How to Teach a Child to Say Rs

It may be endearing to hear your 3-year-old mispronounce the /r/ sound, talking about his stuffed ̶0;wabbit̶1; or his sister ̶0;Wachel.̶1; However, you may wonder what to do if these errors persist as your child matures. According to a speech and articulation development chart referenced by the American Speech-Language Association, children master correct pronunciation of the /r/ sound by 8 years of age. Providing a good speech model may be enough, but if your child doesn̵7;t develop the sound on his own, you can work with him to teach correct production.

Things You'll Need

  • Pictures of objects containing the /r/ sound
  • Mirror

Instructions

  1. Modeling

    • 1

      Show your child pictures of things with the /r/ sound occurring in different positions of words, such as red, ribbon, rabbit, car, star, ear and garden. Say the name of the picture, mispronouncing the ̶0;r̶1; sound. For example, say ̶0;wabbit̶1; for ̶0;rabbit.̶1; Ask your child if the word sounds right.

    • 2

      Mix up correct and incorrect pronunciations of the words. When your child can identify correct and incorrect pronunciations, begin to stimulate correct /r/ sound production.

    • 3

      Exaggerate the correct sound in a word, such as ̶0;rrrabbit.̶1; Ask your child to repeat the word just like you. If he is unable to make the sound correctly, try different words to see if you can find a word he can pronounce correctly.

    Teaching the Sound

    • 4

      Show your child how to say the "long e" sound, keeping his lips spread in a smile as he says the sound. Let him look in a mirror to see how his lips are spread wide. Prolong the sound as you add the sound of ̶0;rrr, ̶1; to make the word ̶0;ear.̶1; Repeat this procedure, shortening the "long e̶1; sound until the word ̶0;ear̶1; is pronounced accurately. Encourage your child to imitate you. Practice this sound in other words such as fear, dear, gear, appear. Encourage your child to keep his lips spread in a smile at first to avoid rounding the lips.

    • 5

      Progress to other vowel sounds in combination with the /r/ sound. Practice saying ̶0;ah̶1; in combination with /r/ for words like car, garden, mark. Pair the "short e̶1; sound with /r/ for words like air, hair, wear, chair. Use the "long i̶1; sound with /r/ for fire and tire. Use the "long o̶1; sound with /r/ for door, core, four.

    • 6

      Choose words with /r/ at the end that your child is able to pronounce correctly to pair with words that have /r/ at the beginning. Blend these with words having the initial /r/ sound to make word pairs such as car-red or door-room. Using a word he can pronounce gives him a cue for the new word.

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