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.
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.
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:
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.
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. |
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:
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.
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. |
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.
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.