Articulation and Phonology

Articulation and Phonology Overview

Resources and activities to help your child produce speech sounds correctly! Check out some of these activities below to do with your child.

What is articulation? Articulation is the way we produce speech sounds like P, B, and M. Sometimes children will substitute one sound for another - especially later developing sounds they can't say yet! Phonology is the patterns of speech sounds - the way they occur in our language. In typically developing children, it is normal to demonstrate certain patterns as they learn how to say all the sounds. For example, many children will substitute an F sound for TH sounds, such as saying "free" for "three" (TH sounds are typically developed around 8 years old!). Sometimes they need a little extra help learning the patterns of English.

Scroll to the bottom of the page for tips and tricks on how to correct your child's sound productions!

Tips and Tricks

Not sure how to correct your child? Does your child learn better with a visual image of how to produce the sound? Check out these resources to help them produce their target sounds correctly:

1. Model how you make it - have your child watch you! Say "watch me" and exaggerate the movement of your articulators (lips, tongue, teeth)

2. Get a tongue depressor (or a sucker!) and use it to touch your child's tongue as a tactile cue to show them what to do. This is especially useful for those tricky K and G sounds - have your child hold the sucker down on the tip of their tongue while moving the back of their tongue up to say "K" or "G"

3. Make a tongue out of playdough to show your child exactly how their tongue should be moving

4. Get out a hand mirror so they can see what their tongue is doing!

5. Are they saying "T" for "K" or "D" for "G'? Clue them in to where their tongue should be moving by pointing to the back of your face and telling them it's a "back sound". They will probably imitate your hand movements! This is a great visual cue for kids that can be faded as they start to create those speech sound connections.

6. Trial and error some visual cues to help your child remember how to make their sound the correct way - this is a great tool for carry-over into more challenging situations like conversation! For example - many children have trouble with the noisy "S" sound. Print out or draw a picture of a snake to help them remember to make their "snake sound". Make a snake out of playdough and engage them in pretend play where the snakes have to "hiss" at each other as they go about their pretend play activities. Are they making a "T" sound instead of an "S"? Get out a slinky and pull it apart as you model a nice long "S" - show them visually how S is just T but drawn out long. If it works for your child, then it is an effective cue! There is no wrong way to cue them!

7. Below is an example of visuals that I use (developed by another talented professional at teacherspayteachers!) . Don't see the target sound you need? Shoot me an email and I'll help you find what you're looking for!

8. Does your child know how to make the sound, but doesn't do it consistently? Ask them to self-monitor their own productions! Use an archery target visual and have them point at where they think they would fall with each production.

Spring Activities

Check back often to see if anything new has been added!

Winter Activities

Here are some activities I created that you can adapt for any speech sound your child is working on! Don't see the sound you need? Shoot me an email for a customizable template!

Lists of Words with Target Sounds

Need some ideas for what words to practice? Here are some resources: