“My son still can't pronounce his "r's" properly. Would therapy help him?”
My son always had issues with his speech and the school recently recommended speech therapy to help him. He can't pronounce his "r's" properly, in particular. Would therapy really help him? What exercises would be done?
17 Answers
Hello, the /r/ sound is one of the most complicated for individuals to produce. The age of acquisition for the /r/ sound is around 5-6 years of age. Articulation therapy with a certified speech-language pathologist could be a beneficial form of intervention to educate your son with the anatomic mechanisms involved with making the /r/ sound as well as mast practice trials.
Yes, therapy would help him. There are specific exercises to help the tongue with correct placement to produce the /r/ sound. Helping your son understand where to place his tongue and then practicing in words and sentences.
It depends on age. If a school is concerned, then chances are they have concerns based on what is expected for a child's age. Speech therapy can improve an R from when a child is young or when an adult. When an R is the issue, I like to rule out tongue tie and consider if orofacial myofunctional therapy is required alongside what we think of as traditional speech therapy. That can sometimes be the difference between success or not.
If your son still isn't pronouncing his R sounds by 8 years of age, it might be a good idea to get him assessed and start some therapy. If he is in public school, you can request a speech/language assessment and they can provide therapy if he qualifies. Sometimes insurance will cover articulation therapy, but you have to start with an evaluation to determine eligibility. You also can seek help with a private speech-language pathologist.
Kimberly Baradei
Speech-Language Pathologist
Hi! Thanks for reaching out :) I'm not sure about your son's age, but there are milestone ages for specific speech sounds, including r's. If your son has surpassed this milestone age, Speech therapy would definitely benefit him. Exercises would be determined after a thorough oral mechanism assessment to see which muscle groups need habilitation. All the best!
Yes, /r/ is a difficult sound to produce and does not resolve without therapy
If your child is 5 years of age or older, then developmentally, he should be producing the sound. In answer to the question, will therapy help, yes but there are several factors that play into this. The /r/ error is one of the hardest sounds to remediate because you can't see where the tongue should be placed. Also, if your child has a myofunctional disorder, then progress can be delayed as well. School therapy is certainly an option, but I typically recommend parents obtain private as well since school therapy will only address what they view as educationally acceptable. Also, services through the school are typically not one on one but in a group. Feel free to reach back out to me if you would like more information.
The course of treatment would depend on different factors including but not limited to: articulator placement, the context of errors, and any other articulation errors present. Most schools have speech pathologists on staff that can provide services during the school day and even some during the summer to avoid lapses in treatment. The first step would be a screening to determine if an evaluation is necessary. It sounds like in this case the child has already been screened and an evaluation has been recommended.
There are a variety of techniques that can be used to facilitate his production of /r/. Speech therapy would definitely be or benefit to him so that the speech language pathologist can come up with a treatment plan and home practice program to remediste his /r/.
Hello, thank you for reaching out for help. How old is your son? If he happens to be older than 5, request from your pediatrician a speech and language evaluation prescription.
Thank you for your question. The /r/ sound is one of the most difficult sounds to treat. This is particularly difficult for children who are still developing what's called tongue-jaw dissociative movement patterns. Basically, the jaw overcompensates for movements that should be completed by the tongue. The jaw elevates to make the /r/ (sometimes the lips round/contract as well), but since the tongue blade is not elevating/retracting, the sound is inaccurate or distorted. Sometimes this sound is hindered if children have a short sublingual frenum (that band of tissue under the tongue). One way to stretch the frenum, is to suction the tongue to the roof of the mouth, gently open the jaw, and click the tongue down. Another helpful exercise is pointing the tongue forward (not down toward chin), and pulling it back inside as far as possible (pulling with the back of the tongue - not the tip). The school speech language pathologist should also be a helpful reference, as he/she probably had an opportunity to assess your child; each child has a unique set of needs and to be appropriately treated, it is best to receive an assessment from a qualified speech language pathologist.
Therapy would really help him! A formal articulation assessment will be completed and then a plan of care will be developed. His SLP will be targeting /r/ and any other sounds he has difficulty with articulation placement and exercises. It will be important that you carryover these strategies into the home environment for the best results.
Yes articulation therapy is recommended to help remediate speech sounds such as the /r/ sound. The /r/ sound is one of the hardest sounds to produce, but should be clearly articulated by age 8.
Terlenda Lassiter
Speech-Language Pathologist
/R/ is a very difficult sound. It can come anywhere in development from age 3 to age 6.5. Speech pathologists are specially trained in exercises and play activity to maximize a child, teen, or even adult's production of target sounds, including /r/. He definitely should participate in speech therapy. Also, each child is different, so the exercises are based on the evaluation. I am not the evaluating therapist, and it would not be fair to him to give you random exercises without seeing him myself. Consult your SLP for help and ideas on how to help him practice development of his /r/.
Cara M. Gelbart
Speech-Language Pathologist
Whether therapy would be helpful to your son to pronounce his "r"s depends a lot on his age. Problems with "r" sound production typically resolve themselves around age 5. Now, there is no inherent rule book dictating this and each child is individual. Sound production can affect academics, and is an easier problem to fix when a child is at a younger age. If it is concerning to you, it may be beneficial to seek a speech evaluation.
R normally is not a worry for SLPs until the child is around 7 years old; it’s a late arrival in terms of perfect pronunciation. I’m not sure how old your child is, but an SLP can for sure assist in nailing that R to perfection. The R is by far one of the trickiest sounds to teach because it takes a lot of visual/verbal cues to assist in correct placement. Look up the R Speech Buddy as a good tool, as well as what your SLP recommends for exercises at home
Tara Helwig
Speech-Language Pathologist
Tongue resistance exercises with a tongue depressor to the front and sides of the tongue would be great. I do recommend him starting speech therapy.
