By: Megan Romanczyk
Our SLPs are back with recommendations for speech sound home practice, and this week our focus is on vocalic “r”. Here are some of our favorite online books and games to practice vocalic “r” in a fun and functional way!
Books:
These five books offer opportunities for a lot of repeated practice with vocalic “r”! While reading these books, ask your child to say, “Turn the page” or “Let’s read more.” You can have your child describe what they see or help you finish your sentence as you read (e.g., Polar bear, polar bear, what do you ….. hear!)
1) “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?” by Bill Martin Jr.
Target Words: polar bear, hear, ear, snort, snarl, leopard
2) “The Big, Hungry Bear” by Don and Audrey Wood
Target Words: bear, berry, heard, forrest, guarding, world, share, never
3) “Bear Feels Scared” by Karma Wilson
Target Words: bear, scared, strawberry, dark, lumber, turn, start, shiver, storm, mutter, dimmer, poor, warm, lair, worry, perch, search, prepare, their, tears, fears, birds, together, weather, Hare, perk, near, later, cluster, snore
4) “Are You My Mother?” by P.D. Eastman
Target Words: bird, mother, are, here, her, where, car, there, snort
5) “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle
Target words: very, morning, caterpillar, started, pears, strawberry, orange, cherry pie, watermelon, better, more, butterfly
Games:
Playing online games is a great way to elicit your child’s target speech sounds through comments, directives, and requests! Try taking turns controlling the game. When your child is playing, ask them to describe what they are doing. When you are playing, ask your child to give you directions. Get even more practice with vocalic “r” by asking your child to say “Let’s do more,” “my turn,” “put it here,” or “put it there.”
As always, keep in mind the complexity of the task. If your child is doing well with the single word “faster,” gradually increase the phrase length: “go faster, let’s go faster, my car is faster, the blue car is faster than the green car.”
1) Slime Maker: https://poki.com/en/g/slimemaker
Target words include: maker, pour, more, corn starch, shower, extra, activator, Borax, water, perfect, texture
2) Derby Crash 2: https://www.crazygames.com/game/derby-crash-2
Target words include: derby, motorcycle, racer, faster, slower
3) Barbie Fashionistas: https://play.barbie.com/en-us/games/style-your-crew
Target words include: Barbie, shirt, purse, shorts, skirt, accessory
