How do you pronounce the "R"?

[Alexandra]

My son's SP tells him to square his lips to pronounce this sound. I think that helps in that it prevents him from making a "w" (wabbit) but shouldn't she also cue him on tongue placement? I told her that my tongue arches or cups and touches the roof of my mouth. She said that it is not necessary to make contact with your roof of your mouth with your tongue.

Any BTDT?

[Lolly]

I square my lips and cup my tongue. It doesn't touch the roof of my mouth in front. The sides of the tongue are pressing against the teeth. My tongue is making a sort of cup with the tip rounded up but not touching the gum.

[CLHCO]

When I used a book to coach my daughter years ago the idea was the lips but also tensing the very back of the tongue. Not pushing it, as in up, but tightening it, as in down. I hope that makes sense.

[KAR120C]

My son's SP tells him to square his lips to pronounce this sound. I think that helps in that it prevents him from making a "w" (wabbit) but shouldn't she also cue him on tongue placement? I told her that my tongue arches or cups and touches the roof of my mouth. She said that it is not necessary to make contact with your roof of your mouth with your tongue.

Any BTDT?

For my DS, what worked best was for him to start with a vowel and then not move his lips, just his tongue (curling it back but not touching). Like aaaaar, eeeeeer, iiiiiiiir, ooooooooor, uuuur. It's not exactly right (you do move your lips a little) but it helped more than anything else. After he managed the final R it was easier for him to correct the initial R. I wasn't terribly impressed with his SLP and her thoughts on it at that point, and actually she gave up and I had to do it myself at home... but that's another rant for another day ;)

[Audrey]

My son's SP tells him to square his lips to pronounce this sound. I think that helps in that it prevents him from making a "w" (wabbit) but shouldn't she also cue him on tongue placement? I told her that my tongue arches or cups and touches the roof of my mouth. She said that it is not necessary to make contact with your roof of your mouth with your tongue.

Any BTDT?

 

Kind of off-topic from your question, but how does your son's SP teach the "th" sounds? My ds always says them like "f" or "d." I'm super-sensitive to this because I had a truly terrible stuttering problem as a young child.

[jacqui in mo]

You & Lolly are describing the tongue placement pretty well. The tongue is cupped with the tip curling towards the back & the blade touching the sides of the hard palate which allows airflow over the top of the tongue to vocalize the sound. Actually there is a second way many people hold their tongue for the R. They hump up the back of the tongue tpward the soft palate with the tongue tip down on the floor of the mouth. If your therapist has just started working with your ds she may be hoping that eliminating the W sound may be enough to unconsciously get the tongue involved. However, I've never heard of that working well. If she's been trying this for several sessions I would ask her about her approach.

 

For you to try at home: One way to cue tongue placement is the use the SH sound. Starting with SH instruct the child to take that tongue shape & curl the tongue back toward the throat (Or following the roof of the mouth) so that it ends up like you are saying the word "sure". Doesn't work for every child but worth a try. Another way is to start with an L sound "La" & keep saying that sound progressively moving the tongue backwards in the mouth along the roof of the mouth. My mentor who used this method was called "The Queen of R's". Maybe if you get the R started at home it could speed things up. How old is your DS?

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Kind of off-topic from your question, but how does your son's SP teach the "th" sounds? My ds always says them like "f" or "d." I'm super-sensitive to this because I had a truly terrible stuttering problem as a young child.

 

Stick the tongue through the teeth. Exaggerate at first with it all the way out of the mouth.

[cin]

When I was a student teacher, the 1st grade teacher that I worked with taught the kids to say the R sound like 'ERRRR' man, even at 20, single, and no kids (and NO thoughts of homeschooling whatsoever!) that just seemed soooo wrong.

[Laurie]

My ds was reading when his speech therapist used this approach...

She taught him to say "er" for initial and final /r/. To work on the /r/ sound at the beginning of a word: She wrote "er" in the middle of the left half of the paper. On the other side, she used a column of single vowels. She made a gentle curving line from the "er" to each of the vowels. She would have him touch the "er", say the sound and hold it until he had followed the line slowly with his finger and reached the vowel. Then he made the vowel sound (long or short). To teach /r/ at the end of a word, she just put the column of vowels on the left side of the paper with the lines going to "er" on the right. With practice, this method worked for him.

 

And FWIW, I started using Hooked on Phonics with my ds to help him with speech sounds, and if he also learned to actually read (which he did) that would be icing on the cake!

[jacqui in mo]

The only thing is when you try to put the TH into words your child may say the "TH" AND the incorrect sound as well (i.e. Thdis instead of this). You first teach in syllables with a space between the TH and the vowel. (th a, th o, etc) then slowly put them together, then progress to real words & beyond.

 

I wouldn't worry about a connection between your difficulty stuttering as a child and your child's difficultly with this particular sound. Do you have any other speech concerns about him other than this? Is he being seen by a SLP now?

[Audrey]

The only thing is when you try to put the TH into words your child may say the "TH" AND the incorrect sound as well (i.e. Thdis instead of this). You first teach in syllables with a space between the TH and the vowel. (th a, th o, etc) then slowly put them together, then progress to real words & beyond.

 

I wouldn't worry about a connection between your difficulty stuttering as a child and your child's difficultly with this particular sound. Do you have any other speech concerns about him other than this? Is he being seen by a SLP now?

 

No, he isn't being seen by a SLP. It's his only speech problem. He's 8 though, and I wonder if that's still young or not. I don't know.

 

I know there's probably no connection between my stuttering and this, but like I said... I guess I'm super-sensitive about it. It was a really traumatic thing for me back then.

[Storm Bay]

Maybe if you get the R started at home it could speed things up. How old is your DS?

 

Are there any good books or easy exercises for my ds. Apparently he's now a nasal speaker.

[jacqui in mo]

Well, Audrey, 8 is definitely old enough to be saying the TH sound correctly. You can try working with him yourself as I suggested & I can give you pointers along the way if you would like. Or if you feel it's not coming along well then take him to a SLP. Sorry you had such a traumatic time as a child with your fluency. I assume you no longer struggle with this?

[Audrey]

Thanks, Jacqui. I guess I should work on it with him first and see how that goes.

 

I no longer stutter. Plenty of schoolyard pummelings cured me of it. :(

 

ETA: It also helped that my mom was very, very patient with me at home.

[mamato3 all-boy boys]

One way to cue tongue placement is the use the SH sound. Starting with SH instruct the child to take that tongue shape & curl the tongue back toward the throat (Or following the roof of the mouth) so that it ends up like you are saying the word "sure".

 

I'm also a speech language pathologist (or was until I "retired" to homeschool), and I've had good success with GR combinations. The g sound is produced in the back section of the mouth, and the R is a little further back. That, plus the squaring of the lips usually gets a decent sound going. Oh, and Jacqui, I'd totally forgotten about the L guide until you mentioned it. I'd used that one, too, and it had helped some.

[CLHCO]

One of my daughters got it while learning to read the "TH" sound. We had a flash card at the time with the "TH" on it and a drawing of a man sticking his tongue through his teeth. When she read a "TH" in a word she'd stick her tongue out a touch. Very soon it transfered to her daily speech. It was a bit over-stated at first but that didn't last too long.