Practice the Initial /r/ Sound with Ralph and His Ridiculous Robot

For today’s speech sound we’ll practice the /r/ in the beginning of words.

Or, as speech-language pathologists call them, initial R words.

Initial R Words

Below are six words that start with the /r/ sound.

Can you name them and practice each word five times?

(Answers below)

Here are six more.

These vocabulary words are challenging.

(Hint: the first one is a verb.)

Answers

Pictures 1-6: rose, robot ring, red, rice, rip

Pictures 7-12: roast, wreath, rattlesnake, raccoon, radish, roof

Initial R Phrases and Sentences

Let’s keep adding to the difficulty by adding more words.

Read or repeat the following phrases and sentences.

Phrases:

  1. red rose

  2. my robot

  3. pretty ring

  4. red crayon

  5. yummy rice

  6. rip the paper

  7. roast marshmallows

  8. round wreath

  9. dangerous rattlesnake

  10. cute raccoon

  11. red radish

  12. doghouse roof

Sentences

  1. The rose is red

  2. The robot can walk.

  3. She wore a gold ring.

  4. I see a red crayon.

  5. Don’t rip the paper!

  6. The wreath is round.

  7. The rattlesnake shook its tail.

  8. A raccoon ran across the road.

  9. I picked a red radish.

  10. The doghouse roof is red.

Initial R Short Story

Read the story below and practice using your good /r/ sound.

Pay attention because there will be 5 wh questions about the story at the end.

Ralph’s Ridiculous Robot

Ralph built a robot in his room.

It had red rollers, rubber arms, and a rattling radio.

"I shall call you Ricky," Ralph said.

"You're my ridiculous robot!"

Ricky could rake, roar, and ride a scooter.

He could run races and even do the robot dance.

But Ricky refused to rest.

"I need to recharge," said Ralph, rubbing his eyes.

"Let's relax."

But Ricky roared, "Ready to rock and roll!"

Ralph gave Ricky a rope.

"Go rope jump for a while."

Ricky jumped, and ran, and raked.

He raced around the room until…

CRASH!

A toy rocket vase fell from the shelf.

"Ricky!" Ralph shouted.

Ricky froze. "Oops."

Ralph picked up the pieces and sighed.

"Time for a robot reset."

He clicked Ricky's remote.

Click. Bzzzz. Quiet.

"Rest well, Ricky," Ralph whispered.

And for once, the robot rested.

 

WH Questions:

What was Ralph's robot's name?

What could the robot do?

Why was Ralph tired?

What broke in the room?

How did Ralph get Ricky to stop?

Initial R Game

Below is a quick game to practice reading and saying initial R words.

Say each word as you follow the path for the fish to get home safely.

 
 

Illustration Credits: Kari Bolt, Bunny on a Cloud, LittleRed

Speech SoundsLia Kurtin