Why on earth wasn’t she treated before now? The two “r” sounds (ruh, and er) are typically mastered no later than age 7.

The good news is she will probably learn to correct this in just a few sessions because she is mature enough to hear her errors and feel and hear the correct productions (with the right kind of therapy).

Try calling your neighborhood elementary school and speak to their speech pathologist. Even though the rules have changed regarding non-enrolled kids getting therapy, the speech pathologist may go along with private sessions at a reasonable price.

I worked with a 16 year-old girl who hadn’t mastered the “s” sound. It only took 6 sessions for her to get it into conversational speech (the ultimate goal of all articulation therapy). I charged her mom only $50 per hour and did the therapy at their home. They only lived a mile away, so be prepared to pay more if you hire someone to come to the house, usually up to $90/hr.

To clarify: I recommended the elementary school because the therapists at that grade level have tons of experience with correcting “r” problems. I realize she is 13!

Since she is 13 I would say that she definately needs a speech therapist. Two of my sisters had the same problem when they were kids. I believe it has to do with how they hear the words they say as opposed to how they hear what other people say. A speech therapist can teach her how to say the R sound correctly.

If money is an issue than you may want to try to find a speech therapist who is willing to teach your parents how to do the therapy so that she doesn’t have to go in as often. Some will and others won’t.

You didn’t mention how old she is. This can be normal in some preschool children and they out grow it. Other times they continue to mispronounce their “R’s” until they receive speech therapy. So first you need to look at her age. If she is under 6 years old I wouldn’t worry too much, rather I would just be sure to speak correctly to her. If she is 6 or older, then I would consider a speech therapist. One thing that often happens when children mispronounce certain sounds is that they don’t hear the mispronunciation. For instance, when someone else says the word “rabbit” that’s what the child “hears”, but when they say “wabbit”, to their own ears it still sounds like “rabbit”. Its interesting that they can detect the mistake if someone else says “wabbit”. Its really hard to convince the child to try to correct their pronunciation because they honestly don’t think they are making a mistake. One thing that can help with this is to have them speak into a tape recorder, or better yet a video camera, when they hear their voice played back they are able to hear how they really sound.

At the following site you can find an on-line catalog. One of the things they carry is a program to remediate common, minor speech problems at home, I think it is called “help me talk right”. I haven’t used it, because my son’s speech problems were severe (total absence of any speech effort at 4 years old), so my son needed a lot more help than this offered. I can’t promise that it would work, but you might want to check it out.

http://www.sycamoretree.com

Otherwise see a speech therapist, like any doctor, they are expensive. Some insurance plans pay for them. Also, homeschoolers can access special services like speech therapy through the school system and still remain homeschooled, the school may try to talk you into enrollling, but legally they can’t force to enrol in order to provide those services.

My son is also struggling with his R’s and L’s (just turned 5). I checked a few books out of the local library and have also started to have him practice tongue twisters several times each day. With my son, he is not using his tongue the right way for the “r” sound. The following book (check your library — it’s also available on amazon.com) had some great exercises to help with the r sound.

Help Me Talk Right: How to Teach a Child to Say the “R” Sound in 15 Easy Lessons (Paperback)

by Mirla G. Raz (Author)

My son’s “r’s” do seem to be getting better. We haven’t been doing the exercises quite as regularly as recommended but it does seem that the book has helped us pinpoint the problem.

If this doesn’t work, you can try the speech therapy route but you may be able to work on this at home.

First off, how old is your sister? If she is still school aged, she can get help from the local public school system. We all pay our taxes for something!! Even if you are home-schooled, this is available for school aged children. Contact the local school district to set up an appointment. If she is an adult, check your phone book for Speech Therapists or Pathologists. If money is an issue, contact your church or low income clinic.

Speech problems are cause for a number of reasons (i.e. deformed palate , mental problems, learning disabilities, to name a few. They don’t usually go away without help.

I stuttered for years as the result of an abusive father.

Good luck.

My 5 year old use a speech therapist through the hospital. It’s paid for through LACHIP (our state medicaid program for kids). But you have to get a referral through the Dr.