Does My Son Need Speech Therapy?

If you feel he needs speech therapy you can request that he get evaluated. If the teacher refuses, i would talk to the principal about it. Don't let them push you around!

I don't think he will grow out of it - but you can work with him on your own for a while to see if that helps and save you some money - therapy is expensive! (unless insurance will cover it....some insurance will cover specialists) There are a few website about speech pathology - one I found was http://speech-language-pathology-audiology.advanceweb.com.... Not sure if it will help, but one-on-one time also helps - have him tryt o say words over and over - my DSD had to go to speech class, but still had some issues with certain letters/words, so I worked with her on them and now she is awesome at enunciating. I also went to speech class when I was a child - my brain heard words differently (I grew up in the deep south where everyone had an accent) and I would visualize the southern accent and spell the words incorrectly in my head - so when I tried to say them they came out wrong - speech therapy corrected the problems I was having, as did reading a lot, spelling, etc...and now I have no issues...in your son's case, it seems like he can formulate other words/sounds, except this one...he could have a weak tongue, or he could just be imitating the sounds he hears his dad speaking..? I think repetition and practice is key - try working with him and see if that will progress his speech ability - then consider contacting your insurance and possibly getting him in a class. Good luck!

Hi C.,

I had the same situation with my son as well. I spoke with our school speech therapist and she offered to teach me, one time, how to work with my son's lisp. I met with her (and my son) while she demonstrated the exercises. She gave me a packet with instructions as well. Why not talk to your schools speech therapist and see if you can arranged the same?
Good luck!

My daughter had been in speech through first grade. She is now in second grade and still has problems with pronoucing some of her letters. The teacher and I spoke to the speech teacher and she said that if it is not affacting her academically they will not continue to do speech therapy with her. It maybe the same case for your son. The speech therapist did give me some exercices to do at home with her. If you feel he needs to be teasted go to the office and ask them if you could get him screened or atleast if she can give you some exercises on it. Good luck.

Maybe. Maybe not. When we moved to a new school, they made a big deal out of getting my son into speech therapy in the third grade. I NEVER heard him have the trouble pronouncing the sound they said he had trouble with. We got into it for one year. My son was getting upset about it (they took it out of his recess time) and was hating it so much. He said they just sat there and play some boring computer game. Since I never heard the problem in the first place, I could never tell if he was making progress or not. They sent home periodic reports, but they were just "so and so is on target for meeting his deadline at the appointed time" notes. Finally, 1 month before the year was up, they started making noises about extending the therapy. I said all the reports said he was on target, so why does he need more? Also, he was just starting braces and had an expander in his mouth - of COURSE he was having to learn to talk around the hardware in his mouth. I just said enough was enough. He'll be fine and we are done. Thank you very much. You have to realize, the school gets money from the state for every kid they have in a program like this. I wouldn't put it past SOME schools to drum up some business if they feel they need a boost in funds. My son will be finished with braces in one more year. He is an eloquent speaker with a vocabulary that's better than a lot of his teachers, and can pronounce dinosaur names like he grew up in a museum. In your place, I'd find out online if there are some exercises for the lisp and R pronunciation and casually work with him at home on it. Low pressure - make games out of it. See your dentist and/or orthodontist and see if his teeth are part of the problem.

I was recently told that if it is affecting his ability to communicate and interact socially wiht his peers, tha tis a indicator for therapy. Is it severe enough tha tyou think his classmates can't understand him or tha tthey might start teasing him?

Personally, I don't think an 8 year old is likely to row out of this - 3, 4, 5 maybe, but 8 is pretty old. The older he gets, the harder a habit it is to break. I would get him some therapy.

I had therapy in elementary school for Rs, Ss, and Ls at about that age. It was pretty brief and I speak completely normally - except for an occasional NY accent :)

ask your pediatrician he will beable to tell you if he needs it and if so who to contact.

Hi C.. Our son is 2.5 years old and about to get group therapy through his preschool. His problem wasn't a lisp as much as that he just wasn't saying many words. I agree with these previous posts - ask the school therapist for a test or activities, ask his doctor for suggestions, and here are a few web links I have for additional activities you can try:
http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/sptherapy.html
http://www.speechtx.com/ - scroll over language fun, more language, etc.
http://www.edhelper.com/phonics/Phonics.htm - you can click on the Rs for specific help with that sound. You can work with him on sounding out the r words.
http://www.speechville.com/ - useful for more general information about therapy, but check out what can we do at home to help our child.
Good luck.

Talk with your doctor my son who is 3 now is in speech sence he was 2 1/2 a major differance in him from last year to this year. We go to speech threw our insurance not school but he was evaluated by a professional in this field

I would appeal the teacher's decision not to refer him to the school speech therapist; push to have the therapist evaluate your son, not the classroom teacher, who likely is not a trained speech therapist herself! You have a right to these public school services and if he is being affected socially (and eventually he will be -- he is reaching the age where other kids will begin to tease him about his speech), then THAT will affect his academics because a kid who gets teased will be unhappy and unable to perform well at school. At his age he is not likely to outgrow the problem, at least according to what a speech therapist once told us about such issues. And it will be harder and more expensive to fix the older he gets. Good luck and don't take the teacher's word as the final word -- be courteous and friendly with her about it but push to have him evaluated by the therapist, even if you have to make the request by going over the teacher's head.

I agree with Tracy K.'s advice. Go directly to the speech Therapist at the school for a consultation/ or just to offer some suggestions. Perhaps the therapist can offer you a packet of exercises like Tracy K.'s did. If not, call the school director of Speech Therapy, they might have just such a packet and show you some exercises your son can work with. I would assert that the therapist would want to hear your son speak the difficult sound(s) in some words to understand if it is the mouth (bone structure) or muscles before knowing which exercises to give you. If it is worth serious intervention, the therapist may be able to hint (but they can't tell you, directly - politics) if a private therapist might do any different for improvement, and you can weigh the expenses. Talk with your Husband to figure out if spending money on private Therapy would have been of value to him, looking back in his life. The muscles are not as flexible after an age (sometime between 7-9yrs., I think) so private might be a waste of time, or an immediate need... At the same time, the federal law (and funding) for the school to give therapy to a student is based on the degree of academic impairment the problem creates. If he's at grade level for speeches, reading aloud, etc., then, even after a full evaluation, they cannot invest in correcting his "rr" pronunciation.