/r/ Initial Phrases
Two-to-four word phrases with word-initial /r/, the step between words and sentences.
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
Take the two-target phrases first — a red ring, a round rock — before ride a rocket, which has two targets in a longer phrase. The work is holding the sound across a word boundary, which is where single-word accuracy usually starts to slip. Say it, have the student repeat, then have them produce it without your model. Five minutes covers the ten.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and let the student say the whole phrase on their own.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 phrase with the /r/ word slightly stressed; the student repeats it.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
Go back to single words: the student says just the /r/ word from each card.
Move to sentences: the student puts the phrase into a sentence of their own.
Matching IEP goal
Given phrase cards, Student will produce /r/ in the word-initial position in phrases 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 short phrases with /r/ in more than one word: a red ring, run the race, a rainy road, the rabbit runs, a round rock, rake the leaves, row the raft, ride a rocket, reach the roof, a real rainbow. Phrase level sits between words and sentences and is the step most often skipped, which is why techniques so often fall apart at sentence level.
What to listen for
Listen for the second target. Almost every student holds the sound on the first /r/ and loses the second, and that is the whole reason phrase level exists as a step. Watch a real rainbow, which has three targets in three words and is the hardest here.
Carrying it home
A phrase is short enough to actually use at home. Asking a child to say a red ring five times is a task a family will finish, unlike a page of sentences.
What's in this activity
- a red ring
- run the race
- a rainy road
- the rabbit runs
- a round rock
- rake the leaves
- row the raft
- ride a rocket
- reach the roof
- a real rainbow
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through fourth, for students accurate on /r/ in single words.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all ten phrases play free.
- Why not go straight to sentences?
- Because the jump is large. A phrase adds one boundary and one extra target, which most students can manage when a full sentence is still out of reach.
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.