About this activity
Fourteen Spanish words with the trilled r at the start: ratón, rueda, río, rosa, rojo, radio, risa, ropa, reloj, regalo, rana, rama, raíz, rico. A word-initial r in Spanish is always the trill, never the tap, which makes this position the cleanest place to work on it.
How to use it in a session
Start from a fast repeated tap rather than from the trill itself. Many students find the trill by repeating a /d/ or a tap quickly until it turns over, which is a motor discovery rather than something that can be described. Ratón and rosa are good first words, both short with a following back vowel. Ten minutes covers a subset with the discovery work.
What to listen for
Listen for a single tap substituted for the trill. It is the standard pattern and it is not always an error — the trill is one of the later sounds in Spanish and a young child producing taps may well be within the expected range. Watch río and raíz, where the vowel sequence is complex and competes with the target.
Carrying it home
Rojo, ropa, reloj and rosa are everyday words. Asking a child to say one of them carefully, once, is a better home task than a list, since the trill takes a long time and needs many small exposures.
Questions
- Is this board in Spanish?
- Yes, all fourteen words are Spanish. This page is in English so an English-speaking clinician can find and evaluate it.
- Is it free?
- Yes, no account or card needed.
- Is the trill a late sound?
- Yes, one of the later ones in Spanish. A young child producing single taps where trills belong is often within the typical range, so age and exposure matter before calling it an error.