What Is Rhotacism? Guide to Teaching Children the /r/ Sound
Abby Barnes, M.S., CCC-SLP
Mispronouncing the /r/ sound is one of the most common speech errors that children make. Trouble producing this speech sound is also known as rhotacism. Frustratingly, it's also one of the hardest sounds to teach—and for kids to learn and master! However, with enough guidance, practice, and repetition, your child can learn to make the /r/ sound.
Key takeaways
Trouble pronouncing the /r/ sound, also called rhotacism, is a common speech error in kids.
The /r/ sound can be hard to learn because it has lots of variations in different words. It's also hard to visualize since it only involves the tongue.
There are two types of /r/ sounds. A prevocalic /r/ comes before a vowel ("read"). A vocalic /r/ follows a vowel ("fire").
Signs of rhotacism include substituting a /w/ sound for the /r/ sound, such as "wun" for "run," or "vewwy" for "very." Words that end in /r/ might be distorted, such as “chay-uh” for "chair."
The best way to treat rhotacism is to work with a licensed speech therapist. Daily practice makes a big difference, and there are techniques you can use at home to help visualize the tongue positioning and make practice sessions fun.
If your child is approaching age 5 and still struggling to produce the /r/ sound, it's good idea to contact a speech therapist for an evaluation.
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Find a speech therapistWhy is producing the /r/ sound so difficult?
Rhotacism is fairly common in kids, since mastering the /r/ sound can be challenging. That's true for a few reasons.
First off, there's vowel placement. The /r/ sound can come before a vowel (prevocalic) or follow a vowel (vocalic). Depending on the vowel, this can affect the pronunciation of the /r/ sound. Different vocalic combinations include “ar,” “air,” “ear,” “er,” “or,” and “ire.” Try saying each of these out loud to yourself, and you'll quickly realize all the different variations!
Throw in the fact that most of these vowel combinations can be placed within different positions of a word, and you've got a whole new level of challenge for kids! Depending on whether the /r/ sound comes in the beginning, middle, or final position of the word can affect how it's produced.
The /r/ sound can be challenging because it's produced only by tongue position.
Another reason the /r/ sound can be so tough is because it's produced only by the tongue position, not the lips or teeth. This makes it much harder for kids to visualize compared to other sounds.
For example, with the /b/ sound, you can easily see how the lips move when you make it. A /th/ sound is also easily visualized: The tongue rests between the teeth. For an /r/ production, the tongue has to move in a very specific way, which can often be hard to demonstrate to a child. Enough tongue tension is also needed in order to make the correct tongue position required for an /r/ sound.
In summary, the /r/ sound has more variations than just about any other sound in the English language. But don't let this be discouraging! It simply takes specific techniques to teach the /r/ sound, with lots of practice, which we'll cover below.
At what age should a child correctly say the /r/ sound?
While children develop various sounds at different ages, each sound in the English language does have an expected age of acquisition.
In general, a child should be able to make the /r/ sound correctly in their everyday conversations by age 5. Use the start of kindergarten as a good rule of thumb: Children should be easily understood by others and able to say all speech sounds when they begin school.
Keep in mind, this doesn't mean you should wait until this age to begin working on speech. The earlier you can start speech therapy when it's needed, the more progress your child will make.
What's important is that you're hearing speech improvements over time. If your child's speech seems to be progressing normally, that's a great sign! However, if their /r/ sound productions have hit a plateau, and you're not noticing improvements as they near their fifth birthday, it may be time to speak with a speech therapist to schedule an evaluation.
Use this speech sound development chart to track sounds by age, see examples and red flags, and know when an evaluation could help.
The 2 types of /r/ sounds
When discussing /r/ production, it's important to identify where the /r/ sound is located in a word. Children may struggle with one or both of these positions.
A prevocalic /r/ means that the /r/ comes before the vowel. These are words such as:
read
rain
right
A vocalic /r/ follows a vowel. Vocalic /r/ sounds are the following:
“ar” as in star
“air” as in hair
“ear” as in hearing
“er” as in sister
“or” as in pour
“ire” as in tired
The /r/ is produced the same way for prevocalic or vocalic. The difference with the vocalic /r/ is that the tongue has to move to the correct tongue position immediately following the vowel, with the /r/ produced as the tongue is moving to that position. Try it yourself, paying close attention to your tongue position and movement. You'll quickly realize why this can be tough for kids to coordinate!
Our speech therapists recommend these fun books for practicing the “R” sound with your child at home.
How children learn the /r/ sound
There is a certain progression of complexity levels that a speech therapist will use to help children learn any new speech sound. Here are the typical stages of learning the /r/ sound:
Isolation level: Saying the sound by itself
Syllable level: Combining the sound with a vowel (re, ray, rye, ro, rue)
Word level: Using the sound within a word (run, berry, winter)
Phrase level: Stringing several /r/ words together into a short two- or three-word phrase (run fast or car ride)
Sentence level: Saying longer, more complex sentences that include /r/ words (The dog runs fast)
Conversation level: The ability to use /r/ words in connected speech in conversation, 100% accurately
As a child moves through these stages, the speech therapist will help them practice a variety of words that contain /r/ in different positions. For example, they'll use words that have an /r/ in the beginning, middle, and final positions of a word, along with words that contain the /r/ sound before and after different vowels (prevocalic vs. vocalic).
Some children go through all these levels and variations of /r/ production quickly. Others may get “stuck” at one or more of these levels, including various prevocalic or vocalic /r/ variations.
Signs of rhotacism: Common /r/ sound speech errors
There are a couple different errors you may hear your child make.
A /w/ sound is often substituted for the /r/ sound. For example, the word "rice" might be pronounced as “wice.” Or you may hear a word like "berry" said as “be-wy.”
For words that end with a vocalic /r/ sound, you are likely to hear a distorted attempt at /r/. For example, the word "father" may sound like “fath-uh.” Or the word "chair" may be pronounced as “chay-uh.”
Knowing what types of errors to listen for can help you spot any signs of rhotacism in you child’s speech.
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Find a speech therapistIs my child ready to start practicing the /r/ sound?
There are a few ways to determine if a child is ready to practice the /r/ sound.
Can they imitate the sound? One way to tell if a child's ready is to see if they can accurately imitate /r/ in isolation (saying the sound by itself), even if it requires a little help. If a child needs a lot of cueing or modeling in order to say /r/, they may not be ready to practice.
Can they tell the difference between correct and incorrect pronunciation? Another helpful criteria is whether a child can discriminate between a correct /r/ and incorrect /r/ sound. To test this out with your child, say both pronunciations out loud. Can they spot the right sound from the wrong one? If not, then it's important to help them identify accurate sounds first before starting to practice.
How old are they? With all this said, age is still an important consideration. If they're approaching age 5 and still struggling to produce the /r/ sound by itself, it's good idea to contact a speech therapist. In a speech evaluation, the therapist can assess your child's readiness and skill level to determine if speech therapy is needed.
Learn from a speech therapist how to trill the /r/ sound. You may need to practice, but anyone can learn to roll their /r/’s.
The 2 different /r/ sound tongue positions
There are two tongue positions that can be used when saying the /r/ sound. They are referred to as "bunched position" and "retroflexed position."
Bunched tongue position: For a bunched tongue position, the tongue is—you guessed it—essentially bunched. It stays in a neutral position in the mouth. Speech therapists will often tell kiddos to “scoot your tongue back!” in their mouth.
Retroflexed position: For a retroflexed tongue position, the tip of the tongue curls and points backward toward the back of the throat.
Both of these tongue positions can be used to say a correct /r/ sound, but often one position comes more naturally for a child than another. Whichever tongue position is easiest for a child, and yields a correct /r/ sound, is the one they should use! It may take a little bit of time and practice to determine which is best for your child.
Your speech therapist will likely also discuss tongue tension. The tongue is a muscle, and it should be high and “tight” enough in the mouth that the correct /r/ sound can be formed. A tongue that's too low in the mouth or not tight enough can make the /r/ sound like /uh/.
Tips and techniques for practicing the /r/ sound
The best way to treat rhotacism is to work with a licensed speech therapist. However, if you're practicing at home, these tips can help.
Identify if the bunched or retroflexed tongue position is best for your child. Choose the position that yields a correct sound and is easiest for your child.
Use a mirror to help your child watch their mouth.
Use a visual to better explain tongue position, such as demonstrating with your hand to show the shape of the tongue, or making your own visual of the tongue shape (Play-Doh works great!). You can also try to model the /r/ tongue position for your child, opening your mouth slightly and pointing.
If the /r/ sound doesn't sound right even with frequent practice, remind your child to keep their tongue “tight.” This helps reinforce the importance of tongue tension, which is needed for correct production.
Also remind your child to keep their tongue held high enough in their mouth. One tip is to make sure the back side of their tongue is touching the inside of their top back molars. Here’s a tip for this: Try brushing the back sides of your child’s tongue with something with a flavor they like—maybe a lollipop! Explain that this is the part of the tongue that should be touching the top back molars. This can help your child visualize their tongue placement.
Practice daily! Aim for 10 minutes of practice every day, if possible.
Remember to stay at the stage you're currently targeting until your child is at least 90% accurate and independent. Then you can move on to the next, more complex level.
Dacarri's story
Follow along on the journey of a preteen boy working on articulation for clearer speech. "Now I have more confidence in how I sound."
Read Dacarri's storySpeech exercises for the /r/ sound
Here are some helpful and fun exercises to teach your child the /r/ sound:
Make model tongues out of Play-Doh and position them in the bunched or retroflexed position—whichever position your child has been practicing. This can be super helpful for visual learners.
Talk with your child about how the tongue is a muscle, and that the tongue has to be “tight and strong.” You can have your child practice closing their fists “tight” or making their arm muscles “tight.”
Say the /r/ sound correct and incorrectly, and have your child spot the difference. Turn this into a game with a reward if they choose the right one!
As you read books with your child, have them point out each /r/ sound they read or hear you say.
Practice target /r/ sounds while playing a turn-taking game that your child enjoys. For example, if your child loves playing Connect 4, before each turn have them practice the /r/ sound at least three times.
Look through magazines with your child and have them find any pictures of items that use their target /r/ sound. You or your child can cut out the pictures and make a collage or picture together.
Making /r/ sound practice part of your everyday routine
The ultimate goal of all speech practice is to have children carry over their newfound skills into daily life. This means your everyday conversations can actually be powerful learning moments! Here's how.
Make sure to pick a time of day when your child is most talkative. Let them know that you're going to be listening for correct /r/ sound productions as you talk together. Then, spend about 10 minutes talking together—it doesn't matter the topic!
If you hear your child mispronounce the /r/ sound, give them the chance to identify the mistake themselves. If that doesn't work, gently let them know. You can tell them, or give them a slight visual cue such as raising your hand. Afterward, have your child revisit that point in the conversation and retry saying the word or sentence with the correct /r/ sound.
As your child improves, they should become better able to self-correct their productions. Continue to provide support for your child until they are fully independent and able to have fluent conversations.
The more you practice speech therapy skills, the faster progress happens. Get 10 tips to help your child practice speech at home.
What to expect during speech therapy for the /r/ sound
If you think your child might benefit from speech therapy, contact a speech-language pathologist. They'll begin by conducting a formal evaluation. This evaluation allows the speech therapist to identify which types of /r/ sounds your child is struggling with, and whether other speech sounds also need treatment. Speech therapy goals will be developed based on the evaluation.
During each session, the speech therapist will work on these specific goals with your child. They'll use different games and activities that your child enjoys in order to practice the /r/ sound. Your speech therapist will also provide home practice activities that you can do with your child throughout the week. The more practice and repetition a child does, the faster they'll master the /r/ sound at the conversation level.
Discover your options for speech therapy, including school vs. private and online vs. in-person. Plus, tips to find a speech therapist.
How long does speech therapy take for the /r/ sound?
The amount of time required to treat rhotacism will vary for each child. Some factors that contribute to the length of speech therapy include:
The child’s age
How quickly the child is able to learn the basic /r/ production at the isolation level
How many different types of /r/ sounds the child struggles with
The child’s motivation to improve their /r/ productions
Frequency of home practice
While the /r/ sound can be a challenging one, with speech therapy support and lots of play-based practice at home, your child can master it! Get started today—find a speech therapist and schedule an evaluation here.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Problems making speech sounds, also known as an articulation disorder, often have no known cause. In other cases, several factors could be involved, including a developmental disability, genetic disorder, brain damage, hearing problems, or too much thumb sucking or pacifier use. The incidence of speech sound disorders is higher in boys than in girls. A speech sound disorder also may be related to preterm delivery or low birthweight, or to a family history of speech difficulties.
No, they refer to problems with different speech sounds. Rhotacism involves difficulty pronouncing the /r/ sound. A lisp involves problems pronouncing the /s/ and /z/ sounds.
Yes, children who struggle to say the /r/ sound can learn to pronounce it with speech therapy and consistent practice! A speech evaluation can determine which type of /r/ sound is tough for your child, the tongue position they should use for it, and which complexity level to start practicing at. Your speech therapist will also share fun, easy ways to practice at home for faster progress.
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