How to Practice Speech Sounds With Your Child
_ Visual tactile cues (involving the hands) are based on the movements of the lips, cheeks, tongue and jaw when producing speech sounds. For example, when you say the sounds “b” or “p”, you put your lips together. When I am working with these sounds, I touch my lips so the child can match the sound with a visual tactile cue.. The sounds “t”, “d”, “n” and “l” all involve the front of the tongue moving upward to behind the teeth at the front of the mouth. For these sounds we cue to the front of the upper lip and tap (tongue moves up at the front of the mouth). On the other hand, for the sounds “k” and “g”, the back of the tongue moves up while the tongue tip stays down – so we cue by touching at the neck/throat area.
The following are the visual cues that are used when teaching speech students differences in the various speech sounds that we make every day. When a child omits a sound, we can add a visual cue so he/she can see there is a sound that goes in that place. For example, the student says “ba” for “bat”. By cuing the “t” sound at the end of the word by tapping the mid upper lip with the index finger, the child associates the tactile cue with the sound that goes in that place. When the child substitutes one sound for another, by using the different cues he/she can see that a different sound is needed in a specific word. For example, the child says “tat” for “cat”. Cuing what the child said by pointing to the middle of the upper lip (the “t” sound) and then cuing the correct sound by placing a finger at the neck/throat area (the “k” sound), he/she can see a different sound is needed in that particular word.
As you are reinforcing your child’s speech by practicing the worksheets and doing other activities, you may see your child attempt to use some of these visual cues. Please refer to the cues below to reinforce this activity and correct your child when he/she uses an inaccurate cue.
The following are common visual cues that I utilize. When you see a letter placed between / /, that indicates that the sound is used and not the name of the letter. For example, the “ch” sound is indicated by “t” + “sh” or /t / in this “International Phonetic Alphabet.” Most Speech and Language Therapists utilize these symbols as they work with the pronunciation of sounds.
/m/ Slide finger across closed lips
/p/ Tap lips with a finger, popping sound
/b/ Tap lips with a finger, popping sound
/t/ Tap upper lip with a finger
/d/ Tap upper lip with a finger
/h/ Blow air into open hand held up to mouth
/w/ Make circle with lips or use a finger to make circle around lips
/n/ Touch a side of the nose
/k/ Tap throat or hand on throat
/g/ Tap throat or hand on throat
/f/ Bite on bottom lip, Place finger under lip
/sh/ Quiet finger on mouth
/ch/ Train sound, pull down like train horn
/th/ Tongue between teeth
/y/ Roller coaster
/v/ Bite on bottom lip, place finger under lip
/j/ Tongue behind teeth, lips rounded
/l/ Place tongue behind front teeth, or index finger flicks up
/s/ Slide finger down arm, or slide finger up arm
/z/ Slide finger down arm, Buzz like a bee
/r/ Smile, pull tongue back (make a 'tight' bowl with the tongue and pull it back)
The following are the visual cues that are used when teaching speech students differences in the various speech sounds that we make every day. When a child omits a sound, we can add a visual cue so he/she can see there is a sound that goes in that place. For example, the student says “ba” for “bat”. By cuing the “t” sound at the end of the word by tapping the mid upper lip with the index finger, the child associates the tactile cue with the sound that goes in that place. When the child substitutes one sound for another, by using the different cues he/she can see that a different sound is needed in a specific word. For example, the child says “tat” for “cat”. Cuing what the child said by pointing to the middle of the upper lip (the “t” sound) and then cuing the correct sound by placing a finger at the neck/throat area (the “k” sound), he/she can see a different sound is needed in that particular word.
As you are reinforcing your child’s speech by practicing the worksheets and doing other activities, you may see your child attempt to use some of these visual cues. Please refer to the cues below to reinforce this activity and correct your child when he/she uses an inaccurate cue.
The following are common visual cues that I utilize. When you see a letter placed between / /, that indicates that the sound is used and not the name of the letter. For example, the “ch” sound is indicated by “t” + “sh” or /t / in this “International Phonetic Alphabet.” Most Speech and Language Therapists utilize these symbols as they work with the pronunciation of sounds.
/m/ Slide finger across closed lips
/p/ Tap lips with a finger, popping sound
/b/ Tap lips with a finger, popping sound
/t/ Tap upper lip with a finger
/d/ Tap upper lip with a finger
/h/ Blow air into open hand held up to mouth
/w/ Make circle with lips or use a finger to make circle around lips
/n/ Touch a side of the nose
/k/ Tap throat or hand on throat
/g/ Tap throat or hand on throat
/f/ Bite on bottom lip, Place finger under lip
/sh/ Quiet finger on mouth
/ch/ Train sound, pull down like train horn
/th/ Tongue between teeth
/y/ Roller coaster
/v/ Bite on bottom lip, place finger under lip
/j/ Tongue behind teeth, lips rounded
/l/ Place tongue behind front teeth, or index finger flicks up
/s/ Slide finger down arm, or slide finger up arm
/z/ Slide finger down arm, Buzz like a bee
/r/ Smile, pull tongue back (make a 'tight' bowl with the tongue and pull it back)