"There are SO many R decks... how do I know which one(s) I need??" We get this question all the time, so if you have the same question, you are not alone! R can be a tricky sound to master, so we've provided a range of decks and resources that you can use to help you client conquer that pesky R!
Another helpful way to narrow down what you want or need might be to consider what kinds of deck you are looking for. Do you just want a bunch of R practice words? You are going to want to look for a "stimulus" type deck. Need some visuals/cues to help cue/support your client? You are going to want to look for a "cue" type deck. Not all decks fall cleanly into "stimulus" and "cues" categories (although most do). Some decks, like the R Coarticulation deck, is more of a "strategy" type deck. It is not just a deck of practice words. Instead, you mix and match cards using R contexts that the child has strengths in to create targets that the child is more likely to produce correctly.
Need a little more clarification on stimuli vs cues? Check out this blog post for some easy to understand visuals!
Take a look below to check out more details about each of our R products!
Bjorem Speech Sound Cues R:
- These are cues to help elicit the /ɹ/ sound. This deck does not include target words as it is meant to assist in the sound elicitation process when the child is not yet ready to put the /ɹ/ sound in words.
- The /ɹ/ cues include /ɹ/ controlled vowels, /ɹ/ blends, and prevocalic /ɹ/. You are able to use the vowel cues and combine them with the "motorcycle sound" ("er") to show the transition between the vowel and the /ɹ/ for /ɹ/ controlled vowels/vocalic /ɹ/.
- The /ɹ/ sound cues take away the "r sound" label and create an entire new name or label for each targeted sound (e.g., the motorcycle sound, the helicopter sound, the pirate sound, etc.). This helps take the focus off of working on the /ɹ/ sound and instead we target a "new" sound. When kids hear they are working on the "r sound" their old habits (what they know to be the "r sound" which is an incorrect production) can easily fall into place.
Be sure to check out the product images and media files that may contain YouTube video walkthroughs of the product, as well as the product description where you will find a link to any supplemental handouts to learn more about this product. You can find this product here.
R Coarticulation:
- This deck contains 7 types of cards: final “air” /ɛɹ/, final “ear" /ɪɹ/, final “er" /ɝ,ɚ/, final "ire" /aɪɹ/, final "or" / ɔɹ/, final "ar” / aɹ/, and Initial /ɹ/.
- By combining final /ɹ/ cards with initial /ɹ/ cards, you can create new medial /ɹ/ words to support the use of coarticulation strategies during your speech therapy sessions.
- Every person has different strengths and weaknesses when producing the different types of /ɹ/. We can use coarticulation strategies to practice difficult types of /ɹ/ by pairing them next to a type of /ɹ/ that is a strength.
Be sure to check out the product images and media files that may contain YouTube video walkthroughs of the product, as well as the product description where you will find a link to any supplemental handouts to learn more about this product. You can find this product here.
Facilitative Contexts for /ɹ/ Therapy:
- Facilitative contexts refer to the structure of a word and the way in which that structure supports the correct production of a particular sound. If chosen correctly, facilitative contexts can streamline therapy by making each target an opportunity for correct production.
- This product includes 89 cards with 149 target words.
- The cards are organized based on 7 facilitative contexts including high front vowels, low front vowels, alveolar, high back vowels, low back vowels, velar, and liquids.
- This is also available in a bundle with the Bjorem Speech /ɹ/ Inventory for evaluations, data collection, and/or progress monitoring.
Bjorem Speech /ɹ/ Inventory:
(This only comes as part of the bundle with the Facilitative Contexts for /ɹ/ Therapy product)
- This is a comprehensive, research-backed inventory that allows SLPs to explore a variety of linguistic and/or phonetic contexts for /ɹ/.
- This is recommended to be used as an additional data source for evaluations, data collection, and/or progress monitoring.
- The /ɹ/ inventory assessment tool includes: /ɹ/ in 7 facilitative contexts (23 items), vocalic /ɹ/ (6 items), /ɹ/ clusters (10 items), and /ɹ/ in 14 dialect-sensitive phrases. It also includes an R Handbook (31 pages).
Be sure to check out the product images and media files that may contain YouTube video walkthroughs of the product, as well as the product description where you will find a link to any supplemental handouts to learn more about this product. You can find this product here.
Prevocalic and Vocalic R:
- This deck is ideally utilized in intervention once a consistent /ɹ/or /ɝ, ɚ/ has been established and generalization to other contexts is the focus of intervention.
- This product has a total of 133 cards.
- 7 contexts: “air” /ɛɹ/, “ear" /ɪɹ/,“er" /ɝ,ɚ/, "ire" /aɪɹ/, "or" / ɔɹ/, "ar” / aɹ/, and PreVocalic /ɹ/.
Be sure to check out the product images and media files that may contain YouTube video walkthroughs of the product, as well as the product description where you will find a link to any supplemental handouts to learn more about this product. You can find this product here.
Box of R Clusters:
- 40 in total to address the /ɹ/ clusters in the initial position of words.
- These provide suggested word targets for speech therapy.
- Includes /br/, /kr/, /gr/, /dr/, /pr/, /fr/, /tr/.
Be sure to check out the product images and media files that may contain YouTube video walkthroughs of the product, as well as the product description where you will find a link to any supplemental handouts to learn more about this product. You can find this product here.
