BR Blend: Speech Therapy Guide, Words & Games
The /br/ blend is written /bɹ/ in the phonetic alphabet, and most children master it by age 7. This guide covers how to make the /br/ blend, 28 practice words split across initial and medial position, and the errors children make most often.
Example BR Blend words: bring, break, brought, broke (beginning); celebrate, library, rembrandt, celebration (middle).
The /br/ blend joins the /b/ and /r/ sounds — the "br" in bread, brown, bridge and brother. The lips pop for the /b/ and the tongue immediately has to take up the /r/ shape, either curled back or bunched up in the middle.
How to Make the BR Blend
Only target /br/ once /r/ is reliable on its own — the /r/ is the hard half and no amount of blend practice will build it. Then say "buh-rrr-ead", holding the /r/ long, and shorten the gap. "Bwead" means the /r/ has become a /w/ and the singleton needs more work.
IPA Symbol: /bɹ/
Most children master the /br/ blend by age 7. Blends arrive after the sounds they are made of: the /B/ and /R/ sounds each have to be reliable on their own before the cluster will hold, which is also the order to practise them in. Two-sound blends are generally in place somewhere between ages 4 and 7, tracking the sounds inside them — the ones containing /L/ or /R/ come in later than the rest.
Common BR Blend Errors
- Cluster reduction — producing only the /B/ sound and dropping the rest of the blend. This is by far the most common blend error.
- Cluster reduction — producing only the /R/ sound and dropping the rest of the blend. This is by far the most common blend error.
- Gliding — the /R/ inside the blend turning into a /W/, so the cluster keeps both sounds but loses the /R/.
BR Blend Word Lists by Position
Practice these words organized by where the /br/ sound appears. Start with the position your child finds easiest, or open the complete BR Blend word list.
Initial BR Blend Words
/br/ at the beginning of words
Medial BR Blend Words
/br/ in the middle of words
More BR Blend Word Lists & Resources
Related Sounds
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