Comments on: Got a Question about Vocalic R Articulation Disorders? 2007-Aug 2008

By: WR

WR — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:00:17 +0000

Thanks for that Christine. I’ll give that a try with her!

Cheers, Wilma

By: ristuccia

ristuccia — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:36:41 +0000

Wilm,

It’s good that she can discriminate the sounds. One solution is to have your daughter smile when saying prevocalic /r/. If the child is rounding her lips then the word will sound like a /w/. If she smiles and looks in a mirror she will be able to see the difference between /r/ and /w/.

Christine

By: WR

WR — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:45:19 +0000

Thanks for that Christine.
I’ve tried the words that you mentioned – she can hear the difference no problem (if I try and say “I will weed a book” instead of read, she laughs and tells me I’m saying it wrong), but she doesn’t seem to know how to make the r sound particularly for words starting with an r.

How do I explain to her how to make the sound? Tip of the tongue on the roof of her mouth?

Sorry to ask so many questions!

Wilm

By: ristuccia

ristuccia — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:29:57 +0000

The /r/ sounds does develop later than other sounds, so there is the possibility that it will self correct. However, it’s a good idea to provide a little help as well. If she’s unintelligible, then you should have her evaluated by a speech-language pathologist. Otherwise, you should try modeling and then asking her to repeat /r/ and /w/ words, such as ride/wide, whip/rip, ring/wing, run/won, read/weed, etc. Contrasting the words should help her hear the difference so that she can learn to self-correct.

Christine

By: WR

WR — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:55:38 +0000

Hi,

Generally at what age should a child be saying /r/ sounds well?

My daughter turned 5 recently and I notice that she often uses a w instead of a r (eg wabbit) and uses a w instead of an r in her name (her name is Marieke).

Should I do something about this now or should I wait until she is a bit older?

Thanks

By: ristuccia

ristuccia — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:28:27 +0000

Caroline,

We don’t maintain a listing of SLPs, but the American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) does maintain a directory. It can be found at http://www.asha.org/findpro/. You’ll have to contact the SLPs in your area and ask him or her what their expertise is to find exactly what you need.

Good luck,

Christine

By: Caroline

Caroline — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:38:16 +0000

I am looking for a speech language patholigist who really understands r-controlled vowel problems and has many methods of approaching remediation. I found your blog and information and am intrigued. I see that you offer trainsing and workshops — do you by any chance keep a list of practicioners who have attended your trainings? I live in the Washington DC area.

By: bloonsterific

bloonsterific — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:35:17 +0000

Just wanted to tell you all know how much I appreciate your postings guys. Found you though google!

By: ristuccia

ristuccia — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:56:08 +0000

Hi Student 3-
My technique came about through frustration of the current materials that were on the market when I first started doing therapy. I started writing down the /r/ sounds that I heard the children produce as well as the /r/ sounds I heard in conversations. That is how I came up with the screening tool and the Entire World of R playing cards, which was our flagship product.
The Entire World of R can be used with people of all ages.
There is research on the program and it was conducted with the therapists at San Diego City Schools and their students. The research I conducted on /r/ is published in the Entire World of R Book of Elicitation Techniques. It would be difficult to use it on other articulation problems besides /r/, however we have other resources for other articulation disorders such as the Entire World of /s/ and /z/ Instructional workbook, The Entire World of Early developing sounds and the Entire World of sh and ch Instructional workbook. These are all popular and useful tools for speech-language pathologists.

By: Student3

Student3 — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 22:30:46 +0000

Hello Mrs. R,

My group is doing a project on therapy techniques that remediate articulation of /r/ disorders. We had some questions about your technique:
1) how did your technique come about?
2) what populations can this technique be used on?
3) is there research done on your technique?
4) can it be used on other articulation problems besides /r/?

Thank you,
Student3