Red Rex’s Sound

Red Rex makes a loud long growling sound. In Standard Australian English, we produce it at the start of words and in the middle of words.  We don’t use this sound at the end of a word. Think of the word “poor”.  We pronounce it the same as the word “paw”.  This differs to the way Americans pronounce these words. With the vowel sounds (such as ar, or, ur, er etc), Australians do not pronounce the /r/ sound, whereas speakers from USA usually do (even in the middle of words… e.g. “park”.  Americans say the /r/, whereas Australians say “p-ah-k”). 

In Standard Scottish English, the /r/ sound is sometimes produced as a lovely trill – and when it occurs before the /l/ sound, it creates a second syllable.  (“girl” is pronounced “ge-rel”). 

When it develops

 This sound develops later in a child’s speech, often in their 5th year.  It is usually in place by the age of 6 years. 

How it is made

The way in which this sound is made is probably the most variable. It’s also a tricky one to explain to children as the tongue sits in a way that is difficult to show. One common way that the sound is made is to raise the sides of the tongue so that the middle of the tongue is bunched up. The sides of the tongue press against the insides of the molars. 

Tips to Help 

Try growling like Red Rex.  Following the sound with a sound like /e/ or /ee/ can help  more than following it with a sound like /oo/.  For example, it may easier to say the sound when saying “red” or “read” rather than “rude”. 

Another way that sometimes helps is to say the sound following the /k/ sound/. For example, “creek” or “creep”.

Common Errors

Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child progresses in their speech development.  

1. It is a common error for children to say the /w/ sound instead of the /r/ sound in words. Examples are a child saying “wed”  for “red”.  This error is called GLIDING. A child usually “grows out” of this error by around 6 years of age. ***There’s a sheet of pictures below (Minimal Pairs) to help with this. 

2.  This sound often occurs as the SECOND sound in a word (fry, tray, drip, break, present). In these words, the sound is making up part of a cluster or blend (fr, tr, dr, br, pr) . It is a normal developmental error for children to leave out the sound that is second in the cluster (or blend).  Children might say “fy” for “fry” and “bake” for “break.”   This is not an error associated with saying the /r/ sound, but a difficulty with producing the cluster. It is called CLUSTER REDUCTION and usually resolves naturally by the time a child is around 4 years of age. To help children with this error – say the target word slowly, separating the sounds slightly… /b/…/rake/ for “bake”.  Or, you can compare words like bake, brake etc.  (see the resource Minimal Pairs to the Max). 

3) When trying to say words starting with the blend ‘dr’ or ‘tr’ some children might produce the sound /j/ or /ch/.  (“jink” for “drink” and “chain” for “train”).  Saying blends can be tricky. It’s not an issue with the production of /r/ as such.  Usually by the time a child starts school, they have stopped doing this. You can help them by repeating the word back,  slowly down as you say the /d/ and /r/ sound so they are a

You can contrast the correct and incorrect production of a word using minimal pairs. For example, if a child is saying /w/ instead of /r/, try SHOWING the pictures “wing” vs “ring” etc and SAYING these words so the child develops an awareness of the difference. Loads more contrasts are available as a downloadable resource –  Minimal Pairs to the Max by Pelican Talk.  

About the Letter

The lower-case letter used in this set is the non-cursive letter r.

Like many letters, it starts with a downstroke. 

The letter’s name is pronounced “ar”.  For this reason, some children in early writing tasks think they can write words like “car” using the letters c+r alone (/c/+ar)  To prevent this, it’s important to reinforce that the letter name is “ar” and the sound is…. /r/ (Red Rex’s sound). 

Activities

Colour-In

1. Learners can be shown how to form the letter, starting at the star. If there are two possible ways the writer could head with their pencil (or crayon), they should head towards the smaller star next.  Try and give consistent instructions when you show a child how to form the letter.   E.g. “Here’s how we do the letter r. Down, up and over”.  2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun. Encourage children to say the SOUND as they trace the letter.  3. Together look at the pictures, name each and LISTEN for the first sound of each word. It will begin with the target sound. 4. You can point to the first letter in each word. Name the letter. 

Picture Cards

 Each picture begins with the target sound. You can print these out and make cards or just look at them on a device.

1) Cards can be used for  these for a range of games such as SNAP, BINGO or MEMORY.

2) Start a double-spread page in a scrapbook for each sound. Paste in the colour-in (above), practise writing the letter and cut out and paste the pictures on the pages.

3) Combine them with another set from a different sound and do a SORTING ACTIVITY.

4)Make a poster for each sound and paste on the corresponding pictures.

Find the Letter

 View the download on a digital device and point to the target letters or print out and circle/ underline the letters.  Try and encourage scanning of left to right of each line while looking for letters. Start by saying “Let’s look for all the r letters”. When you find them, say the sound as you point/circle/underline.