How to teach a child to say the letter R
Almost all young children have certain disorders of oral speech. And the most common of these is the incorrect pronunciation of the R sound. Most kids begin to pronounce this sound closer to the age of five. If a child has difficulty pronouncing it even after the age of five, he or she needs adult help. How to teach a child to say R? It's not as complicated as it might seem at first glance.
How to teach a child to say the letter R?
The production of the R sound in Ukrainian begins with explaining to the child that in Ukrainian, R can be hard (hand, joy) and soft (river, stars). Some children tend to pronounce this sound only in the hard position or, on the contrary, only in the soft position. Therefore, it is important at the beginning of the lessons to understand what kind of difficulties the child has with pronunciation.
Teaching the R sound consists of several stages:
| Appearance in speech | The child must understand the position of the tongue relative to the palate and learn to articulate the corresponding sound |
| Use in different words | The child practices "growling" by correctly pronouncing R in different letter combinations in |
| Automation. | The child constantly uses the corresponding sound without additional reminders from an adult |
It is important to make speech therapy sessions interesting. Try to turn them into a fun game so that the child looks forward to the next exercise. It is also important to practice regularly, without missing a single lesson.
What prevents children from pronouncing the letter R clearly
If you want to understand how to teach your child to say the letter r, you first need to find out what exactly prevents them from doing so. There are several reasons why a child has difficulty pronouncing this sound:
- Physiological - a shortened frenulum or weak soft palate muscles. In many cases, the frenulum can be stretched and the muscles strengthened through articulation exercises. But if you think that the problem is of a physiological nature, it is better to consult a specialist.
- Impaired phonemic hearing. Perhaps the child simply does not distinguish the P in the speech of the people around him or her.
- Problems with speech development. For example, dyslexia and dysphasia can lead to problems with the pronunciation of the P sound.
- Insufficient experience in pronunciation. Children may have trouble pronouncing a particular sound if they do not use it often enough in their speech.
- Imitation of adults who pronounce the R sound incorrectly. This often happens if the baby's mom or dad has a grunt or other pronunciation peculiarities.
What are the speech therapy exercises for the letter R?
Experts advise starting speech therapy sessions with a short warm-up to warm up the muscles of the oral cavity. The following articulation exercises for pronouncing the letter R will help with this:
Shovel. The extended tongue should be placed on the lower lip and start saying "py-py-py".
Jam. You should open your mouth a little, run your tongue along the upper lip and immediately hide it.
Grasshopper. Suck the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and click it. Make it sound like a horse is running.
Ficus. Raise your wide tongue to the level of your upper lip and blow on your nose.
- Drumming. Ask the baby to open his/her mouth and tap the upper palate with the very tip of the tongue, saying D-D-D. Gradually increase the speed of pronunciation.
- Cup. You need to open your mouth wide and stretch the tip of your tongue to the upper teeth without touching them. It is important to hold the tongue in this position for at least 10 seconds.
List of exercises for pronouncing the letter R
If your baby does not "growl" when asked to say R, do not be upset. There are special speech therapy exercises for children designed to make it easier to pronounce this sound.
| Automatic | The baby should take a big exhale, while creating a "d-d-d-d-d-d-d" vibration. |
The supine position | Let the child try to "growl" while lying on his/her back. It makes the tongue easier. |
| Exercise with a candle | The child says R, directing the air flow to the candle. |
Production of the sound r
Speech therapy work on the production of this sound consists of several stages.
First, the child must understand the position of the tongue for correct pronunciation. It is worth explaining to him that the wide tongue should be raised up to the upper palate in the form of a "bucket". After that, ask the child to exhale air through the gap between the tip of the tongue and the upper palate. If the position of the tongue is correct, the child will be able to create the desired sound.
Next, you need to perform a variety of speech therapy exercises for the letter R to consolidate it in speech. To do this, it is important to move from simple to more complex:
- First, the child repeats after the adult syllables in which R is combined with different letters.
- Then you can move on to individual words.
- The next step is to describe pictures, make up short stories, and recite poems in which the corresponding sound is often found.
Since in our language R can be both hard and soft, the production of the sound R in Ukrainian involves the same emphasis on both the letter combination where it is pronounced hard and the letter combination where R sounds soft.
If your child forgets to pronounce the R sound correctly in a conversation, be sure to correct him or her. And don't forget to praise him for his success.
Exercises for the tongue muscles
When performing these exercises, you can sit your child in front of a mirror so that he or she can see how his or her lips and tongue move when speaking. Strengthening the tongue muscles helps with the pronunciation of many sounds and makes speech clearer.
| Stretching the tongue | You need to stretch your tongue as far forward as possible and hold it in this position for a few seconds. Then return it back. |
| Pendulum | Let the child try to touch the tip of his/her nose with the tongue, and then touch the chin in the same way. |
| Plasterer | Ask the child to open his/her mouth and lick the upper lip and then the lower lip with the tongue. |
| Lifting the tongue | Open the mouth and pull the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Hold it in this position for a few seconds and then bring it back. |
| Pronouncing different sounds | Ask your baby to say different sounds after you - such as "s", "sh", "z", "g", "t", "e", and others. This will also strengthen the tongue muscles and improve control. |
Speech therapy games for children
Do you want to know how to teach your child to say the letter R? The answer is simple - teach them through play. Lessons presented in a playful way arouse the child's interest and therefore bring more results.
You can either come up with your own games with your child or use the work of different speech therapists:
"Find the object". The child looks for objects in the room or in the picture that contain the sound P in their name. For example, rocket, fish, hand.
- "Find the rhyme". The child chooses a word that contains the P sound and then looks for a word that rhymes with it. For example, mountain-bark.
- "Remember the word". The child names as many words as possible that contain the desired sound.
- "Collect puzzles". The child assembles puzzles from pictures containing objects with the P sound in their name. Be sure to name each image.
- "Find the cards". The child looks for cards with the sound R and tells about the object depicted on the card.
Choose games that will be really interesting for the child. Monotonous repetition gets boring for kids, so try to periodically change the tasks and plots of your classes. This way, the child will enjoy the activity, and your joint efforts will bring the desired results faster.