Teaching the /k/ and /g/ Sounds

This is an excerpt from Super Star Speech: Expanded Edition. Super Star Speech includes practice materials, picture cards, and games to teach almost every speech sound. /K/ and /g/ are common errors in 3-4 year olds. Most children tend to substitute /t/ for /k/, and /d/ for /g/, resulting in speech that is very difficult to understand! If your child struggles with these sounds, try out these ideas. I hope they will help!

K and G

 

To produce the K and G sounds, the back part of the tongue is raised and pressed against the roof of the mouth (soft palate), stopping all airflow. The front of the tongue is lowered. The tongue then drops, allowing the air that has been held behind the tongue to escape suddenly. The K is voiceless, produced by airflow. The G is produced with the voice “on.”

Tips:

1. Demonstrate the sound in front of a mirror. Use a spoon or popsicle stick to touch the back of the tongue and the soft palate to help the child feel how the sound is made. (Be cautious about triggering the gag reflex as you do this.) Have the child put his hand, paper, or a feather close to the lips to feel or see the puffs of air.

2. Strengthen the back of the tongue and help the child identify the part of the tongue to be raised by pressing downward on the back of the tongue with a spoon while the child tries to push upward.

3. Have the child attempt to say T while you hold the tongue tip down.

4. Play listening games to help the child practice discriminating between /t/ and /k/ or between /d/ and /g/. (“Is this a dog?” “Is this a gog?”)

5. Exaggerate the target sound when modeling it.

 

 

Here are a few activities to practice the /k/ and /g/ sounds:

Repeat each pair several times. Emphasize the difference between /k/ and /t/ and between /d/ and /g/.

tea—key                                      go—dough

talk—cock                                   do—goo

can—tan                                      done--gun

kin—tin                                        doll--gall

tap—cap                                      Don—gone

it—ick                                          bad—bag

bat—back                                     bed—beg

Think of a word that rhymes with each of these words. Say each word pair 3 times.

rock                make

rack                 Mike

look                 wig

hog                   tag

pug                   cloak

 

More practice activities can be found at http://superstarspeech.com.

Improving Vocabulary Skills

The following activities are a sampling from my book Language Lessons, which is packed with games and activities to enhance skills in listening, comprehending, and producing language.

 

 

 

Word Finding and Word Meanings

One of the very best ways to help your child increase his vocabulary is to read to him and to have him spend a lot of time reading (if he is able.) When you read to your child, stop occasionally to define and to talk about difficult words. Look for opportunities to discuss new words in the environment, especially when you visit new places.

Exercises

Put several picture cards on the table. Describe one of the pictures and have your child guess the correct picture. (Many cards are included at the end of this book.)

Pick up a picture card and keep it hidden. Describe it with a single word. Allow the child to guess the picture. If he cannot, give a second one-word hint and continue until the mystery word is guessed. Then let the child have a turn thinking of clues while you guess.

Put a mystery object in a bag. Have the child reach inside without looking and feel the object. Ask him to describe the object using words such as smooth, flat, long, hard, soft, fuzzy, etc. Then have him guess what the object is. If he has trouble, give him suggestions, such as, "Does it feel rough or smooth?"

Show your child a picture of an item. Ask him to think of things the person, animal, or object can do. For example, a dog can bark, run, jump, sit, sleep, or eat.

Definitions: Ask your child to name each item. Accept any reasonable answer.

· something you write on

· something you pour on your cereal

· a frozen dessert

· something you drive

· something you ride on

· a place where you sleep

· something you sit on

· something that shines in the sky in the day

· something that shines in the sky at night

· something that children play with

· something that is furry with a long tail

· something used to cut paper

· a shape with three sides

· a shape with four sides

· something used to write on a chalkboard

· something that you stick on an envelope

· something you can spend at a store

· something good to drink that is brown

· something round that can float in the air

Verb phrases: Ask your child to complete the phrase. Accept any logical answer.

· ___________ the door

· ___________ your dinner

· ___________ your hands

· ___________ your hair

· ___________ the floor

· ___________ the phone

· ___________ the ball

· ___________ a bike

· ___________ a car

· ___________ your hands

· ___________ your shoes

Common phrases: Ask your child to complete the phrase. Accept any logical answer.

· salt and ­­­­­­­­_____________

· shoes and _____________

· up and _____________

· fingers and _____________

· cat and _____________

· car and _____________

· hamburger and _____________

· night and _____________

· peanut butter and _____________

· mother and _____________

· sister and _____________

· aunt and _____________

· cake and _____________

· hug and _____________

Ask your child to complete each sentence:

· My dad drove to the ______________.

· Fire is ______________.

·· I sleep in a ______________.

· When you are dirty, you take a ______________.

· Would you like a peanut-butter and jelly ______________.

· You wear your swim suit to the ______________.

· For dinner, we are having fried ______________.

· When it is cold, you wear a ______________.

· Cars, trucks, and busses are types of ______________.

· My dog sleeps in a ______________.

· Grandma likes to sit in her rocking ______________.

· We saw clowns, elephants, and tigers at the ______________.

· Milk comes from a ______________.

· A father and mother and children make a ______________.

· Cars can be parked in the ______________.

· To keep your hands cold in the snow, you wear ______________.

· A long handle with a brush on the end used to clean floors is a ______________.

· A popular instrument with six strings is a ______________.

· A thin plastic tube that you sip drinks through is a ______________.

· A large animal with leathery skin and a horn on its nose is a ______________.

Similes: Ask your child to complete each phrase:

· as small as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as big as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as tall as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as fierce as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as quiet as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as loud as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as dangerous as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as hot as ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as cold as ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as sour as ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as sweet as ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as dark as ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as pretty as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

· as ugly as a ­­­­­­­­­­_________.

Ask your child to list the items needed in each situation:

· to draw a picture (paper, pencil, crayons, etc.)

· to take a bath

· to brush teeth

· to make a sandwich

· to start the car

· to sew

· to take a picture

· to build a fire

· to feed your dog

· to cook scrambled eggs

· to build a doghouse

Ask your child to add some describing words to each noun.

· dog (ex.: big snarling dog)

· pie (ex.: oozy, sweet, blueberry pie)

· face

· mouse

· house

· plate

· pizza

Language Lessons and the series of Super Star Speech books, which focus on articulation disorders, are available at http://superstarspeech.com.

Encouraging Vocabulary Development in Toddlers

The following activities are excerpted from my book Language Lessons, which is packed with games and activities to enhance skills in listening, comprehending, and producing language.

Children learn to understand language before they learn to produce it. While some children with language disorders may have normal comprehension skills with delayed speech production, often production and comprehension of language are linked. Here are some activities to try with very young children.

· Use new words in a dialogue repeatedly to help the child learn them faster. "Look at the duck! Duck says, 'quack quack.' Duck swims fast. Go, go little duck!"

· Put several objects on a table. Ask, "Where is the ___?" Progress to hiding an object and asking, "Where is ____?" While the child is looking, ask questions such as "Is it under the table?" and "Is it on the bed?"

· Have your child match pictures to actual items. Name each item several times to reinforce the word.

· Develop a habit of having the child name things in his environment, such as his clothes as he gets dressed in the morning or the food on his plate.

· Ask questions about the illustrations in a picture book. "Where is the ___?" "What is this girl doing?"

· Play background music while you have your child perform each action you call out---walk, jump, stop, clap, wave, and so on.

· Teach your child to respond to, "What is your name?" Help him call other people by name.

· Have your child pick up an object and say, "my ______." Have him give you an object and say, "your ______."

· Help your child think of all the things he can do with his fingers (point, scratch, wiggle, bend, pinch, touch…). Name these words and do the actions. Have him use the words to tell you what to do.

· Help your child think of all the things he can do with his feet (wiggle, point toes, walk, run, stomp, kick …). Name these words and do the actions. Have him use the words to tell you what to do.

· Help your child think of all the things he can do with his mouth (eat, kiss, blow, pucker, whisper, scream, smile, grin, whistle …). Name these words and do the actions. Have him use the words to tell you what to do.

· Gather an assortment of objects. Help your child think of a describing word for each object, such as shiny, smooth, rough, soft, hard, or sharp.

· Place several objects on the table. Describe an object and ask your child to guess the correct object. Use adjectives in your question. "Which one is shiny and sharp?" Which one is blue and slippery?" "Which one feels rough?"

· Place pictures on the table. Ask your child "riddles" and encourage him to choose the correct picture. "Which one tastes sour?" "Which one is long and sharp?" "Which one is cold?"

· Place pictures of animals or other objects on the table. Teach or review action words by asking, "What hops?" "What barks?" "Which one cuts?" Or ask, "What does a dog do?" "What does a pencil do?" and help your child answer.

· Make a "Me" book with your child. On the first page, write, "My name is ___________," and attach a photo of your child. Each page can provide a new vocabulary topic….things I like to play with, things I like to eat, my favorite places to go, my friends, body parts, etc.

· When you visit the grocery store, look at all the fruits and vegetables. See how many your child can name. Talk about the fruits and vegetables. Do they have peels? Are they sweet? What colors are they? Buy a new variety to try at home.

Use these ideas to stimulate your own ideas for activities to enjoy with your child!

Language Lessons and the series of Super Star Speech books, which focus on articulation disorders, are available at Superstarspeech.com.

Teaching School-Age Children to Follow Directions

The ability to listen,  to comprehend, and to follow directions is a critical skill for children to develop. This skill is relevant in many areas of life, particularly in the areas of schoolwork and developing personal responsibility.

There are actually many components in learning to follow directions. The child must:

• Pay attention and listen to the speaker

• Understand what the speaker is saying

• Be able to keep the directions in his memory.

• Translate the spoken instructions into action and carry them out.

If a child has difficulty with any of these, he will not be successful in carrying out multi-part instructions. It is important to figure where the breakdown is occurring and to focus on that area. Practice will definitely help!

The following activities are excerpted from my book Language Lessons, which is packed with games and activities to enhance skills in listening, comprehending, and producing language.

 

Following Directions

Look for opportunities during daily life for your child to follow directions. When expecting your child to complete a complex job, such as cleaning his room, or setting the table, give him one instruction at a time. If he is able to complete each small task accurately, challenge him by giving him two directions at a time, (“Hang up your coat and put your shoes in the closet.”)

· Play games like "Simon Says" and "Mother May I?"

· Sing and play, "Hokey, Pokey."

Exercises

Have the following objects available: chair, table, book, ball, block, door, spoon, and bowl. Ask your child to follow these directions:

1-Step Commands:

· Read the book.

· Pick up the block.

· Tap the block with the spoon.

· Walk to the door.

· Close your eyes.

· Clap your hands 3 times.

· Put the block under the table.

2-Step Commands:

· Sit down and cross your legs.

· Say your name; blink your eyes.

· Pick up the block. Give it to me.

· Clap your hands. Point to the ball.

· Touch the book. Crawl under the table.

· Put the book under the chair, then turn around.

· Throw the ball at the door, then bring it back.

· Hide the block under the bowl. Put the spoon on top of the bowl.

· Pick up the spoon. Then sit on the chair.

· Put the spoon in the bowl and pretend to stir.

·3-Step Commands:

· Touch your ear, stomp your foot, then sit down.

· Touch the book. Touch the spoon. Touch the table.

· Touch the block. Point to the spoon. Tap the table.

· Touch your ear. Touch your nose. Spin around.

· Pick up the ball. Hold it over your head. Put it on the floor.

· Close your eyes. Spin around. Say, "hello."

· Put the book in front of the door, the book under the table, and the spoon on top of the table.

· Put the spoon in the bowl. Stir it around. Turn the bowl upside down.

· Clap your hands. Touch your nose. Bend your knees.

· Put the book on the ground. Sit on it. Touch your knee.

· Put the spoon on the book. Put them both under the table. Then put them on the chair.

· Pat your head. Touch your toes. Stomp your foot.

· Tap the table with the spoon, then with the pencil. Then put them down.

· Put the book on the spoon. Put the bowl on the book. Put the block on the bowl.

· Hide the bowl under the book. Put the block and spoon next to the door.

Give your child a piece of paper and crayons or markers. Give the following directions for him to follow. Use a separate page for each set of directions.

· Draw a big red circle. Draw 3 small red circles inside it. Draw a brown triangle in each corner of your page.

· Draw a large red square on your paper. Inside the square, draw a yellow circle. Draw a brown line below the square. Make a red squiggly line below the brown line.

·Write your name. Draw a circle around the first letter of your name. Draw a line under the last letter of your name. Draw a big red box around your whole name. Then draw a blue box around the red box.

Give your child directions to draw a picture. Either draw the picture yourself at the same time or have another child draw the picture. Compare the 2 pictures. Examples:

· Draw green grass along the bottom of your paper. Draw a yellow sun in the sky. Draw a gray road across the middle of the paper. Draw a blue car and a green truck on the road. Draw a green tree next to the road.

Ask your child to follow these directions:

· Hold out your right hand.

· Touch your left ear.

· Turn in a circle to the right.

· Gallop 3 steps to the left.

· Jump to the left; jump to the right.

· Walk forward 3 steps, then take 2 steps to the right.

· Slide to the left, then jump backward 3 times.

· Take 2 giant steps to the right and 2 tiny hops forward.

· Bend to the right; bend to the left; bend forward.

· Lie on your right side; lift your left leg in the air.

This is just a sampling of the “Following Directions” chapter of Language Lessons. I hope it will give you some ideas for working with your child to enhance listening and following directions skills.

Language Lessons and the series of Super Star Speech books, which focus on articulation disorders, are available at Superstarspeech.com.

“Following Directions” Activities for Preschoolers

Can your preschooler follow simple commands? By one year of age, babies should respond to “no” and their own names, and should give an object on request. By eighteen months, children should be able to point to one to three body parts and follow simple one-step commands. By 2 1/2 years, they should be able to follow two-step commands. Playing little games to improve children’s listening and following direction skills can be fun for the child and beneficial too!

The following activities are excerpted from my book Language Lessons, which is packed with games and activities to enhance skills in listening, comprehending, and producing language.

Following Directions

· Throughout your day, give your child simple directions to follow. For a very young child, use two-word directions— "stop car," "wave bye-bye," "give book," "come here," or "throw away."

· Play a "clean-up game," giving your child specific instructions. "Put the book on the shelf." "Throw away the paper." "Put the car in the toy box." "Hang your jacket on the hook."

· Have your child hunt for objects around the house and bring them back to you. In this game, he will have to keep the command in his mind for a longer time and possibly deal with more distractions. "Bring me a red shoe." "Find a toy car." "Bring me 2 cookies from the cookie jar." If you have 2 children, this could turn into a competition.

· Use a set of colored blocks or other colored objects. Ask your child to "put a red block into the box" or "put 3 blocks into the box." As an added challenge, use several containers and vary the color, number, or container in each command.

· Scatter sheets of colored construction paper across the floor. Tell your child to, "touch the red paper," "jump on the blue paper," or "sit on the yellow paper."

· Give your child 2-step commands that are related, such as, "Pick up the ball and give it to me." If this is easy, then try commands that are unrelated, such as, "Jump up and down, then find the ball." Move on to 3-step related and un-related commands.

· Read a nursery rhyme and have your child pantomime the actions phrase by phrase.

· Let your child be your "helper" as you do a simple cooking task, such as fixing a bowl of cereal, making a salad, or making a sandwich. Give him step by step instructions to complete the task.

· Play "Simon Says." With very young children, have "Simon" say everything so that every command should be followed. When the children are able to follow commands reliably, add the variation of giving non-"Simon" commands that the children do not follow.

· Play "Mother May I?" Have your child stand across a room or yard from you. Give a command, such as, "Take 2 giant steps" or "Take 3 baby steps." The child must ask, "Mother, may I?" before he proceeds. The parent responds, "Yes you may." If the child forgets to ask, then he may not move on that turn. The first child to reach the parent wins.

Use these ideas as a starting point for your own ideas to improve your child’s ability to listen and follow activities!

Language Lessons and the series of Super Star Speech books, which focus on articulation disorders, are available at Superstarspeech.com.

Teach Your Child the /f/ and /v/ Sounds

 

F

Does your child have trouble pronouncing the /f/ or /v/ sound? The most common error for /f/ is substituting the /p/ sound for it (“pish” for “fish”).  A common error for /v/ is a /b/ substitution (“ban” for “van”).  /F/ should be mastered by the time a child is four years old. /V/ develops a little later and is often not mastered until age 5 or 6. Because they are very similar sounds, though, they are often taught together.

Here is an excerpt from my book, Super Star Speech, to use with your child.

F and V

F and V are produced by touching the upper teeth to the lower lip. F is produced by passing the breath between the teeth and lip. V is produced in the same way with the voice “turned on.”

Tips:

1. /f/ and /v/ are easy sounds to teach because the placement is so easy to see. Instruct the child to “bite his lip and blow” to produce /f/. After the /f/ is produced, instruct him to “turn his voice on” to produce the /v/. Use of a mirror may be helpful.

2. Work on auditory discrimination between the error sound and /f/ and /v/. (“Is this a pig or a fig?”)

3. If /v/ is not being vocalized, thereby sounding like an /f/, have the child feel the vibrations on his neck while saying the sound. Produce /v/ with a vowel (“Va, Vee, uh-V”).

I have some practice pages for the F and V sounds (and other speech tips) posted on my Super Star Speech Resource Page.

I’m Blogging Through the Alphabet with Ben and Me.

Teaching Listening Skills to Your Preschooler

Listening skills, including auditory discrimination and the ability to focus, are important prerequisites for language comprehension and production. Here are some fun activities to practice with your child:

· Play this "listening game." Ask your child to clap whenever he hears a specific sound, such as /m/. Then make sounds and see if he can differentiate them. ( /m/ /k/ /m/ /m/ /p/ /t/ /m/ /s/ /m/ /w/ /t/ /m/)

· Try the same activity with words that begin with a specific sound. Here is a possible list for /s/. some, same, ball, cat, sky, sing, ditch, sorry, pat, sat, soon, pick, tall, sun

· Say a word. Ask the child to name another word that begins with the same sound.

· Collect objects that make a sound (bell, crumpling paper, spoon, a can holding dry rice or beans, keys, or coins) and lay them on a table. Let your child look at them, then close his eyes. Use one of the objects to make a sound and have him try to guess the correct object.

· Teach your child to tap the syllables of words or phrases with a stick.

· Tap a rhythm with a stick or spoon and ask your child to imitate the rhythm.

· Blindfold your child. Move to a different place in the room and hum or make another sound. Have him point to where the sound is coming from.

· Call your child's attention to sounds outside, such as birds, cars, or honking horns.

· Play or hum 2 musical notes. Ask your child to identify which note is high or which note is low. Sing or play songs and have your child identify them as "fast" or "slow."

· Ask your child to repeat simple sentences. Start with very short ones and progress to longer sentences as your child is able.

· Recite a nursery rhyme to your child several times. Then leave off the last word in each phrase and have your child fill in the missing word. (memory and rhyming skills)

· See if your child can complete each phrase with a rhyming word:

• See the bug --hide in a ________.
• Sam, Sam, --do you like ________?
• The little boy --wants a ________.
• See the frog --up on the ________.
• Look at Stan --driving his ________.
• I saw a bee-- drinking some ________.
• My brother, Jim --went for a ________.
• My Uncle Bob --eats corn on a ________.
• Playing in the sun-- is lots of ________.
• Be careful! That pot --is very________.
• Billy sat --on his ________.

This post is an excerpt from my book, Language Lessons: From Listening Skills to Comprehension.

Stimulating your baby’s language skills

Babies don’t talk. You don’t have to worry about speech for the first year or two, right? WRONG!
No, babies aren’t born with any language skills and it will be about a year before the baby actually says his first word, but the language learning process begins at birth.
Here are a few things a parent can do to encourage speech and language development:
-Interact with your baby a lot. Talk, coo, and babble at him. Make happy or silly faces at him and watch how he reacts.
-When your baby starts to coo or babble, imitate him. See if you can get a “conversation” going by taking turns making sounds.
-Any talking to your baby or toddler is great, but the best way to encourage language growth is to make your sentences just a little more complicated than his are. If baby points and says, “ball,” you might say, “Yes, big ball,”  That will give him a speech model to grow towards.
Read,  read, read to him! Reading the book as it is written is great, but some of the time, you might just talk about the pictures, or name the pictures and see if he can imitate you.  As he grows older, talk about the story and pictures with him.
Recite nursery rhymes and sing with your child.  You can even make up little rhymes and songs about your daily activities—buckling up in the car, changing a diaper, and so on. The rhyming and repetition is great language stimulation and fun for the child as well.
Play pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo games with your child. Again—rhymes, language, and playing all in one!