Articulation Therapy Activities: How I Teach Initial R Words Step-by-Step (Part 1)

Part 1: How to Elicit Initial R

Hi everyone—Aimee here! I wanted to write this post to walk you through how I approach teaching initial R (also called Pre-Vocalic R), especially if you’re feeling hesitant to dive in with this tricky sound. Trust me, I’ve been there.

When I’m starting R therapy, I usually begin with word initial R—if  it looks promising based on our LevelUp Artic R Screener. This screening tool helps me figure out which context is most stimulable, so I can start in the spot that gives the student the best chance for success. For more on how I use the R Screener—and my broader thoughts on treating R—head over to this post.

LevelUp Artic R Screener (free download)

As someone who genuinely loves teaching R (yes, I’m one of those people!),  I always suggest picking the starting point that fits your student best—those standard lists by word position just don’t offer the flexibility kids often need.

For this case study, I’ll refer to my student as “Ruby” (a pseudonym for privacy). Ruby is a bright, generally cooperative first grader with a little bit of spunk—which makes sessions fun and keeps me on my toes. She brings great energy to speech and loves a good challenge, especially when she thinks she’s already mastered it!

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through:

• Why I chose initial R for my student

  
  

• What my early sessions looked like

  
  

• How I used LevelUp Artic to keep things efficient, targeted, and successful

Let’s jump in!

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Step 1: Activities for Speech Therapy to Eliminate the W Substitution

When we’re working on initial R, the most common error I see is a W substitution—“red” becomes “wed,” “run” becomes “wun.” So my very first goal is simple: get the lips out of the way.

I start by choosing syllables and words that are facilitative—that don’t encourage lip rounding. That means I’m not using words like row or road in the early stages. Vowel sounds like /o/ or /oo/ tend to trigger rounding, which reinforces the W-like production we’re trying to avoid.

Instead, I almost always start with “ree” and “ray.” These combinations reduce the tendency to round, making them more successful for shaping a correct R.

To help kids physically break the habit, I’ll say something like: 

"Bite your teeth together and try not to move your lips. Your lips are not invited to this party!" 

It’s a little goofy, but it works. When possible, I tie this into a quick explanation about how the brain is just used to doing it a certain way, and now we’re retraining it. I bring in a little growth mindset talk: “We’re creating a new pathway for a new sound.”

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I like to move on to single word articulation therapy activities as soon as possible. The LevelUp Artic Level 1 Initial R words are designed to be facilitating—there are no rounded vowels, bilabials, L sounds or other R sounds.  All of these words can be produced without any lip movement.

LevelUp Artic Level 1 Initial R Words (www.levelupartic.com)

I continue to provide the cue to “bite your teeth together.” This helps maintain the jaw stability needed for the R sound—no hands-on cuing required, even if you are working in person. And in a teletherapy session, it’s easy to coach this kind of stability visually by asking students to lean into their camera so they can watch their lips and teeth closely and stay aware of what they’re doing.

In the early sessions, I’m not focused on full accuracy yet. I’m just getting lots of reps with the lips out of the way. I’ll reinforce the effort, not nitpick each production, and we keep the energy positive and productive. The magic is that, every so often, a true R comes out—and and as they keep repeating, accurate initial R words start coming out more often than not during these articulation therapy activities.   

For some kids, this step takes just a few sessions. For others, it takes longer—but once they internalize the idea that “my lips don’t help with this sound,” we start seeing progress. And that’s when things really start to click.

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Side note: At this stage, it’s totally normal for productions to sound a little strange—almost robotic or stiff. Ruby went through exactly this phase. When we were practicing words like read and rag, she would almost freeze her articulators in place the entire time. We were aiming for 10 reps of each word, and while the sounds were an accurate production of R, they definitely didn’t sound natural yet.

I don’t worry about that. My focus here is solely on eliminating lip movement. That robotic quality is actually a good sign—they’re concentrating hard and overcompensating as their brain and mouth work to build a new motor pattern. Naturalness comes later. First, we just need to break the old habit.

👉 Stay tuned for Part 2 where I’ll share what speech therapy activities I use to build awareness with minimal pairs—and the game that made R therapy click for Ruby!