/th/

Model putting your tongue between your teeth while blowing air at the same time. Most children will have no difficulty imitating this action. Then practice this action with and without voice. Think of it as a loud /th/ and a quiet /th/. The reason for this is the /th/ is pronounced with voice in some words like, “that, this and the” and without voice in other words like, “thank you, theater and thongs.”

Once you have had multiple successful productions of the /th/ sound all by itself try adding a long or short vowel to the /th/ sound. For example, “they, the, though, tha, thee, thy…” Then try putting the vowel in front of the the sound, for example, “ath, eth, eeth, ith, uth, oath…” Finally try putting the /th/ sound in the middle of vowels, for example, “atho, ethee, ootha, othu…” Whichever syllable combination your child is the most successful with will tell you whether you want to begin practice with words that begin with /th/, end with /th/, or have /th/ occurring in the middle.

As your child progresses and has success with /th/ at the single syllable level, move onto /th/ in words, sentences, and gradually begin listening for correct /th/ sound during your child’s everyday conversation.

Keep your times short – keeping your child’s frustration level and yours in perspective. Most of all, have fun!