Table 1.

Contrast between a typical /r/ production and distorted /r/, with suggested articulatory cues to elicit the target movement.

Articulator	Features of typical /r/ production	Common errors in distorted /r/ production	Suggested cues
Tongue tip, blade, or anterior body	Raised off the floor of the mouth toward the alveolar ridge or hard palate. Tip pointed up (retroflex) or angled straight or pointed down (bunched)	Low, near the floor of the mouth	• Point the tip of your tongue toward the bump behind your top teeth, but not touching it. • Make sure the front of the tongue is raised up near the roof of your mouth. • Lift the tip and blade of your tongue up off the floor of the mouth—not touching the roof. • Lift the front as if you were going to make /t/ but don't raise it quite high enough to touch the roof. • Raise the part of the tongue that is just behind your tongue tip.
Posterior tongue body	Low, grooved in the center	Raised high and back	• Keep the body of the tongue low while you lift the front. • Try to keep the middle of your tongue low, so there is a groove down the middle. • Don't let the back of the tongue be raised up when you say /r/. • The back should be lower than the front.
Lateral margins of the tongue body	Sides up, braced against back molars	Sides are typically lower than the middle	• Make the sides of your tongue go up for a butterfly bite. • Keep the sides of your tongue up the way you do for the /ʃ/ sound. Make that sound and then pull the tongue a little further back. • Make the /i/ sound and feel the sides of the tongue up and then slide your tongue back and try the /r/ sound. • Feel the sides of your tongue against your farthest back top teeth (molars). • Try to make your tongue shape like a canoe or a taco—sides up high, but a dip in the middle. • Lift the sides up high like the wings of a bird.
Tongue root	Pulled back toward the pharyngeal wall	Lacking retraction	• Let's work on moving the very back part of your tongue—the root—back and forth. /i/ is a sound you say with the root of your tongue pretty far forward, and /ɑ/ is a sound you say with the root of your tongue far back. Let's go back and forth between /i/ and /ɑ/. /i/–/ɑ/. Try to stay back for /ɑ/ and then keep it back there while you lift the front of the tongue up for /r/. • Try to really feel the back part of your tongue (the root) moving back. When you say /r/, try to make the root of your tongue go back, like for /ɑ/. • (Put hand on the back of the child's neck) Try sliding your tongue back this way toward the back of your neck. • Pull the back of your tongue straight back, not back and up. • Pull the back of your tongue backward, like you are trying to hold a pill or a marble in the back of the throat.
Lips	Slightly round	Excessively round	• Try rounding your lips just a bit while you say /r/. • Your lips should feel a little tight in the corners with an opening in the middle. • Keep the lips steady. Don't round your lips too much. Just a little bit.

Note. These are only examples. Paraphrasing and combining these cues will likely be necessary to achieve correct /r/ for many clients. It may not be necessary to use all cues with a client, but instead identify the cues that are most facilitative for that individual.