why do some little kids pronounce "r" as "w?"

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,155
59
91
R's take a bit more work to pronounce for some kids. I've heard it's the most obvious sign of a speech impediment if a kid still can't pronounce an R after they've been talking for a few years.

My wife and her sister had this impediment until roughly 5th-6th grade. A little speech therapy and she snapped right out of it.
Her sister still does it some, and her kids are damn near unintelligible.
All it takes is some work by the kid and the parent making them do it, and unless there's some physical problem, most speech impediments can be overcome.
 
TuffGirl

TuffGirl

Platinum Member
Jan 20, 2001
2,797
1
91
Originally posted by: Cyberian
Originally posted by: iloveme2
umm.... example?
Click to expand...
"I was wunnung awound and I a wan into my wabbit."
Click to expand...
Heh exactly. I was gonna suggest it was from watching Looney Toons and emulating Elmer Fudd.:)

 

I used to pronounce my "L's" as "W's." My sister's name is Alison, and I used to call her "Awison." My parents were thinking about sending me to a speech therapist, but I guess my mouth grew, because it stopped when I got to second grade.
 
E

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
8
81
Originally posted by: jumpr
I used to pronounce my "L's" as "W's." My sister's name is Alison, and I used to call her "Awison." My parents were thinking about sending me to a speech therapist, but I guess my mouth grew, because it's stopped when I got to second grade.
Click to expand...

[A Christmas Story]

Fa ra ra ra ra.... ra ra ra .. ra..

[/A Christmas Story]

:D
 
N

Ness

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2002
5,407
2
0
I used to have that problem in kindergarten, but I went to public school speech therapy stuff.

The lady would have me make the R sound best I could, hold it for a few seconds, then repeat. Then she would have me say words with the sound, and if I didn't get it right after a few times, we started from scratch. It only took a few weeks for me to fix that.

I can remember her saying "My best friend's name is CaRla, can you say her name?"
 
P

Pacfanweb

Lifer
Jan 2, 2000
13,155
59
91
Originally posted by: ness1469
I used to have that problem in kindergarten, but I went to public school speech therapy stuff.

The lady would have me make the R sound best I could, hold it for a few seconds, then repeat. Then she would have me say words with the sound, and if I didn't get it right after a few times, we started from scratch. It only took a few weeks for me to fix that.

I can remember her saying "My best friend's name is CaRla, can you say her name?"
Click to expand...
My wife told me that what the speech therapist finally did to make her learn to pronounce R's was piss her off.
Therapist got frustrated and told her, "okay, since you aren't trying to get better, the only job you'll ever get is at a fast food restaurant, when you can ask customers if they'd like Fwench Fwies to go with that order".
My wife said that embarrassed her so much that she made herself learn.

 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,389
8,547
126
in 20 years drug companies will have us convinced that if the kid takes a drug they'll be fine
 
Chaotic42

Chaotic42

Lifer
Jun 15, 2001
34,348
1,523
126
Because they are bad, bad children.

Doesn't the stereotypical Scottsman have a super rolly hard R?
 
S

Skyclad1uhm1

Lifer
Aug 10, 2001
11,383
87
91
Why can't Americans speak proper English?
Or for that matter, why do some of them even refuse to speak American English?
 
Siddhartha

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
When my cousin Douglas was a little kid, he had trouble with pronouncing the letter T. He made it sound like a f. He quickly caught on that saying "truck" always got him a laugh.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom