What if the problem with treating the R sound isn’t the child—but the way we train it?

In today’s episode, we step outside the field of speech-language pathology and borrow powerful, evidence-based principles from exercise science and kinesiology to rethink how we treat speech sound disorders. Why? Because exercise science has done what our field largely hasn’t: isolated what actually works using controlled trials, precision, and specificity.

Speech is a complex neuromuscular skill. Treating it like flashcards and passive listening don’t make sense—and they don’t produce durable change.

In this episode, you’ll learn how five core principles from exercise science directly apply to improving the R sound efficiently:
• Why “practice makes permanent” and how the 80% challenge point prevents habituating errors
• How progressive overload explains why complex clusters outperform isolated sounds
• Why auditory bombardment is passive and inefficient when therapy time is limited
• How compound training (paragraphs, clusters, movement, literacy) creates system-wide linguistic change
• Why specificity matters—and why speech therapy must look like real speech to generalize

This episode challenges the status quo in therapy and makes the case for treating speech as the neuromuscular endurance task it actually is.

If you’re tired of plateaus, endless cueing, and R programs that don’t generalize, this conversation will change how you think about treatment starting Monday morning.

👉 Ready to treat the R sound more efficiently—without guessing?
Inside the SIS Membership, you’ll find high-impact treatment targets, complex R clusters, and ready-to-use paragraphs designed to apply these principles immediately—so you can stop planning and start seeing change.

Get access to efficient, evidence-informed R targets at
https://www.kellyvess.com/sis

Train smarter. Challenge appropriately. Create real change.