that children learn to say last, often not until they are about 6.
Worry not.

RatOnnaStick · 20/08/2015 13:03

DS1 is nearly 5 and his R is missing too. I have it on good authority from his SALT that the R is one of the last sounds to mature and it can be anything up to 7 years old when it finally arrives.

Oobis · 20/08/2015 13:12

My 4YO is the same - he even cheated at I spy the other day claiming he can have a W for rabbit because he can't say R!!! If you're worried, ring the therapist for some advice. I'm not intending doing anything. He's aware of it and we practice occasionally, but I'm not concerned. Other than that, his speech is great.

namechangeforissue · 20/08/2015 13:42

'over there' will sound like ova they a...

Do you live in England? If you do, then that's what everyone's pronunciation of that pair of words sounds like. There may be a couple of Rs in the spelling but none in the pronunciation.

If you live in Scotland, or North America (except Boston!) then it would be a bit more unusual to pronounce them like that.

Original poster

MNetter15 · 20/08/2015 13:48

We are Irish namechangeforissue, and we Irish really emphasise our R's. Over there should sound like oveR theRRe, lol....

Funny you should mention that!

OP posts:

namechangeforissue · 20/08/2015 13:56

Ah so if your DC is hearing Irish accented English then you'd be expecting the R sound but it is pretty common for it to be hard at this age. You also hear children of this age mixing up L and R even though they are English speaking so they say "let's go and pray..."

I'd say like the PP that the therapist may have advice even if they don't need to see your DC.

sleepyhead · 20/08/2015 14:05

We were worried about ds1's speech before starting school (4.8) and so he was seen briefly but found to have all the sounds expected for his age. Like pp, we were told that the /r/ sound is one of the last to come (we're in Scotland so it was obvious that he didn't have it yet).

Ds1 is now 8 and I suddenly realised about 6 months ago that he was pronouncing his rs correctly - no intervention required

Original poster

MNetter15 · 20/08/2015 14:07

Sorry, I should have said, we are Irish and live in Ireland.

It was just that it was very obvious to me yesterday when I heard other preschoolers, even 2 year olds, speaking.

OP posts:

LowlLowl · 20/08/2015 14:14

I know it's irrelevant but my 42 year old DH still struggles with Rs and Ws. Which given that his initials are RW seems rather unfair...!

wafflyversatile · 20/08/2015 14:19

Maybe there was a mix up at the hospital and you were given an English child.

I agree with leaving it for a little while before worrying.

Maybe do some practice with her.

BertieBotts · 20/08/2015 14:34

The R sound is one of the last to develop. DS is 6.9 and still can't say it properly. And yes he is English so non-rhotic but even words like rabbit - he went through the stage of saying wabbit but now he says an odd kind of y instead so it's yabbit.

Also th half the time is d or f. fings and dat. Although that's taken a bashing because he's just lost his top two teeth specifically

Honestly four is still really little, don't worry :)

RatOnnaStick · 20/08/2015 14:44

There's a useful table here mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=754 (if you want to type it yourself in light of recent site issues). It says /r/ is typically mastered by around 6 years.

BertieBotts · 20/08/2015 14:55

I don't know if that's overly helpful though since it's based on American children and they tend to have slightly different patterns. I've never noticed British children struggling with s whereas American children seem to lisp for longer. It's probably just a difference in how the accents are constructed but I'd ask the speech therapist rather than going with an online guide (though it might be useful as a rough idea :))

kinks78 · 21/08/2015 15:39

We have an issue with 's' at 4.5yrs! Been told not to worry by school SALT, she has seen him a couple of times and he does say it in some words but not others, its the combination of letters in specific words which causes him issues!

However it is a worry to me as he uses 'd' instead! You can imagine the looks we get when he's shouting his big brother (who is 12) to give him 'his big dick (stick)' back in the park, whilst said brother is ticking (he has tourettes)!!

derxa · 21/08/2015 17:25

ex SALT here. /r/ is one of the last sounds to be 'mastered' by most children so don't worry about this at 4. You could give some reinforcement. If he says 'wabbit' you can say 'yes rabbit' with a bit of emphasis. Obviously don't pressurise him. Good luck. I might look up some exercises for you to do if things don't improve.

Original poster

MNetter15 · 21/08/2015 17:49

Thank you all and that is very funny kinks78!

OP posts:

derxa · 21/08/2015 17:52

Sorry. It's dd not ds- didn't read properly

kinks78 · 21/08/2015 19:06

It gives us a giggle MNetter xx

Pootle765 · 26/08/2015 04:10

Hello, my DS got it overnight when he lost his front teeth. Before he couldn't roll an R at all, and bizarrely, as soon as he lost his front teeth, he could!

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