My Help Was Not Appreciated

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We live in a house together with another family. They have four children. With the exception of the second child, they all had problems learning to speak properly. As No 4 has a different father, one can assume that this peculiarity is hereditary and comes from the mother's side. The German language has many words beginning with the 'sh' sound. The boy could pronounce this sound without problems but for some inexplicable reasons he didn't say it when a word begins with it. Let me explain it with English words: He didn't say 'shrub', 'shriek' and 'shredder', but 'rub', 'riek' and 'redder'. Whenever I saw him, I asked him to say 'sh' which he did. Then I asked him to say 'shrub' and he said 'rub', etc. When he was due for the first class of elementary school, he was tested by a speech therapist who was to find out if the boy could attend a normal school or a special school for children with speech deficits. The man put a knife, a fork and a spoon in front of the boy and asked him what that was. The boy wanted to make a good impression and made an effort. He had stored away that grown-ups are happy when they hear the 'sh' sound. He said, "sh-knife, sh-fork, sh-spoon". The speech therapist gawked at him. He had never heard anything like that before. He asked the boy's mother if she could explain where he had learnt these strange words. She told him that a teacher lived in their house who had practised the 'sh' sound with him. The man told her to tell this teacher - me - to stop doing this at once. He said, "We are the specialists. We know what to do. We wouldn't have to study speech therapy if everybody could do it." I can only admire these people. The boy as well as his two younger siblings attended the special school and learnt to speak perfectly. Nobody would ever suppose that they once had problems. The boy is now thirty years old and our landlord. He is married and has two daughters. The elder has problems pronouncing words properly . . . Photo: verywell.com