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In a message dated 2/26/2005 5:18:49 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
sandrewmama@... writes:

She is seven and three months old. At what point, if ever, should I be
concerned enough about her speech to seek professional help? I've talked to
her before about her R's. She knows that she cannot speak the true R sound
and I've had her focus on how I say a word with R in it so that she
recognizes that the word is spelled with an R not a W. I certainly don't
want to do anything to discourage her from writing and she doesn't care very
much that her invented spelling is difficult for some to read.


=====

Holly couldn't pronounce "r" at that age, but she wasn't starting to spell
yet. When she wanted to write, she would dictate and then copy it back down
in her own hand. But even after she got better at "r" she would often ask if
a word had a "r" in it, so that she could think about how it would be
spelled. She could hear other people's "r" usually, but when spelling she was going
from her own pronunciation. (Or if someone wasn't understanding what she was
saying, she would ask if the word had an "r" so they could help figure out
what she meant by plugging an "r" in.)

I had some friends who were speech therapists, and two of them did single
(casual) sessions with Holly, one at a party, and one at a restaurant. She
used to practice saying "Roger Rabbit's buried treasure" while she was working
on making the "r" because that phrase has initial/beginning, mid and
terminal/end sounds.

I wouldn't worry at seven, though. Offer to help spell the words that had
"r" and maybe (if she thinks it would be fun, otherwise no) maybe make 3x5
cards with the words she has needed to write before and might need to write
again. Then she can go to her own words set and find them again for spelling
purposes (and see those r's).

Sandra




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