Initial DR Blend Words for Speech Therapy

This page lists 14 DR Blend words that start with the /dr/ sound, including drink, drive, dream, drop, driving, dreams, drinking, dropped, driver, dressed.

Most children master the /dr/ blend by age 7. Blends arrive after the sounds they are made of: the /D/ 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.

Do not over-correct the slightly "jr" quality of this blend; it is how fluent speakers say it. Practise instead on the /r/ half being present at all: "duh-rrr-agon" slowed down, then blended. A "dwagon" is a /r/ problem, not a /dr/ problem.

The most common /dr/ errors are: Cluster reduction — producing only the /D/ 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/.; The two sounds running together into something close to /J/. Ordinary American speech does this in /dr/, so it is a feature of the blend rather than a mistake to correct..

Start by saying the /dr/ sound in isolation, then immediately follow it with the vowel in the word. For example, stretch out "drink" as "dr...drink". Use a mirror so your child can watch their mouth as they start each word with the /dr/ sound.