Category Archives: Articulation

Most children make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. A speech sound disorder occurs when mistakes continue past a certain age. Every sound has a different range of ages when the child should make the sound correctly. Speech sound disorders include problems with articulation (making sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns).

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SpeechSoundDisorders/

Mar 06

Resources

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/s/

When children misarticulate /s/, it is often in one of two ways:

-a frontal lisp (or ‘interdental lisp), occurs when the tongue comes out between the teeth (much like a ‘th’ sound).

-a lateral lisp, occurs when air comes out of the sides of the mouth rather than through the front of the mouth causing a slushy, distorted sounding /s/.

  • For a frontal lisp, encourage, teach or train the child to keep his/her ‘teeth together’. The following post from experienced speech-language pathologists offer great advice and tips:

https://www.home-speech-home.com/teaching-sound-videos.html                                           (Exclusive /s/ technique)

https://www.thespeechmama.com/2013/03/30/how-to-teach-the-s-sound/

https://heatherspeechtherapy.com/2011/05/correcting-a-frontal-lisp/

  • For a lateral lisp, teach the child to direct the air though the front of the mouth. Some suggested strategies include ‘shaping the tongue like a butterfly’:

Butter fly position:

https://speech-language therapy.com/index.php?                                                     option=com_content&view=article&id=48:butterfly&catid=11:admin

or using a bite block:

https://www.speechlanguage-resources.com/lateral-lisp-therapy.html

  /z/

For the /z/ sound, Carrie Clark from SpeechandLanguageKids.com says to “use the same cues as /s/ but this time your child will need to hum or turn her voice on.  You can have her practice turning her voice on by humming a tune while saying the /s/ sound.”

‘th’

To practice ‘th’ sounds, it is important for the child to protrude his/her tongue out between his teeth.  This is the only time the child is allowed to ‘stick out your tongue’!

 

To learn more about how to make the ‘th’ sounds, visit:

https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/speech-therapy-techniques/tips-teaching-th-sound/

It’s always worthwhile to practice your child’s speech sounds at home.

Visit https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/#sthash.7WaS5NTh.dpbs for well prepared materials to help your child practice his/her targeted speech sounds.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s speech practice, talk with your school speech and language pathologist!

Jan 31

Articulation – /b/ and /p/

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/b/

To produce the /b/ sound, use the following cues with your child.

  • Watch My Mouth (this will help him see what your lips are doing)
  • Put your lips together
  • Make your lips pop
  • Make your voice hum/Turn your voice on

Help your child push his lips together with his fingers if he’s having trouble getting them closed

​/p/
If your child is having trouble with /p/, use the same cues as for /b/ but you will not tell her to turn her voice on.  You can have her whisper the sound if she’s making it sound like a /b/ instead of a /p/.
 
source: https://www.speechandlanguagekids.com/how-to-teach-a-new-sound/
Jan 31

Articulation – /t/ and /d/

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/t/

To produce the /t/ sound, have your child tap her tongue right behind her top, front teeth.  If your child is having trouble figuring out where to produce the /t/ sound, have your child tap her tongue right behind her top, front teeth.  If your child is having trouble figuring out where to put her tongue, use these techniques to show her the right place.

Touch the spot right behind the top, front teeth with a popsicle stick or sucker.  Then tell her to put her tongue in the same spot.

Put a sticky food, like peanut butter or marshmallow cream, on the spot right behind her top, front teeth.  Then, have her lick it off.  When you are describing that spot again, call it the sticky spot.

/d/

To produce the /d/ sound, you can use the same cues as the /t/ sound, but your child will need to turn his voice on.  Tell him this is the loud one.
Nov 08

Articulation Modeling

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Each speech sound is produced differently with different parts of the mouth (tongues, lips, teeth).  For some kids, it is difficult to get their tongue in the right place to correctly produce a particular sound.  For most sounds you can easily show the child where to place their tongue or how to form their lips, for others it’s difficult to see inside someones mouth to see what they are doing.  A great visual resource to see how different speech sounds are produced in the mouth is the University of Iowa website:
Apr 29

ASHA Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology

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Most children make some mistakes as they learn to say new words. A speech sound disorder occurs when mistakes continue past a certain age. Every sound has a different range of ages when the child should make the sound correctly. Speech sound disorders include problems with articulation (making sounds) and phonological processes (sound patterns).

ASHA: Speech Sound Disorders