About this activity
A short story packed with the trilled /rr/: Ramón tenía un carro rojo muy rápido; todos los días corría por la carretera de tierra; un perro grande llamado Rufo corría detrás del carro. Eight pages, then two tasks — retell the story with your best /rr/, and find every /rr/ word in it and say them again. The trilled r is a Spanish-specific target with no English equivalent, and it needs Spanish material.
How to use it in a session
Read the story first and let the student just listen, then read it together, then have them retell it. Loading the story with the target is what makes this carry-over practice rather than drill — the sound has to survive inside connected speech, which is the level where it usually breaks down. The last card, hunting for the /rr/ words, is a good closer because it returns to word level after the harder task.
What to listen for
Listen for the trill weakening as the sentence goes on. Most students can produce a good /rr/ in carro on its own and lose it three words into a sentence, and where in the utterance it fails is more useful than a count. Watch for the single tap being substituted for the trill — caro instead of carro changes the word, and it is the specific contrast this story is built around.
Carrying it home
Ask the family to have the child tell the story to someone else. A retell to a real audience is closer to conversation than a retell to the therapist, and the sound has to survive it.
Questions
- Is this activity in Spanish?
- Yes, the whole story is Spanish. The page is written in English so an English-speaking clinician can find and evaluate it.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all pages play free in the browser.
- Is the trilled r a late sound?
- It is one of the later ones in Spanish, and it develops on its own timeline. It is worth knowing the expected age range for the child's language before calling it an error rather than a stage.