Initial TR Blend Words for Speech Therapy

This page lists 14 TR Blend words that start with the /tr/ sound, including try, trying, true, trouble, tried, trust, train, trip, tree, track.

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

Leave the slightly "chr" quality alone and listen for whether the /r/ is there at all. "Tuh-rrr-ain" slowed down and then blended is the usual route; "twain" is a /r/ problem to be worked on with the singleton.

The most common /tr/ errors are: Cluster reduction — producing only the /T/ 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 /CH/. Ordinary American speech does this in /tr/, so it is a feature of the blend rather than a mistake to correct..

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