September 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day! But if your child’s ARRRR is sounding more like awww you may be looking for ways to help them make their /r/ sound more clearly.
1.Understand /r/
To help your child produce /r/ it’s important to know about all the different ways it can be produced. Many SLPs consider it to be the most difficult sound to elicit for a reason. There are two ways we use /r/ in English, the prevocalic (or consonant) /r/ and the vocalic /r/ (not to mention the blends like br, gr, kr, etc.).
Prevocalic /r/ is just what it sounds like- /r/ comes before the vowel. You hear this kind of /r/ in ring, rhyme, red, and rose. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) children acquire this sound by age 5. And that’s JUST acquiring the sound- it will still take them a while to master it. So if your child’s /r/ isn’t perfect by age 5 don’t worry!
Vocalic /r/ is the opposite. It comes after the vowel in a word. This produces sounds like ar, or, ir, ire, etc. You are hearing vocalic /r/ in chowder, clear, mirror (2 of them), and tire. According to ASHA vocalic /r/ isn’t acquired until age 6-7.
R blends are /r/ sounds that occur with other consistent sounds. You hear /r/ blends in grass, crowd, brain and drag. ASHA states the age of acquisition for these sound blends is 8 to 9 years old.
And if all those kinds of /r/ weren’t enough to make your head spin there are also two ways to produce /r/, unlike other sounds which mostly can be produced only one way. We call these the bunched r and the retroflex r neither of these two ways is wrong but understanding the one your child naturally uses will go a long way to helping you
When you make a bunched /r/ your tongue is pulled back and scrunched up with its two sides curved up to touch the molars. When you make a retroflex /r/ your tongue tip curls back toward the roof of the mouth. Try making the sound each way. You can hear a subtle difference in the quality of the sound. Think about which way you naturally produce your /r/. Most (but not all) native English speakers gravitate toward the bunched /r/. Your SLP may choose to teach /r/ in one position or the other based on the other sounds your child has already mastered.
2. Start with K
Now that we have been over the dizzying amount of kinds of /r/ how can you help your child produce it clearly at home. Believe it or not, one great way is to start with /k/. By producing a /k/ sound and dragging it out you are approximating the tongue shape needed for a bunched /r/.
Try it yourself before showing your child. First produce a /k/ sound and feel for the shape of your own tongue. Next produce a dragged out /k/. If you're doing it right it should sound like tv static. Now switch to an er sound. When you go from your dragged out “k” to your “er” all you need to do is open your mouth slightly.
You can do this K→ R exercise with your child by just practicing the 2 sounds, saying, curve, or the word cur. It is Talk Like a Pirate Day, after all.
3.Use Play Doh
The different tongue shapes for producing /r/ can be hard to visualize. You can use play doh to create a tongue. Bonus points if you can snag a toy mouth from a dollar store but even if you can't you can use your play doh tongue to model the bunched and retroflex /r/. Hold it against your cheek and let your child view your face in profile so they can imagine the different tongue shapes.
4.Blend Sounds With a Mix and Match Game
Most children develop their vocalic /r/ sounds before their blends. To encourage blends you can create a matching game. On half your cards write one consonant, on the other half write your vocalic /r/ sounds. Mix and match sounds to improve blends with your child. Start with a long pause in between each sound and shorten it until you are creating a blend.
B.......Er
B.....Er
B..Er
Br
5.Use A Mirror (or Camera)
When we produce different vocalic /r/ sounds our mouth creates different shapes. Look in the mirror and produce “er” and “or”. Notice how your mouth shape changes. You can help your child be more aware of these changes to improve the clarity of their vocalic /r/.
When your child correctly produces a vocalic /r/ have them hold the sound and trace their lips on the mirror using a dry erase marker. You can also take a picture and have them trace their lip shape using a photo editing app.
Practicing vocalic /r/ with visual feedback should help strengthen your child’s awareness of their mouth position and improve the clarity of their vocalic /r/.
Sometimes your child might need some extra help. If these tips aren’t helping your child get their /r/ sound it might be time to talk to a speech language pathologist. You can contact us here.
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