Yes, the R sound is a voiced sound.

Yes the R sound  is a liquid sound.

How to make the “r” sound:

There are two ways that we can make the “r” sound.

1. The retroflexed “r” which means we bring our tongue tip up towards the top of our mouth.
2. The humped “r”which means we place the tip of our tongue on our lower gums behind the bottom teeth.  By doing so, the back of the tongue “humps” up

To find out which technique is best for the child, have them say target words from our flashcards targeting the different types of “r” listed above.  The first time, have the child say the words with a retroflexed tongue.  The second time, have the child used a humped tongue.  Each child is different, so try both and use whatever one sounds better / they feel most comfortable with.

Retroflexed “r”

• Have the child pucker their lips slightly and hold them there.
• Tell the child to make the back of their tongue flat and make it tight/strong.
• Raise the tip of the tongue towards the top of the mouth, but not touching it, and curl the tip of it backwards slightly.
• Turn on the voice (voice is the rumbling in your vocal folds.  Have your child/client place their hand on their/your neck during the production of “s” and “r”, and have them feel the difference between the two.  In the production of “s”, there should be no rumble or voicing.  While in the production of “r”, there should be a rumbling or voicing.)
• Release the air out over the tongue.

Humped “r”

• Have the child pucker their lips slightly and hold them there.
• Raise the back of the tongue towards the top of the mouth.
• Point the tip of the tongue towards the lower gums behind the bottom teeth.
• Turn on the voice (voice is the rumbling in your vocal folds.  Have your child/client place their hand on their/your neck during the production of “s” and “r”, and have them feel the difference between the two.  In the production of “s”, there should be no rumble or voicing.  While in the production of “r”, there should be a rumbling or voicing.)
• Release the air out over the tongue.

Tricks and Tips for producing the “r” sound:

• Challenge the child to see who can make the best bear growl “Rrrrrrrrr!”
• Use a tongue depressor to help show your child both ways to make the “r” sound.
  •   For the humped “r”, press the tongue tip down with the tongue depressor and typically the back portion of the tongue with hump up on its own.
  • For the retroflexed “r”, place the tongue depressor under the tip of the tongue and raise it towards the top of the mouth.  When you raise the tongue tip, the tongue should naturally rise and curl backwards.

1. Rabbit
2. Rainbow
3. Run
4. Rat
5. Race
6. Rich
7. Radio
8. Wrist
9. Raisin
10. Rake
11. Wrap
12. Read
13. Recess
14. Rip
15. Rocket
16. Rose
17. River
18. Ring
19. Radio
20. Robot
21. Rug
22. Race
23. Raven
24. Ruler
25. Round
26. Ruby
27. Ribbon
28. Reef
29. Rock
30. Road
31. Rain
32. Room
33. Raccoon
34. Radar
35. Rust
36. Royal
37. Rusty
38. Rhythm
39. Ripe
40. Rookie
41. Rapid
42. Rumble
43. Reach
44. Rich
45. Robin
46. Ranch
47. Riddle
48. Rip
49. Ray
50. Rare
51. Rover
52. Rustic
53. Ripple
54. Racket
55. Rub
56. Rugby
57. Realm
58. Rumble
59. Ring
60. Ryan

1. Carrot
2. Forest
3. Library
4. Bird
5. Earring
6. Arm
7. Mirror
8. Surprise
9. Electric
10. Celebrate
11. Birthday
12. Harvest
13. Umbrella
14. Mystery
15. Strawberry
16. Miracle
17. Harmony
18. Guitar
19. Cherry
20. Remember
21. Fairy
22. Orchestra
23. Forever
24. Parade
25. Drum
26. Journey
27. Secret
28. Word
29. Larry
30. Curse
31. Prepare
32. Parrot
33. Karma
34. Bark
35. Remember
36. Adventure
37. Surprise
38. Mario
39. Minecraft
40. Pirate
41. Camera
42. Walrus
43. Worm
44. Park
45. Syrup
46. Farm
47. Corn
48. Electric
49. Earth
50. Barn

1. Star
2. Tiger
3. Color
4. Four
5. Deer
6. Hammer
7. Dollar
8. Alligator
9. Bear
10. Eaer
11. Pear
12. Tear
13. Dinosaur
14. Beaver
15. Doctor
16. Sister
17. Brother
18. Adventure
19. Teacher
20. Junior
21. Flower
22. Mother
23. Father
24. Water
25. Soccer
26. Master
27. River
28. Winter
29. Paper
30. Clover
31. Sailor
32. Summer
33. Power
34. Thunder
35. Amber
36. Member
37. Feather
38. Mirror
39. Harbor
40. Laser
41. Explorer
42. Treasure
43. Honor
44. Pepper
45. Visitor
46. Letter
47. Car
48. Chair
49. Hair
50. Tire

How to make the “r” sound:

There are two ways that we can make the “r” sound.

1. The retroflexed “r” which means we bring our tongue tip up towards the top of our mouth.
2. The humped “r”which means we place the tip of our tongue on our lower gums behind the bottom teeth.  By doing so, the back of the tongue “humps” up

To find out which technique is best for the child, have them say target words from our flashcards targeting the different types of “r” listed above.  The first time, have the child say the words with a retroflexed tongue.  The second time, have the child used a humped tongue.  Each child is different, so try both and use whatever one sounds better / they feel most comfortable with.

Retroflexed “r”

• Have the child pucker their lips slightly and hold them there.
• Tell the child to make the back of their tongue flat and make it tight/strong.
• Raise the tip of the tongue towards the top of the mouth, but not touching it, and curl the tip of it backwards slightly.
• Turn on the voice (voice is the rumbling in your vocal folds.  Have your child/client place their hand on their/your neck during the production of “s” and “r”, and have them feel the difference between the two.  In the production of “s”, there should be no rumble or voicing.  While in the production of “r”, there should be a rumbling or voicing.)
• Release the air out over the tongue.

Humped “r”

• Have the child pucker their lips slightly and hold them there.
• Raise the back of the tongue towards the top of the mouth.
• Point the tip of the tongue towards the lower gums behind the bottom teeth.
• Turn on the voice (voice is the rumbling in your vocal folds.  Have your child/client place their hand on their/your neck during the production of “s” and “r”, and have them feel the difference between the two.  In the production of “s”, there should be no rumble or voicing.  While in the production of “r”, there should be a rumbling or voicing.)
• Release the air out over the tongue.

Tricks and Tips for producing the “r” sound:

• Challenge the child to see who can make the best bear growl “Rrrrrrrrr!”
• Use a tongue depressor to help show your child both ways to make the “r” sound.
  •   For the humped “r”, press the tongue tip down with the tongue depressor and typically the back portion of the tongue with hump up on its own.
  • For the retroflexed “r”, place the tongue depressor under the tip of the tongue and raise it towards the top of the mouth.  When you raise the tongue tip, the tongue should naturally rise and curl backwards.

Prevocalic “r” words are words where the “r” is produced at the beginning of the word in front of the vowels and include words like: road, red, run

Postvocalic “r” words are words where “r” is produced after a vowel.  Post vocalic “r” often gives children the most issues because the vowel proceeding the “r” requires the articulators (tongue, lips, teeth, jaw, etc.) to be in different positions. To demonstrate this, look in a mirror or a camera and see how different your lips look while saying “ear” vs “or”.  Because of the placement required for the vowel, when saying a word like “ear” your articulators need to move fast to satisfy the placements for the “e” and then move quickly back to satisfy the placement of the “er”.
Types of postvocalic r include:
ar: artifact, farm, star
or: Orca, born, core
er: Earth, bird, mother
ire: iron, fireman, tire
air: airplane, fairy, hair
ear: earwax, beard, deer

If you are looking for tips and tricks on how to produce the perfect R sounds; click the link below:

R Overview

Target the R sound at the isolation level with 3 different activities: Isolation Animation, Pop the Bubbles, and Click the Button!

Target R at the syllable level with our virtual flashcards!

We have three activities for targeting R at the word level: 1.) Classic flashcards with initial, medial, final, and mixed sets. 2.) Minimal Pair Sliders 3.) Name the Photos (Have the computer give you feedback on your sound productions!)

R phrase flashcards with sets targeting R in the initial, medial, final, and mixed positions!

Target R at the sentence level with our rotating sentences activity!

Our R story is full of R target sounds and tongue twisters! Read it yourself or play it out loud and then repeat it back!

We have two ways to target R at the conversation level: 1.) Silly story scenes full of R target words. 2.) Conversation starter questions.

R Virtual Materials

R Flashcards

R Progression Cards

R Soccer Shootout

R Paint

R Spot It

R Escape From Dragon's Dungeon

R Fish's Flight to Freedom

R Witch's Brew

R Summer Sundae Dash

R Fall Apple Quest

R Halloween Candy Chompers

R Thanksgiving Treats

R Cupid's Valentines Candies

R Marshmallows' Mad Dash

R Unicorn Artic Derby

R Train Track Dash

R Space Race

R Flashlight Finder

R Feed the Bear

R Pumpkin Carving

R Build-a-Snowman

R Thanksgiving Dinner

R Jeopardy

R Tic-Tac-Toe

R Candy Land

R Connect 4

R Battleship

R Artic Ninja

R Cat Run

R Volt Runner

R Artic Clicker

R Pizza Jumper

R Artic Cruiser

R Space Invaders

R Spot the Differences

R Dino Hop

R Matching

R Treasure Hunt

R Crossword

R Word Find 1

R Word Find 2

R Boom Cards