Helping Students to Say Specific Sounds

Producing speech sounds is an important step in a child’s development. Many children develop

these skills at an expected rate and pattern for their age, however some children do not achieve these milestones and need additional support to accurately produce speech sounds. Keywords: speech sound disorders, speech sound production, articulation, phonology, therapy

Parts of Speech When describing consonant sounds, there are three main properties. These properties are place, manner and voicing. • Place refers to where in the mouth the sound is produced. For example, /p/ and /b/ are made at the lips whereas /h/ is made in the throat. • Manner is how a sound is made. For example, /s/ and /z/ are long sounds (fricatives) but /t/ and /d/ are short fast sounds (plosives/stops). • Voicing refers to whether the vocal folds are vibrating during the production of a sound. It is often referred to as turning the voice “on” or “”off”. For example, /s/ and /z/ are produced with the same place and manner, but for /s/ the voice is off and in /z/ it is turned on.

Helping Students with Speech Difficulties It is not expected that teachers should take the place of a speech pathologist, and students who have speech sound difficulties should be assessed by a speech pathologist prior to any intervention program. However, it is useful for educators to understand how speech sounds are produced to support students in their speech sound goals.

Making /s/ and /z/ Sounds Prompt students to “keep the tiger in the cage”. Both /s/ and /z/ sounds are made by keeping the tongue inside/behind the teeth. Demonstrate by showing the student how your tongue (the tiger) is inside the teeth (cage) when you say /s/. Let students try using the mirror to check their tongue position. The /s/ and /z/ are ‘sister sounds’, made with the same tongue/mouth position, however the /s/ is ‘voice off’ and the /z/ is ‘voice on’. Teach the student to make /s/, and then tell them to say /z/ ‘make the tiger rattle the cage’. The /z/ sound is a vibration, ‘voice on’ sound. The student can feel the difference on their Adam’s apple and also through vibration on their tongue and teeth.

Making ‘th’ Sounds Prompt students to “stick your tongue out!”. When producing both the voiced ‘th’ (as in that) and the unvoiced ‘th’ (as in think), the student needs to place their tongue lightly between their teeth. The

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only difference is the ‘voice on’ versus ‘voice off’. A mirror is particularly helpful so the student can see their tongue sticking out between the teeth.

Making /t/ and /d/ Sounds The /t/ sound is made by ‘tapping’ the tongue on the roof of the mouth right behind the top of the teeth. Teach /t/ as a fast ‘tapping’ sound. Demonstrate and let the student use a mirror to see the tongue tapping. The /d/ is made the same as /t/ except for it has ‘voice on’. Also remember both of these sounds are plosive sounds that must be said quickly. If you say slowly you distort the sound. The /d/ and /t/ are difficult for some students to differentiate, particularly when occurring in blends with other consonants.

Making /k/ and /g/ Sounds These are both ‘back’ sounds made with the back of the tongue almost pulled back to the throat. /k/ and /g/ are also both plosive sounds that must be said quickly. Other strategies to encourage accurate production include laying on the ground, as this encourages the tongue to fall back and to gargle also as it encourages the tongue to travel back in the mouth. The /k/ is made with the ‘voice off’ and the /g/ is made with the ‘voice on’.

Making the /r/ Sound The /r/ is made by having the tongue curl up with lips apart. The /r/ is a ‘lift’ sound where the tongue is lifted. A mirror is helpful for teaching this sound. For speech you can exaggerate the /r/ to /er/. To say /r/ for reading have the student start to say a word such as ‘run’ or ‘race’ slowly /rrrrun/ and then have them cut off at the /rrr/. The /r/ is a later-developing sound, and is difficult for many students.

Making /p/ and /b/ Sounds The /p/ is a quick sound made by ‘popping’ the lips together just like ‘popcorn popping’. The student can also feel the air puff at each ‘pop’. Once again this is a plosive sound that must be said quickly. Demonstrate and use a mirror to help the student see how to make the /p/. The /b/ is the sister sound made with ‘voice on’. Both sounds are said ‘quickly’ with the lips and a puff of air.

Making /n/, /m/ and /ng/ Sounds The /n/, /m/ and /ng/ sounds are all nasal sounds, meaning they are made through the nose. Students can feel the air coming out of their nose when they produce these sounds. To produce /n/ have the student place their tongue behind their front teeth (similar to the /d/ starting position) and to breathe out through their nose. To make the /m/ sound encourage students to seal their lips and to breathe out through their nose. If the student has difficulty, prompt them to make a ‘mmm’ sound as if eating something yummy! To produce the /ng/ sound, have the student place their tongue almost pulled back to the throat (similar to the starting point for /g/) and then breathing out through their nose.

Making the /l/ Sound The /l/ is a ‘lift’ sound that is made by lifting the tongue up behind the teeth. Exaggerate and have the

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student curl their tongue up, placing the tip behind the front teeth (in the /t/ position). Make sure they keep the tip of their tongue up behind/inside the teeth. Demonstrate and then have the student use a mirror to ‘see’ the position.

Making /f/ and /v/ Sounds The /f/ and /v/ sounds are made by the top teeth resting on the bottom lip and blowing; this can be exaggerated when teaching the sounds. The /f/ sound is the voiceless sound and the /v/ sound is the voiced sister sound. Again, use a mirror so the student can see their top teeth on their bottom lip. Students can also feel a gentle blow using their hand. Younger children often have difficulty hearing the difference between /f/,/v/ and soft /th/ sounds. Help them to develop an ‘ear’ for the difference by having them look at the formation differences as they hear the sounds.

Making the ‘ch’ and ‘j’ Sounds The sounds ‘ch’ and ‘j’ are affricate sounds which combine aspects of plosive and fricative sounds. For example, ‘ch’ can be seen as a combination of /t/ and ‘sh’. To teach ‘ch’, start in the /t/ position (tongue up touching the roof of the mouth right behind the front teeth), then ask the student to drop their jaw as they blow out (the dropping movement can be exaggerated when teaching). This can be taught as a ‘woodchopper’, where students raise the axe (tongue) and /ch/ ‘chop’ (drop quickly). If the student has difficulty producing /ch/, practise saying ‘nch’ blend words such as lunch, pinch or ranch as the tongue is already raised for the /n/ sound. The /j/ is the ‘voice on’ sister sound for /ch/.

Making the /sh/ Sound This is the ‘quiet’ /sh/ sound. The student must keep their teeth together and lips rounded as they blow the air out. Demonstrate and use a mirror. The standard ‘sshh’ gesture can help, as long as the student is still able to see your mouth.

Making the /h/ Sound The /h/ sound is produced in the throat. Have the student feel the ‘hot’ puff of air on their hand. The /h/ sound is a voice-off sound, students will not be able to feel vibrations when producing the /h/ sound.

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Want to learn more?

To learn more about Language Disorder and how to support children and young people for whom language is their primary disorder, please contact Speech and Language Development Australia (SALDA). SALDA provides holistic, innovative and effective therapy, education and support services and has a transdisciplinary team of speech pathologists, occupational therapists, educators, psychologists and physiotherapists.

Contact: 1300 881 763 or [email protected] Website: www.salda.org.au Facebook: www.facebook.com/SALDAustralia

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References Passy, J. (2010). Cued Articulation Consonants and Vowels. Camberwell, Victoria: ACER Press. Shipley, K.G. & McAFee, J.G. (2009). Assessment in Speech-Language Pathology: A Resource Manual (4th ed.). Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning. Williams, A.L., McLeod, S., McCauley, R.J. (2010). Interventions for Speech Sound Disorders in Children. Baltimore, Maryland: Brookes Publishing.

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