What To Do If A Child Can’t Pronounce The Letters R And S?
Speech defects or pronunciation difficulties such as R and S defects are fairly common in children learning to speak. But should parents be concerned if a child is unable to pronounce the letter R or S, for example, and how to act in such a situation?
Is there a cause for concern if a child cannot pronounce the letters R and S?
It is important to know that there is no exact time limit at which point a child should learn to pronounce a particular letter or sound. Certain types of speech defects are common as a phenomenon, and in most cases the problem can be corrected as early as primary school. However, speech impairment can remain permanent unless efforts are made to correct it before adolescence, because after that it is much more difficult to adapt the vocal organs to the new voice than in childhood.
An S-defect, or ace-defect or sigmatism, is a speech defect in which a person has difficulty pronouncing an S-sound. The most common S-defect in young children is a remnant of speech learning. The R-defect, i.e. the erroneous defect or rotism, is the speech defect associated with the production of the R-sound, respectively.
Different speech defects are caused by different causes. An S or R fault can be caused by one of the following, for example:
- The child has not yet learned to control his vocal organs and thus pronounce the sound
- Tight tongue tendon that prevents the tongue from moving behind the upper incisors
- Diseases associated with hearing loss
- Respiratory diseases
- Development delay
- Bilingualism
- Difficulties in fine motor skills
- In rare cases, difficulty in vocalization may be due to an injury to the area of the skull or vocal organs
What to do if a child cannot pronounce the letters R and S?
Speech failure is treated with speech therapy, in addition to which, in some cases, those with R defect are subjected to a simple procedure in which the overtight tongue is cut off. Parents can also support their child’s pronunciation learning at home.
Deep breathing
Before a child begins to speak, pronounce, and articulate, he or she should prepare his or her voice pathway with deep breathing exercises. These exercises also help the child better understand the muscles of their face and their relaxation. Another advantage of these exercises is that they allow the child to focus fully on their language. This makes it easier for him to move the language so that he can pronounce the words and sounds correctly.
An example of parents
The reason a child does not pronounce the letters R and S correctly is often that he or she has not noticed a difference in the articulation of the letters and has learned to form sounds in the right way. Parents can help the child by showing how the letters are pronounced correctly. They may have to exaggerate the articulation of the letters and the volume of the sound to make the child perceive the nuances better.
Language exercises
The tongue is a muscle that, like other muscles in the body, needs maintenance and exercise to function effectively. The language can be practiced, for example, by the following means:
- Moving the tongue when chewing food
- Touching each tooth with the tip of the tongue
- Stretching or folding the tongue quickly
- Pushing the tongue out and pulling it back in
