Dear Parents,
​
At Artic Bites, we value you as your child’s first and best teacher. We want you to feel helpful and knowledgeable when it comes to your child’s experiences in speech therapy.
​
What your child needs to make the perfect R sound
​
-
Jaw stability
-
Lip tension and protrusion
-
Tongue elevation and tongue tension
-
Awareness of all of the above.
Currently, it is likely that your child lacks one or all of these abilities. The Bite-R was designed to help with all of the above. But the Bite-R isn’t magic. When your child is using the Bite-R and mispronounces words, he/she hasn’t yet learned the correct placement and tension for the articulators.
​
How can you help?
-
Taking your child to speech is important or letting them have speech services provided at the school. If your school doesn’t use our device, you may offer to purchase it for the school Speech Language Pathologist to try it. A certificate for free online training is included with each sale.
-
The R sound is difficult and your child will experience many emotions in response to the challenge of the R sound. While we don’t recommend homework for our students using the Bite-R, you as a parent can coordinate with your child a time and place in which you will help them. During a designated time, without siblings, you can converse with your child and point out words that were mispronounced. Your job is to have the child repeat the word SILENTLY, and ask if he/she used the Bite-R position. BUT DO THIS ONLY WHEN YOUR CHILD’S SLP GIVES YOU PERMISSION. Since no one wants to be frustrated all the time, choose small bursts of time. Please note: early on the critical feature of the Bite-R position is the lip position. Pay attention to your child’s chin. There should be some tension there. Way to go!
-
Now, listen for a correct R sound! Celebrate his/her efforts to self-correct. Notice when you child attempts to pause slightly to say the R sound and tell them that you appreciate the effort. Praise goes a long way toward improvement. Who wants a boss who corrects everything you do? But we all want a boss who recognizes when we put in the effort. You can do this! You care about your child and you know how important communication is to your child’s success in life. Way to go!
What your child’s speech pathologist needs
​
Your child has a talented speech pathologist. He/She will most likely be the school speech pathologist. She would appreciate hearing about your efforts at home and would love to know that you are asking your child about the Bite-R position, how often your child attempts to self-correct and any notice of R suddenly popping in correctly in conversation.
Your child’s speech pathologist may notice that your child has great skills one day and poor skills another day. Some children experience a loss of tongue/mouth awareness. She will likely increase the use of the Bite-R and will begin looking at the lip position.
Your child’s speech pathologist may not know if there are family members with R sounds in their names. Those family members' names should be given to the Speech Pathologist to add to the list of most practiced words.
Please contact us if you have questions. Articbites@gmail.com or 567-429-1992