The “R” sound is one of the most common errors in children’s speech.  It is also one of the most difficult to teach.

In addition to the “r” sound being in the initial, medial, and final positions of words, there are categories of “r” words  called pre vocalic and post vocalic and “r” word blends.

R Blend words are words where “r” is produced right next to another consonant.  R Blend words include: truck, green, dream.

All “R Blend” sounds have their own individual section with custom materials, games, and Boom Cards.  Follow the link below to access them:
https://freeslp.com/r-blends/

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

All “R Blend” sounds have their own individual section with custom materials, games, and Boom Cards.  Follow the link below to access them:
https://freeslp.com/r-blends/

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.