Speech

Speech

• Helping Sounds to Develop

  Some strategies and activities for helping a young child’s development of sounds used for speech.
  

  • Children’s speech sounds can be helped by practising some simple listening activities. These help to develop a child’s awareness of sound which in turn helps the child to listen to their own speech production and gradually develop the sounds they make.
  • Encourage your child to look at you when you are speaking. We all get a lot of information about how sounds are produced and about what someone is saying from looking at their faces. We all lip-read, whether we are aware of this or not. So that your child can see your face, it will help if you get down to the child’s level. For example if they are standing or sitting at a low table you may need to sit on the floor so that your head is at the same level (or similar) to theirs.
  • Look at picture books or picture puzzles that give plenty of opportunity for you to say words for your child to hear. Speak in a clear voice and try to encourage your child to look at your face when you are speaking. For example: Bring the puzzle pieces up near your face to show them to your child.
  • Read nursery rhymes or poems with your child. Emphasise and play with the rhyming words. Read the same rhymes again and again so that your child becomes familiar with them and can then be encouraged to join in with the rhyming words. Action rhymes can be used in the same way. Rhyming is important for developing awareness of sounds and will help your child later with their reading and writing skills.
  • Playing with sounds: play with making sounds: Animal sounds; noises of aeroplanes, trains and cars; things around the house that make a noise – see if you (the parent) can copy the sounds that you hear. Your child will enjoy hearing you make the sounds and may be tempted to try to say them themselves if they hear them often enough. 
  • Babies can be encouraged to practice making sounds when you babble to them and/or copy the sounds that you hear them make.

• Working with your child

  The speech and language therapist will advise you which sound or sounds to practice and what level you should aim for initially.
  
  

  (To be used in conjunction with ‘working with speech sounds’ Information sheet)

  
  

  Each time you work with your child it is important that you always begin at a simple level and then work to the next level. Even if your child has managed to go beyond the first level then return to it the next time before moving on. This will then always help to give your child a positive and easy start to the session and help them to feel confident in moving on to the next stage. At the same time, if they find something difficult you will see that you need to spend more time at this level or go back to something easier.

  
  

  Work on a sound in the following stages:
  
  Level 1: Making the sound in isolation (i.e. producing the sound on its own).

  
  

  The speech and language therapist may check that your child is able to produce a sound before suggesting practice at home. He/She will be able to advise on ways to help your child produce the sound.

  
  

  It is important that your child can say the sound easily and accurately before moving on. The sound should be produced in its pure form – as a sound (and not a letter) and without adding a vowel to it. For example ‘f’ should be produced as a long whispered ‘fff’ sound and not as ‘eff’ or ‘fer’.

  
  

  Level 2: Adding a vowel

  
  

  This level is not about producing recognisable words. It is a stage to allow your child to practice producing their sound with a vowel added. The vowel can be added at the end or at the beginning. For example if you are working on ‘f’ you can practise ‘f-ee, f-oo, f-ah, f-ow, f-ay’ adding any vowel that you can think of. You can also add a vowel before the sound. For example: ee-f; oo-f; ay-f; ow-f, or-f and practise these. This stage can be difficult for children and often you will get their ‘old’ sound popping up instead of or as well as the new one. The trick is to leave a little gap between the new sound and the vowel. Use your thumb and index finger to help the child with this stage. Hold these fingers in front of you and Point to your thumb as you say the sound and your finger as you say the vowel. Your thumb and finger can act as a reminder to your child as they take a turn to try and say it.

  
  

  Level 3: Words (on their own)

  
  

  Using some of the same strategies as in the previous level continue with some simple words. Practise the sound at the beginning of the word and then later practise the sound at the end of the word.

  
  

  Do not muddle beginning and end sounds at this stage as this will make it more difficult. Some words will be more difficult than others. Do not worry about this. Just leave out any particularly tricky ones and come back to them later when your child has had more practice with the easier ones.

  
  

  Don’t’ worry if you need to leave a gap still between the sound and the rest of the word. Bear in mind that the gap may need to be a little bigger if the old sound keeps popping up.

  
  

  When it all becomes easier for your child to say consistently you can start reducing the gap a little by modelling a smaller and smaller gap, bit by bit. Be patient at this stage and do not try to go too fast. Lots of practice and repetition is needed.

  
  

  Level 4: Moving into speech.

  
  

  When (and only when) your child can say words easily with their new sound without needing to leave a gap, then they are ready to try to remember their sound when they are talking.

  
  

  Introduce this gradually by letting them know that you will remind them for just 5 to 10 mins. at a time. They can try to think about the sound in this time and it is okay for you to remind them gently. It may help to begin with to talk about a book together to give the activity some focus. You could also pick a few words that they can try to remember throughout the day. Pin these up on the fridge or label a few things in the house as a reminder of these words.

  
  

  Sometimes children try so hard that they overdo their use of the sound. This is okay and in time will sort itself out.

   

• Working with Speech Sounds

  There are some very basic rules to follow to make working with your child happy and rewarding for everyone.
  

  • Keep it very simple to begin with. Start at a simple level and stay at this level for a while to ensure that your child can achieve this consistently before moving on. 
  • Remember that listening to sounds can be as important as saying them. Listening is less demanding and can help remove some of the pressure of trying to say a new sound. Include some listening games and/or take a turn to say some of the words yourself, giving your child a chance to listen to a good model!
  • Just spend 5 -10 mins. practising, three or four times a week.
  • Make it fun! Think of games you can incorporate to make the activities more fun. See the list of possible games to give you some ideas.
  • Give lots of praise for the effort your child is making. (even if they don’t quite get it right)
  • Only move to the next level when your child is ready.
  • Your child needs to be successful in the activity you choose before you move on to the next level.
  • Do not expect too much too soon. Changing habits can take a long time. (To see how it feels to try to change a habit, try speaking with a lisp. This is even harder if you are having a conversation at the same time.)
  • If your child becomes upset when practising their sounds, make the activity easier in some way. Sometimes this will mean shortening the activity, giving them extra help or it may mean abandoning that activity and going back to something easier that you know they can do. 
  • If they say they can’t do something then reassure them that they will be able to do it with a little more practice and that they are doing well. Always praise for an attempt at something.
  • When your child achieves something extra specially well, give extra praise (+ a sticker, a smiley face – hand drawn, a tick)
  • Always finish on a successful note. This may often mean going back to an earlier level. Give lots of praise for what they have done.

• Ideas for Speech Games

  Some ideas of games to play while practising speech sounds.
  
  

  • Scrap books Collect pictures of the target words and stick them in.
  • Pop-up books Make pop-up books with pictures of the target word.
  • Posters Make a collage of the pictures of the target words.
  • Mobiles These can be made out of the pictures of the target words.
  • Card games Using cards made out of the pictures of the target words eg. lotto, snap, matching pairs.
  • Board game Snakes and ladders type games can be made with pictures of the target words on each square.
  • Dice games Stick pictures of the target words on to the faces of the dice.
  • Skittles Stick pictures of the target words on the skittles.
  • Stepping stones Pictures of the target words are placed on the floor and used for stepping stones.
  • Memory games Present objects or pictures of the target words and encourage the child to say which one has been removed.
  • Pass the parcel Pictures of the target words are wrapped in each layer of the paper.
  • Making flags Attach pictures of the target words to pencils or straws.
  • Shopping game The child pretends to shop for objects of the target words.
  • Hunt the picture Hide objects or pictures of the target words.
  • Cutting, drawing or painting pictures of the target words.

• Working with a Specific Speech Sound

  (To be used in conjunction with ‘Working with Speech sounds’)

   

  The Speech and Language Therapist will advise you which sound or sounds to practice and what level you should aim for initially. 

   

  Each time you work with your child it is important that you always begin at a simple level and then work to the next level. Even if your child has managed to go beyond the first level then return to it the next time before moving on. This will then always help to give your child a positive and easy start to the session and help them to feel confident in moving on to the next stage. At the same time, if they find something difficult you will see that you need to spend more time at this level or go back to something easier.

   

  Work on a sound in the following stages:
  
  Level 1: Making the sound in isolation (i.e. producing the sound on its own). The Speech and Language Therapist may check that your child is able to produce a sound before suggesting practice at home. He/She will be able to advise on ways to help your child produce the sound.
  
  It is important that your child can say the sound easily and accurately before moving on. The sound should be produced in its pure form – as a sound (and not a letter) and without adding a vowel to it. For example ‘f’ should be produced as a long whispered ‘fff’ sound and not as ‘eff’ or ‘fer’.
  
  Level 2: Adding a vowel
  
  This level is not about producing recognisable words. It is a stage to allow your child to practice producing their sound with a vowel added. The vowel can be added at the end or at the beginning. For example if you are working on ‘f’ you can practise ‘f-ee, f-oo, f-ah, f-ow, f-ay’ adding any vowel that you can think of. You can also add a vowel before the sound. For example: ee-f; oo-f; ay-f; ow-f, or-f and practise these. This stage can be difficult for children and often you will get their ‘old’ sound popping up instead of or as well as the new one. The trick is to leave a little gap between the new sound and the vowel. Use your thumb and index finger to help the child with this stage. Hold these fingers in front of you and Point to your thumb as you say the sound and your finger as you say the vowel. Your thumb and finger can act as a reminder to your child as they take a turn to try and say it.
  
  Level 3: Words (on their own)
  
  Using some of the same strategies as in the previous level continue with some simple words. Practise the sound at the beginning of the word and then later practise the sound at the end of the word.
  
  Do not muddle beginning and end sounds at this stage as this will make it more difficult. Some words will be more difficult than others. Do not worry about this. Just leave out any particularly tricky ones and come back to them later when your child has had more practice with the easier ones.
  
  Don’t’ worry if you need to leave a gap still between the sound and the rest of the word. Bear in mind that the gap may need to be a little bigger if the old sound keeps popping up.
  
  When it all becomes easier for your child to say consistently you can start reducing the gap a little by modelling a smaller and smaller gap, bit by bit. Be patient at this stage and do not try to go too fast. Lots of practice and repetition is needed.
  
  Level 4: Moving into speech.
  
  When (and only when) your child can say words easily with their new sound without needing to leave a gap, then they are ready to try to remember their sound when they are talking.
  
  Introduce this gradually by letting them know that you will remind them for just 5 to 10 mins. at a time. They can try to think about the sound in this time and it is okay for you to remind them gently. It may help to begin with to talk about a book together to give the activity some focus. You could also pick a few words that they can try to remember throughout the day. Pin these up on the fridge or label a few things in the house as a reminder of these words.
  
  Sometimes children try so hard that they overdo their use of the sound. This is okay and in time will sort itself out.