• Articulation
     
    In order to formulate sounds, we use our lips, teeth, tongue, jaw, our hard and soft palate (the roof of our mouth), and our vocal folds.  The following phonemes are formulated by these areas of your mouth:
    • Two lips together for m, b, p, w
    • Upper teeth and lower lip for f, v
    • Teeth and tongue (between teeth) for the th sounds
    • Tongue tip and front of roof of mouth for t, d, s, z, l, n, ch, j
    • Tongue middle and middle of roof of mouth for r, y, sh
    • Tongue back and back roof of mouth for k, g
    • Vocal Tract is open all th way for the h sound
    Linguisystems, 1998
     
    Many errors in producing sounds are developmental in early childhood.  When the errors in sounds interferes with the child's ability to be understood by peers and adults, they need to have some speech intervention to help them be successful in saying their sounds.
     
    How to help?
    • Provide opportunities to allow your child to work on saying their sounds 
    • When going for a walk, to the grocery store, while playing catch, or for a drive, you can have your child use their sound in words or find items that contain their sounds to practice
    • Never mimic the way they produce their sound, provide an appropriate model
    • Show the child how to produce the sound, compared to the way they are producing it
    • Develop a secret code with the child to make them aware of errors they may exhibit
    • Make a matching game with their target sound
    • Talk about how different sounds are made in your mouth
    • Do not nag, drill, or constantly correct the child's errors, specific a time you will focus on their sounds to make it less stressful
    Oral Motor Functioning
     
    Oralfacial Myofunctional Disorders
     
    Some causes of Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders are: allergies, enlarged tonsils and adenoids, thumb/finger sucking, teeth clenching and grinding, and family heredity. All of these can lead to the child having difficulty producing sounds.
    • Allergies can often make it hard for a child to breathe normally because of blocked nasal airways.  If an open-mouth posture continues for a prolonged period of time, lip muscles may lose their strength and tone.
    • Enlarged tonsils and adenoids can also cause an open-mouth breathing pattern.
    • Thumb/finger sucking may change the shape of a child's upper and lower jaw and teeth, which are essential for producing sounds.  A child with orthodontic problems may require orthodontic intervention to be successful in speech therapy
     
    When a child has a lack of strength in their oral motor functioning, they can benefit from working on strengthening the weakened area to become successful in producing their target sound they are exhibiting difficulty with.  Tongue, mouth and jaw exercises can be helpful.  There are excesses that can be recommended by your child's speech and language teacher.
     
     
    Links:

    Articulation 

    https://www.quia.com/pages/havemorefun.html (Includes Activities for production of all sounds)

    https://www.quia.com/pages/speechersclass.html (Includes Activities for production of all sounds)

    https://www.quia.com/jg/1143701.html (Includes Activities for production of all sounds)

    http://www.eduplace.com/tales/ 

     
    When you access the above websites, please type in the specific sound your child is working on to access activities. Your child will also have activities and materials posted to their Google Speech and Language Classroom. These activities and materials can be used to practice your child's targeted skill.
     
    Please contact me via email, ccramer@newpaltz.k12.ny.us, if you have any questions.
     
     
Last Modified on September 15, 2021