It is quite common for children who begin to speak to have trouble pronouncing the "r". This disorder is called rotacism, is the name given to the selective dyslalia of the phoneme "r". A dyslalia is an inability to correctly pronounce certain sounds or groups of sounds.
The disorder to pronounce the letter "r" is usually temporary, it is one of the most complicated letters to pronounce along with the "d" and "z", so it is one of the last to acquire, but it is corrected as The child is practicing speech and tuning the hearing.
But nevertheless, if you turned five, when the child should already pronounce all the phonemes correctly, he has not yet overcome it, it is convenient to consult with a speech therapist to determine the origin of the problem and seek treatment.
Why do you have trouble pronouncing the “r”?
The rotacismo it is not due to a delay or psychological problem. Prolonged use of the pacifier can be a precedent, as well as that one of the parents also has a problem pronouncing the "r". Remember that children learn the sounds by imitation, so it is very likely to pronounce as their elders do.
Then, there are two main causes. On the one hand, the most frequent, is a bad tongue and air placement, causing the sound not to be pronounced properly.
In Babies and more Main disorders of language, speech or voice: how to identify them and when to go to a speech therapist?Another possibility is that there is a Physical problem that prevents the emission of certain sounds, such as sublingual frenulum, cleft palate or perhaps hearing loss. Before starting a treatment it is important to know the cause of rotacism to know which way to go.
The "r" is an alveolar consonant, whose sound is achieved by vibrating the tip of the tongue against the palate. The problem is that the child is not able to make this joint correctly and must be taught. There may be problems pronouncing the single ("r" soft) or multiple ("rr" strong ") vibrant.
In turn there are different kinds of rotacismo, depending on the place and way of pronouncing the sound. It can be labial, lingual or velar ("French" r)
What can a speech therapist do for the child?
The speech therapist is a professional trained to re-educate speech articulation processes. First, it will determine the origin of the problem and carry out a therapy by working the muscles of the face, tongue and breathing to get the child to pronounce properly.
The duration of treatment depends on each child and the degree of difficulty presented, but it can last for weeks or months.
Why should rotacism be corrected?
In the age at which the child begins to read and write, not being able to pronounce certain phonemes correctly brings consequences for learning to read and write. By not pronouncing it, they don't recognize it, making reading comprehension very difficult. There are children who even avoid words that carry the "r" making oral expression difficult.
It is a disorder that suits try as soon as possible. The treatment is very effective and gives excellent results. If the problem is not cured, it is rooted and it is more difficult to solve it.
In Babies and more, what is phonological awareness? It can cause low self-esteem, cause the child to be recruited, school delay and in some cases it causes other speech defects such as stuttering.
Exercises to learn to pronounce the letter "r"
There are some exercises you can do at home. Although it is very important to have a certain "touch" so that it does not become something with which the child ends up in disgust and ends up causing the opposite effect to the desired one. Do not force them or lengthen too much time (no more than half an hour), or do too strict exercises. They must become a game so that in a playful way, the child will progress.
- Breathing exercises: relax the body and tongue through deep breathing exercises.
- Language training exercises: stick out the tongue, move the tip to the right, left, up and down. There is an exercise that seems most suitable for children. It could be called "my mouth is a house". You have to do it every day. It consists of having the child draw a picture of a house, with its walls, roof, door, shelves and floor and move it to his mouth. The roof is the palate, the walls the carriages, the door the opening of the mouth, the shelves the teeth and the floor the bottom. The tongue is responsible for cleaning the house and thus conscientiously tour each part of the house (removes cobwebs from the ceilings, clean shelves, review the walls, etc.). Then the tongue goes for a walk and re-enters, taking it out and putting it in.
- Tongue click with the upper palate at different speeds, bite it slightly, travel the teeth from left to right and then backwards, bend it inwards.
- Practice the sound "r". Imitate the sound of a motorcycle, tongue twister, words and phrases containing the letters "r" repeatedly, exaggerate the erres (for example: "railroad"). Make me look at how you put your tongue when you say it, so it mimics you. A tongue twister known to all: "Erre with erre guitar, erre with erre barrel, they roll the wheels, the wheels of the railway."
- Children's books: there is children's literature especially aimed at exercising the sound of the erre as for example, Tales to talk to the "erre", Y Stories to speak - The symphons with R, both from Editorial Cepe. Another book: “Erre que erre”, with exercises to pronounce the “r”, by María José Berdejo Benedi.
- Videos to practice: I leave one of several videos that you can find to work with erre words.
He rotacismo, problems to pronounce the "r" It is a disorder that, with the help of a speech therapist, and fundamentally the support of parents, can easily be overcome.
