/r/ Blend Sort (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, tr)
Sort pictures by /r/ blend type.
Drop here
Drop here
0/6 sorted
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Say both consonants slowly and then run them together. The cluster is where /r/ is often preserved even when the singleton is not, because the preceding consonant does some of the tongue's positioning work — which means the blends can be a way into /r/ rather than a step after it. Do three blends at a time rather than six. Ten minutes covers a subset properly.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student says each word aloud as they place it. Wait 3 seconds.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /r/ blends, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueMake the first sound, then slide straight into the /r/ tongue shape with no vowel between: 'br', not 'buh-r'.Log as cued
Adjust it
Split the cluster with a short pause ('b… read'), then close the gap until it is one sound.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /r/ in it.
Matching IEP goal
Given word cards, Student will produce /r/ blends in single words in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eighteen words sorted into six /r/ blends: bread, bridge and brush for br; crab, crown and cry for cr; drum, dream and drive for dr; frog, fruit and frown for fr; grass, grape and green for gr; train, tree and truck for tr. Six blends is a wide sample, and the sorting forces the student to attend to the consonant before the /r/ rather than to the /r/ alone.
What to listen for
Listen for the /r/ becoming a /w/ inside the cluster. Bwead for bread is the characteristic error and it is the same substitution that appears on the singleton. Watch tr and dr, which in ordinary English are produced with a slight /ch/ and /j/ quality — that is a normal feature rather than an error, and it is worth knowing before correcting it.
Carrying it home
Blend words are easy to spot: bread, tree, truck, grass, green. Asking a child to say the word rather than correcting how they said it keeps this from becoming a correction routine.
What's in this activity
- br
- cr
- dr
- fr
- gr
- tr
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, for students working on /r/ in clusters.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all eighteen words play with no login.
- Should I work on blends before or after singleton /r/?
- Sometimes before. The consonant in front helps position the tongue, so many students produce a correct /r/ in a cluster before they can produce it alone — which makes the blends a useful way in.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.