How to Elicit (Teach) the /r/ Sound {Part Two: Materials and Products for /r/}

Yesterday I shared with you a TON of tips on how to elicit the /r/ sound. Today, I am sharing with you materials and products you can use to treat the /r/ sound in therapy! From manipulative devices to books to programs to TpT products, there are a lot of fun ways to target this sound! (This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.)

Visual Aides

As I mentioned yesterday, many of the books/programs that I share below have visual aides to help you show children how to produce the /r/. I LOVE the  Jumbo Mighty Mouth Hand Puppet from SuperDuperInc and use it ALL THE TIME.

Proprioceptive Elicitation Tools

Yesterday I went over all these items. Here are the links for these items again for your convenience.

• Speech Buddies: Commercially available manipulation devices
• Tongue LifteR: Commercially available manipulation devices, similar to Speech Buddies (well, similar in nature..I have never used either so I have NO idea how they really compare to each other!).
  

  The Tongue-LifteR 2

• Dental Floss Method: Pam Marshalla shares information on how to use a dental floss pick to help manipulate and position the tongue. Click the link for more information or pick up her book Successful R Therapy
• Pam Marshalla’s Cake Decorator Tips: Pam Marshalla shares her tips on using these to elicit speech sounds…you can read her tips on her Facebook Page
• Dum Dum Pops or Tootsie Pop Mini can be used to touch/rub areas of the mouth to teach placement and awareness.
• Flavored Tongue Depressors can also be used in the same way as DumDums (but I find kids prefer the candy! Way more motivating!)

Books and Programs

There are many books and programs out there on the subject of the /r/. I personally own several different items and use aspects of ALL of them in my sessions when working on the /r/. Here are some that I recommend or your fellow SLPs have recommended.

• Successful R Therapy: Fixing the Hardest Sound in the World by Pam Marshalla. As I have mentioned before..this is the most comprehensive book on how to elicit the /r/ sound that I have ever read. There is a TON of information in this book! This is not a “program” like some of the others I am going share, but rather a book full of information to help you understand why a child is having difficulty producing the sound and how to teach the sound. According to the description on Amazon: “Excellent for student and professional SLPs. Facilitate correct R in the most difficult clients with this unique blend of oral-motor and traditional articulation therapy. Understand how the jaw, lips, and tongue work for correct R production. Understand the difference between the Consonantal and the Vocal R, and between a Tip R and a Back R. Motivate clients to participate and succeed in R therapy.” GREAT read, and I highly recommend it.
• The Entire World of /r/ Series by Christine Ristuccia and others from Say it Right. I have some of the books in this program and love them! This program breaks down the /r/ into the different types which I find is the best way to tackle this sound.
• Step up to /r/ by Leslie Sparkuhl from LinguiSystems. I just heard about this program, but have not used it yet. According to the description: “The programmed approach combines the best features from the Modified Cycles Approach (Hodson & Paden, 1990), the Sensory Motor Approach (McDonald, 1964), and Motor Learning Theory (Skelton, 2004) to help students master all the variants of /r/  and vocalic /r/ production.  Use it for pull out sessions and to meet the needs of groups with varying levels of competency.”
• Vocalic R to Go by Beverly Plass from LinguiSystems: I have this workbook and use it all the time when working on vocalic /r/. This is another that separates the /r/ into the different vocalic /r/ types.
•  Turn and Talk R by SuperDuperInc: This is a flip book that can be used to work on /r/.
• Let’s Hear it for /r/! This is a Webinar provided by Dawn M. Moore, CCC-SLP. You can check out the handout and info on the course by following the link and scrolling down to the “Articulation Information.” This method uses coarticulation  to address the /r/ and I have used Dawn’s method’s in my sessions as well.

Kids Books

• The Pirate Who Couldn’t Say Arrr!  This is such an adorable book written by Angie Neal, MS CCC-SLP. Miss Speechy at Speech Time Fun  This is such an adorable book written by Angie Neal, MS CCC-SLP. Miss Speechy at Speech Time Fun shares how she uses this fantastic book in therapy. Check out her post HERE.

Cards

• Webber Vocalic /r/ Photo Cards: These are great for working on the different vocalic /r/ sounds.

Apps

if you’ve been following along a while, you KNOW that I don’t do apps! So I asked some of my fellow SLPs to weigh in on these and here are some that were recommended:

• R Intensive by Smarty Ears This one was recommended several times and it looks like it retails for $19.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
• R app by Pocket SLP This one retails for $4.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and the iPad.
• Articulate It by Smarty Ears This is a general Articulation App that retails for $38.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
• Articulation Station Pro This is another WELL recommended general articulation app that retails for $49.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.

TpT Products

I have just started getting into TpT more, and there are SO MANY awesome products our fellow SLPs create and sell there! Here are a few to choose from…some I have used (with a different sound set) or were recommended to me.

FREE Products

• Rainy Day /r/ Articulation by Carrie of Carrie’s Speech Corner
• Vocalic R Cards from Carissa

Paid Products (All under $5.00)

• “Art of R” Card Game by Natalie Snyders
• R Bingo by Jenn from Crazy Speech World (SLP Gone Wild) Who doesn’t love Bingo?? I like to use mini M&Ms as markers…super motivating!
• Whack a Sound by Jenna of Speech Room News I have used this game with a different sound set and my clients have LOVED IT.
• Mirror-TIC R by Teach Speech 365 of Teach Speech 365
• Rattlesnake Roundup R by Mrs.Tslp
• Match it Quick- Vocalic R by Courtney of PSST…Let’s Talk
• Artic Dice 6: Vocalic R by The Buckeye Speech Path. I have not used this specific set of artic dice but I have used other sets by this creator and I love using them both in the speech room (you can laminate them) or as homework.

So tell me now…what are YOUR favorite resources and products for the /r/ sound? Let me know so I can include them in the post! 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!