Braeden just turned eight. He still has a soft /r/ and he is embarrassed by not being able to pronounce it correctly. He confided in me last summer when we were reading books. He almost started crying ... "why can't I pronounce WORLD like everyone else?". Man, I almost started crying. I explained that children need to learn every single sound in our English language. His Mom had a soft /r/ for a long time also.
I brought it up to the kidults and they Googled it and for a short time, would practice with him. He told me he couldn't watch YouTube video exercises ... he just does better when someone is with him. At the start of school, I heard from another Mom that her son was getting speech therapy AT SCHOOL at no charge.
Braeden's teacher this year is Ms. Orme. He can't get that /r/ hard enough. Right before they went to his parent teacher conference, I asked them to ask her if we should have therapy for him ... because he doesn't want to speak up in class "in case people laugh at me". Oh, the teacher says yes, we have a speech pathologist on the District staff and we'll get him going right away. Both the teacher and the therapist emailed her what would be happening.
That was in October. Nothing has happened. I had to force Kate to email the teacher AND the therapist today (Nov 15). It's been over a month and they haven't even evaluated him yet! By the time he gets a once a week session school will be out for the summer. And we've lost another year!
If it doesn't start soon ... and maybe even if it does ... I'm going to get advice on using a pediatric speech pathologist and I will pay to get him some help. And they will have to pay me back.
Maybe I should have pushed harder earlier. Reading online made it sound like it wasn't a big issue until age 7. Today while playing Legos with Deacon ... I discovered he usually says /r/ words perfectly. (We practice Girls Rule and Boys Drool and then they love to make it the other way around, of course).
Now it will be rough on the big brother.
Private paying a speech pathologist is extremely expensive...dealt with them for 12+ years. When something is bothering a child to the point he won't speak up in class, that could set a pattern that could last a life time---long after he actually learns to say a hard R. I admire that you try to maintain on the sidelines when it comes to parental decisions but this is different...
ReplyDeleteI don't think the school will EVER get around to him ... nor will it be intense enough (daily?) to get the job done. I'll wait until after the holidays. Having the kids sign up for free health insurance on Monday. Hopefully it will pay for some of it. It's VERY hard to stay on my side of the street .... I have to temper things ... would I know about this if I didn't live here? And go from there.
DeleteSo glad that he will be able to get help one way or another. If it's taken care of now, it will not be a problem for him later in life.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping so! Kids haven't been teasing him so I want to help him before they do!!
DeleteI can remember when my Pammie, age 7, came home from school and said, "The teacher put me in special ed class." My reaction was, oh my--she's retarded. But it was speech therapy class and by the end of the year, Pammie was "cured".
ReplyDeleteOf course you need to speak up to the parents AND the teacher's because as busy as parents are nowadays, you might catch problems before they are even aware of them.
Good job, Gramma.
Oh thanks for that, Judy! Now if only the speech therapist would start with him !
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