Treating the /r/ phoneme can be tricky, tiresome and just plain annoying for both the clinician and student! I haven’t met an SLP in the elementary, middle school or high school level that doesn’t need more speech therapy materials for r.
The best advice I got from a veteran SLP when I asked how to teach a child to say /r/ was “just grab a pair of gloves, a tongue depressor and hope for the best!”
Dwight Schrute sums up most SLP’s feelings about the /r/ phoneme in his office video clip! He says “R is one of the most menacing of sounds! That’s why they call it murder and not muck duck!” My thoughts exactly Dwight. Here is a post by SLP Natalie Snyders about getting a good /r/. There is also some really good ideas from Playing With Words 365 about teaching the /r/ phoneme.
Articulation Activities To Treat The /R/ Phoneme
Here are some TPT products that I have made or bought from TPT that have helped keep my kids motivated and get good results with mastering the /r/!!
1. My interactive initial r and r-blend flipbooks are perfect for your older students that can read and write well! My prevocalic and vocalic r flip books have been great as well!
2. Figuratively speeching has a great articulation placemat set that is great for sending home for additional practice. It provides activities for the whole week on one sheet with letters included to send home!
3. Primary Punch has some wonderful home practice worksheets that are print n’ go!
4. Erik Raj has these super fun Mini homework sheets for articulation. They have great silly questions with the /r/ phoneme that students can discuss at home. Great resource for working on carry over! Plus, it doesn’t waste lots of paper. I will have my students try to discuss the question with a friend, the teacher and a parent.
Speech Therapy Materials For /R/
5. My print n’ go flashcards have been very useful in my speech room. You can either print up, hole punch and hold on a key ring or staple together. I started putting my flashcards in plastic cover protectors and having students cross off the words as they say their /r/ sound. Makes for easy therapy prep and LOTS of practice. I store in a three hole punch folder, so I can send home with the student if I want them to practice over the weekend.
6. Sublime Speech has these handy Articulation Strips for /r/ that are great to work on /r/ at the word and single sentence level. They are easy to store and have visual cues on the strips to help with reminding students to think about their /r/.
7. Miss V’s Speech World has a great 52 Weekly /r/ homework worksheets product that makes planning home practice activities a breeze!! They last for the entire week and have creative fun activities for the students to complete.
8. Dollar Challenge Articulation Activity from Speech Room News is a great activity to get students to get 100 trials per session. She includes /r/ initial, r-blends and vocalic r sheets as well as homework sheets!!
9. Articulation Secret Codes from Kiwi Speech are fun worksheets that keep the students engaged while you are drilling with each student in the group. These are great for home practice activities too!
10. Busy Bee Speech has a great product to help with working on generalizing speech sounds into spontaneous speech. Her Articulation Carry-Over Activities are perfect for therapy sessions or sending home to work on structured conversation.
What resources do you use and love for treating the /r/ phoneme? I would love to add some more resources to my therapy materials stash. Did I mention that I have 10 kids working on /r/ this year?
Great post! I could really use some of these!
Great products for /r/ practice. I think /r/ should not be practiced and drilled;however, until an /r/ with correct placement has been firmly established. Oral motor is often overlooked. Check out MA-CAT by Char Boshart and Pamela Marshalla. It has revolutionized my artic therapy. In fact, by going through the exercises, /r/ and vowel /r/ begin to emerge in conversation by step 9 or 10 of the exercises without ever directly targeting /r/. SLPs, please STOP drilling and practicing those low flat /r/s. Use oral motor to establish correct placement first. Feel free to email me at amcfalls7@gmail.com. I would love to share a method that has worked with everyone of my students for over 20 years!
Update: check out Char Boshart’s updated version of the MA-CAT! The Easy R and The Key to Carryover. http://www.charboshart.com/collections/therapy
These materials look great for drill and carryover… however, as Alicia McFalls says in the above post, :” /r/ should not be practiced until an /r/ with correct placement has been firmly established.” You are so right, Alicia, about that and about the valuable contributions of the late Pam Marshalla. Pam was a friend of mine, I learned lots from her , and I helped edit her final textbook. Many ‘programs’ and workbook/apps are great after that initial requirement for success with /r/. I do have a number of specific techniques to help SLPs establish a correct /r/, and which supplement these materials nicely…please visit my store R Czar Donna
Hi Felice,
I saw the, “/R/ You Ready?” piece in the ASHA Leader. I noticed that you welcome other resources.
I’d like to recommend my book How to Teach a Child to Say the “R” Sound in 15 Easy Lessons. There are 4 Help Me Talk Right books: How to Teach a Child to Say the “S” Sound in 15 Easy Lessons, How to Teach a Child to Say the “L” Sound in 15 Easy Lessons, Preschool Stuttering: What Parents Can Do. Visitors to http://www.helpmetalkright.com can learn more about them.
Mirla