{"id":435,"date":"2012-04-10T15:41:38","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T15:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=435"},"modified":"2015-02-17T15:45:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T23:45:54","slug":"how-to-teach-the-r-sound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapy-techniques\/how-to-teach-the-r-sound\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Teach the \u201cR\u201d Sound"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_436\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech16.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-436\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-436 lazyload\" title=\"Speech Therapist Working with Child on Articulation\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech16-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"Speech Therapist Working with Child on Articulation\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/224;\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-436\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image source: speechpathclinic.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>The \u201cR\u201d Sound<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The \u201cr\u201d sound can be especially challenging to pronounce. It\u2019s a voiced sound, produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. The reason why this particular sound is so difficult to master is that it can be correctly pronounced 8 different ways, depending on the letters with which it is combined. If you factor in the positioning of all of the variations of an \u201cr\u201d at the beginning, middle, or end of a word, you end up with 21 total variations.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><strong>The \u201cR\u201d Vocalizations<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>R<\/li>\n<li>Or<\/li>\n<li>Er<\/li>\n<li>Air<\/li>\n<li>Ear<\/li>\n<li>Ire<\/li>\n<li>Ar<\/li>\n<li>Rl<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Children typically begin to learn the \u201cr\u201d sound by the time they are 2 1\/2 years old. If your child has not yet mastered the sound after age seven, it\u2019s time to take him to a speech-language pathologist (SLP) for an <a title=\"What Happens During the Initial Assessment\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapist\/what-happens-during-the-initial-assessment\/\" target=\"_blank\">evaluation<\/a>. You should also bring your child to an SLP before the age of seven if you believe that he may have a problem with articulation. The SLP will likely begin by working with the child to master individual \u201cr\u201d sounds and move on to incorporating that sound correctly at the beginning, middle, and end of a word.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Speech Therapy at Home<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can encourage <a title=\"How to Measure Your Child's Progress\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapist\/how-to-measure-your-childs-progress\/\" target=\"_blank\">your child\u2019s progress<\/a> by working with your child at home between speech therapy sessions. Ask your child\u2019s SLP for lists of target sounds and words that they are currently working on in speech therapy. Work on those sounds and words at home. You can also customize target words to suit your child\u2019s interests to keep him engaged in learning. For example, if he\u2019s a soccer enthusiast, work on the \u201cer\u201d sound in \u201csoccer\u201d with him.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_438\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech25.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-438\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-438 lazyload\" title=\"Parent and Child Making Animal Noises\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech25-300x201.jpg\" alt=\"Parent and Child Making Animal Noises\" width=\"300\" height=\"201\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech25-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech25.jpg 400w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/201;\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-438\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image source: ehow.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Verbal Prompts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One method for encouraging \u201cr\u201d vocalizations, other than drilling and repetition, is to encourage your child to repeat animal sounds with you. Stretch out the \u201cr\u201d sounds as you \u201croar\u201d like a tiger, \u201cruff\u201d like a dog, and \u201cgrowl\u201d like a bear. Sing songs together that emphasize \u201cr\u201d sounds, such as \u201cRow, row, row your boat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If your child has trouble singing \u201cr\u201d songs and making animal noises, take a step back and work on the basics with him. Some children find that it\u2019s easier to make a proper \u201cr\u201d sound if they start with a vowel and then add the \u201cr.\u201d Encourage your child to bray like the donkey Eeyore on \u201cWinnie the Pooh.\u201d Start by stretching out the \u201ceee\u201d and have your child join you. Add an \u201cor\u201d sound to the end.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_437\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech33.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-437\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-437 lazyload\" title=\"Using the R Speech Buddy\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech33-300x167.jpg\" alt=\"Using the R Speech Buddy\" width=\"300\" height=\"167\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech33-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/speech33.jpg 600w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/167;\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-437\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image source: sighence4.blogspot.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Tactile Feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Your child can also benefit from receiving tactile feedback for the \u201cr\u201d sound. Use the R Speech Buddy to help your child learn proper positioning of the tongue. The R Speech Buddy provides a target in his mouth that encourages him to curl his tongue slightly in order to articulate the \u201cr\u201d sound. To use this tool, place the coil of the R Speech Buddy just behind your child\u2019s upper teeth. Your child should curl his tongue upward slightly until he can feel the bumps on the Speech Buddy. For more information about using the R Speech Buddy to improve articulation, <a title=\"Speech Buddies\" href=\"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/speech-therapy-techniques\/how-to-teach-the-r-sound\" target=\"_blank\">watch the R Speech Buddy video<\/a>.<\/p>\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"\">\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node \" id=\"\">\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\n        <a href=\"http:\/\/speechbuddy.com\/guides\/practice-lessons\"  target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img lazyload\" id=\"\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 655px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 655\/211;border-width:0px;\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/8edcfaed-50ee-41d5-86f9-1cf0bf2c980e.png\"  alt=\"Free Lesson Guides for Speech Practice: R, S, L, SH, CH\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" \/><\/a>\n    <\/span>\n    <\/span>\n    \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u201cR\u201d Sound The \u201cr\u201d sound can be especially challenging to pronounce. It\u2019s a voiced sound, produced by the vibration of the vocal cords. The reason why this particular sound is so difficult to master is that it can be correctly pronounced 8 different ways, depending on the letters with which it is combined. If [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[148,16,264,263],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-speech-therapy-techniques","tag-home-based-speech-therapy","tag-speech-therapy-techniques-2","tag-tactile-feedback-for-r-sound","tag-teaching-the-r-sound"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9191,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions\/9191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}