i'm shannon. a pediatric speech-language pathologist and founder of speechy musings!
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/r/ you ready for moRe?: My Top 5 Tips
The speech therapy R sound – there’s just no one right answer for everyone! If this tricky sound is dRiving you cRazy, I have just a few tips and reminders to help you and your students (If you’re too busy to read this entire post, scroll down to the last section that includes my top 5 tips for the /r/ sound!)
When I got my job at a middle school, I saw more students working on /r/ than ever before. I attended online seminars, read every bit of research I could find, read /r/ curriculum books, and reflected on my experience working with students on the /r/ sound to really uncover everything I could about this sound!
So, without further ado, here are some of the things I’ve learned about the /r/ sound, broken apart by how to elicit the sound, the therapy hierarchy I follow, and where to start when you need to target /r/. Plus, other cool info and my top tips. Enjoy!
I worked really hard to compile effective elicitation strategies on teaching /r/ in this previous blog post of mine. Definitely check that out if you haven’t seen it! Spoiler alert: using a mirror is a super helpful strategy that I often forget. Bonus points if it’s a mirror where the student can see themselves AND you at the same time.
One of my other favorite tools for targeting stimulability is this website. I’ve shared about it before on social media but, in case you missed it, you need to check this free online tool out! It includes tons of videos and tutorials (that you can use directly with students!!) for eliciting the /r/, /s/, and “th” sound. I can’t believe it’s free but I’m really thankful for it. I use it all the time!
Following a therapy hierarchy for the skills I teach is critical for me so that I can provide the most effective therapy possible. After all of my researching and learning, the hierarchy below is the one I follow with great results:
1 – Auditory discrimination using minimal pairs (w/r)
2 – Stimulability/elicitation
3 – Syllables
4 – Words then phrases then sentences
5 – Carryover
I break apart all of the forms of /r/ and only target one at a time. For example, I might only target “ar” sounds until the student demonstrates progress on that sound. Then, I’ll move onto “ear” and then I’ll move onto “or”. I try not to mix these variations of /r/ until the student is demonstrating success with them consistently. Based on information from the Entire World of R books, I don’t move on until my student demonstrates 80% success on a given form of /r/.
This used to be so tricky for me! I’ll admit that I used to start with either /r/ blends, prevocalic /r/, or “er”. Now, I know better and make decisions on where to start on a student by student basis!
Below is the process I follow in order to determine where to start when targeting the /r/ sound:
Just like I recommend when doing the cycles approach, reassess your students frequently. Sometimes, your students will demonstrate progress on variations not even targeted giving you another sound that’s stimulable and successful!
While reading The Entire World of R Elicitation Strategies book, one thing really stood out to me. The authors of the book feel strongly that therapists should NOT use “er” to elicit a prevocalic /r/. For example, do not practice drills such as “errrr-red” or “errr-run”. I shared info about this on Instagram but I thought I should mention that here as well. Students may come to us with this bad habit from previous therapy and if that happens to you, it’s important to start by breaking that ineffective cue.
Last, because R isn’t a “right” or “wrong” type of sound (i.e., there’s a lot of variability between right and wrong), it might be helpful to have your students rate their productions on a visual analog scale. Not only is this evidence-based, but it will better help you give immediate feedback to your students about their productions.
I have a FREE visual analog scale for articulation in my Freebie library. You can get the exclusive members-only link when you sign up for my newsletter!
If you’re looking to learn more about /r/, I’d personally recommend the resources below:
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i'm shannon. a pediatric speech-language pathologist and founder of speechy musings!
materials
therapy ideas
reviews
freebies
articulation
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