Why Can’t My Child Say the “ER” Sound?
If your child has been working on the R sound but still can’t say a clear “er,” you may be wondering what is going wrong.
Maybe your child has been in speech therapy. Maybe you have practiced R words at home. You may have tried different ways of helping, but that “er” still isn’t there.
I know how frustrating that can feel. After more than 40 years as a speech-language pathologist, I have worked with many children, teens, and adults who struggled with the R sound. Some had been working on R for months or even years.
There is still hope for improvement.
A Quality “ER” Is the Foundation
In Home Run Speech®, I think of a quality “er” as the foundation for the other R sounds.
Before asking a learner to practice lots of R words, I want to know what happens when they try to say “er” by itself.
Can they make a clear “er”? Can they make it correctly again? Can they do it without guessing each time?
If the answer is no, moving into harder R words may mean we are moving ahead before the foundation is ready.
That is why Home Run Speech® starts at the foundation.
Sometimes We Need to Look at the Mouth Movements First
There is more involved in producing R than simply telling a learner where to put the tongue.
The lips and tongue need to make the movements needed for a quality R sound. In most cases, I begin by looking at those skills before working toward a quality “er.”
In Home Run Speech®, I use Functional Mouth Exercises when needed to help learners build these skills.
This is an important part of my approach because I don’t want a learner to keep practicing an R sound incorrectly over and over. I want to figure out which movement needs work and start there.
Why More R Words May Not Be the Answer Yet
If a learner is having trouble with R, it can be tempting to practice more and more R words.
Practice matters. But what the learner is practicing matters too.
If your child cannot yet produce a quality “er,” practicing long lists of R words may not address the part of the R sound that is giving them trouble.
This is one reason a learner can work very hard and still feel stuck.
Instead, I like to find where the R sound begins to break down. Then we have a clearer idea of what to work on next.
Your Child May Need a Clearer Path
One of the reasons I created Home Run Speech® was to give parents, SLPs, and SLPAs a clear path for teaching R.
We begin by looking at the foundation. When needed, we work on the mouth movements used for R. Then we work toward a quality “er.”
Once that foundation is in place, the learner can build R step by step through syllables, words, phrases, sentences, and eventually everyday speech.
Parents can play an important part in this process. R practice does not only happen during a speech therapy session. Regular practice at home gives a learner more opportunities to use and strengthen the skills they are learning.
Not Sure Where to Start?
If your child is still trying to find a quality “er,” Starter Success is the first stage of Home Run Speech®.
Starter Success begins at the foundation. You’ll learn how to look at the mouth movements needed for R, use Functional Mouth Exercises when needed, and work toward a quality “er.” From there, your learner builds into R syllables.
The goal is to give you a clear place to start and a way to know when your learner is ready to move forward.
You don’t have to figure out the R sound all at once. Start with the foundation and build from there.
Peggy Steiniger, M.A., CCC-SLP
Creator of Home Run Speech®
Speech-language pathologist with over 40 years of experience
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