/r/ Initial Flashcards
Flashcard drill for /r/ in word-initial position.
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
Find the position the student can already reach. /r/ can be made with the tongue tip curled back or with the whole body bunched, and different students succeed with different shapes — trying both is more productive than insisting on one. Words with a following back vowel — rock, rope, road — are often easier than red or ring. Eight minutes covers the ten.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to say it.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /r/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueSides of your tongue up against your top back teeth, tip either lifted and pulled back or pointed down with the tongue bunched up. Lips slightly rounded, and the tip never touches the roof.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('ra' and 'ree'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /r/ in it or mix in /r/ words from another position.
Matching IEP goal
Given picture cards, Student will produce /r/ in the word-initial position 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
Ten words starting with /r/: red, run, rain, rock, ring, rope, rice, road, rose, rabbit. Nine are single syllables and one is two, which keeps the load on the sound rather than the word. /r/ is a late-developing sound and among the hardest to cue, because nothing about it is visible.
What to listen for
Listen for /w/ replacing it, which is the standard substitution — wed for red. Watch whether the following vowel makes a difference, since accuracy on rope and not on ring is a coarticulation effect and tells you which words to build from. Notice whether the student can produce any /r/ at all, in any context, since finding one accurate production is the whole first phase of /r/ work.
Carrying it home
Red, rain, road and rabbit are frequent words. Modelling them clearly rather than requesting a correction is the right approach for a young child, since /r/ takes a long time and correction can make a child talk less.
What's in this activity
- red
- run
- rain
- rock
- ring
- rope
- rice
- road
- rose
- rabbit
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through fourth, and /r/ often remains a target well beyond that.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten cards play with no login.
- Why is /r/ so hard to teach?
- Because nothing about it is visible and there are several correct tongue shapes. Finding the one this particular student can produce is most of the work, and it takes longer than for almost any other sound.
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.