/ɹ/ you frustrated by working on /ɹ/? Try facilitative contexts!

“R is among the most menacing of sounds” – Dwight Schrute. If you agree – this session is for you! Using phonetic science, we will dive into the various tongue postures necessary for correct /ɹ/ productions in pre-vocalic position, vocalic positions, and consonant clusters. This will include an overview of the vowel quadrilateral and the ways in which choosing the correct vowel sound can help to optimize your treatment word list.

Explore Course

The “R” sound is a challenging phoneme to produce, and is a very common speech sound error among young children. It is a phoneme in the liquid manner class, which means that the articulators can and must easily change shape to accommodate the sounds around it. Using clinical phonetics, we will discuss how to rely on the vowel quadrilateral to improve clinical practice and child outcomes.

Speech Sound Disorders Series

Presenters

Kelly Farquharson
PhD, CCC-SLP
Dr. Kelly Farquharson, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an associate professor in the School of Communication Science and Disorders at Florida State University and director of the Children’s Literacy and Speech Sound (CLaSS) Lab. Her research focuses on improving outcomes for children with speech sound disorders and language impairments through school-based implementation science. She is a frequent conference presenter, educator, and creator of the popular Phonetics Friday series on social media, where she brings humor, heart, and expertise to the field of speech-language pathology.

Learning Objectives

Explain the importance of the vowel quadrilateral for choosing treatment words
Discuss the differences in prevocalic, vocalic, and cluster positions for /ɹ/
Generate a list of 5 treatment words with facilitative contexts appropriate for beginning /ɹ/ therapy.

Agenda

5 minutes	Introduction and welcome
10 minutes	Why is “R” so hard?
15 minutes	Vowel quadrilateral overview
10 minutes	Physiological requirements for the production of the “R” sound
10 minutes	Clinical phonetics for word selection in therapy
5 minutes	Brainstorm a word list
5 minutes	Q & A

Disclosures

Financial Disclosures:	Kelly is receiving an honorarium for this presentation. She receives a salary at Florida State University. She is the owner of Literacy Speech, LLC. Kelly has published therapy materials with Bjorem Speech Publications, which will be mentioned in the recorded session
Non-Financial Disclosures:	Kelly is an ASHA member and Affiliated Faculty member with Florida Center for Reading Research
Content Disclosures:	Kelly will discuss products that she has published with Bjorem Speech Publications - but she will discuss alternative options.

ASHA

This course is offered for .1 ASHA CEUs, Intermediate Level, Professional Area

To earn ASHA CEUs you must complete the courses by viewing them, provide course feedback, pass the exams with a score of 80 or more, provide your ASHA credentials, and confirm submission.

Speech Sound Disorders Series Bundle 2025: $150.00
The bundle includes the 90-min live replay co-presented by Drs. Sharynne McLeod and Kelly Farquharson, "Clinical Use of Speech Sound Acquisition Data", an 60-min by Dr. Farquharson, "/ɹ/ you frustrated by working on /ɹ/? Try facilitative contexts!", and a 120-min course by Dr. McLeod, "Multilingual Children’s Speech Assessment: A Contemporary Global Update". Includes access to the live replay, 2 recorded courses, and optional ASHA reporting for all 3 courses.

Speech Sound Disorders: Data-Driven Decisions + /ɹ/ Mastery Bundle: $65.00
This bundle includes Drs. Sharynne McLeod and Kelly Farquharson’s 90-min. live replay, "Clinical Use of Speech Sound Acquisition Data", and Dr. Kelly's 60-min course, "/ɹ/ you frustrated by working on /ɹ/? Try facilitative contexts!" Includes access to both recorded courses and optional ASHA reporting.

/ɹ/ you frustrated by working on /ɹ/? Try facilitative contexts!: $35.00
Using phonetic science, we will dive into the various tongue postures necessary for correct /ɹ/ productions in pre-vocalic position, vocalic positions, and consonant clusters. This will include an overview of the vowel quadrilateral and the ways in which choosing the correct vowel sound can help to optimize your treatment word list. Includes access to the recorded course and optional ASHA reporting.