Speech Sound Acquisition and Practice Tips For Parents of Children With Articulation or Phonological Disorders

Written By: Elissa Murnick M.S. CCC-SLP Certified Speech Language Pathologist, Director Murnick Speech & Language Associates

Children with Articulation or Phonological Disorders have difficulty producing certain sounds beyond the developmental expectation. Many parents inquire whether or not their child’s speech is developmentally appropriate.  If you feel your child displays multiple articulation errors, it is recommended that you bring your child to be evaluated and possibly treated by a Licensed, Certified Speech Language Pathologist. A Speech Language Pathologist will analyze a child’s error patterns and assess overall intelligibility.

 Common Phonological Processes

Phonological Processes are the patterns that young children use to simplify adult speech.  These consist of multiple sound or syllable omissions, distortions or substitutions which impact a child’s overall intelligibility.  Most children use these processes while their speech and language skills are developing.  For example, very young children (ages one to three) may say “wa-wa” for “water” or “tat” for “cat.” Other children may leave out the initial or final sound in words (for example,“cu” for “cup” or “ha“ for “hat.”)  Up to age three, these are appropriate productions.  As children develop, their speech matures and they stop using these patterns to simplify their words. By the age of three, most children stop using all Phonological Processes and their speech sounds more like an adult’s.

 To view a complete list of Phonological Processes, visit speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Developmental Norms For Articulation

 There are certain ages at which various speech sounds are expected to be mastered by 85% of children. Consulting with a Speech Language Pathologist can help parent determine whether or not sound production differences are developmentally appropriate.  Multiple errors that  impact a child’s speech intelligibility or the listener’s perception of a child’s speech production are not developmentally appropriate beyond the age of three. When determining if a child qualifies for Speech Therapy, overall ability to be understood, or intelligibility is the determining factor. A child’s speech should be 75% intelligible by the age of three and 95% intelligible by the age of four.  

To view a list of Developmental Norms for articulation, visit  speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Tips on When Parents Should Seek Further Evaluation For Articulation

• Conversational speech contains words or phrases which are not intelligible
• Excessive use of substitutions or sound omissions that are inappropriate for a child’s age.
• Sound productions reflect atypical errors (distortions)

To view more tips on when to make a referral for articulation, visit speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Articulation Practice Activities for Parents

• Read a book with your child or have him/her read one on his/her own. Have your child go through afterwards and write down the words that contain the target sound  and make up silly sentences with these words.
• Have your child watch a television show and then talk about it while focusing on producing the target sound in conversation.
• Find objects around your home or on a car trip that contains the target sound and practice saying them with your child in a sentence.
• Cut out pictures in a magazine containing your target sound with your child, glue them on a paper and create sentences or a story with the pictures. 

To view more suggestions for practice activities at home, visit speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Recommended Ipad Applications For Articulation/Phonological Disorders

• Photo Articulation Castle by Super Duper
• Articulation Flipbooks by Dynavox Mayer Johnson
• Articulate It by Smarty Ears, Articulation Station by Little Bee Speech
• Articulation Scenes by Smarty Ears
• Speech With Milo Articulation Board Games by Doonan Speech Therapy

To view more IPad applications for Articulation or Phonological Disorders, visit speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Sound Elicitation Techniques

There are various techniques that you can practice at home to elicit error sounds. To view a list of sound elicitation techniques, visit  speech sound acquisition and articulation tips on my website.

Steps For Speech Correction

Articulation Therapy sessions and the homework assignments given are based on the following facts. There are six steps for successful speech correction. Some of them take a very long time to climb.  Only one sound is learned at a time.  This may help you to understand why correction may be slower than expected.

• The first step to Articulation Therapy is called “ear training” (sound discrimination).  This is to learn to “hear” the sound and to learn the differences between the right and wrong way of making the sound.  The games and activities at this stage are called “listening practice”.
• The second step to Articulation Therapy is having the child learn to say the sound in isolation.  Some sounds are harder to say than others. This involves proper tongue and/or lip placement, which is usually done in front of a mirror
• The third step to Articulation Therapy is to have the child practice saying the sound with vowels (syllables).  A child must be able to say the new sound with vowels (in front of each vowel; after each vowel; and between two vowels) before he/she can put it into words.  From here the child is instructed to put the new sound into words then into phrases and finally sentences. Just being able to say the sound in the word alone is a hard job. It is too soon to expect them to use it in his regular conversation. The child must initially produce the sound after listening to a Speech Language Pathologist’s or parent’s model then is expected to produce it independently

To view a list of additional steps for speech correction, visit speech sound acquisition and articulation tips  on my website.

Elissa Murnick is a licensed, certified Speech Language Pathologist and the owner of Murnick Speech & Language Associates in Fairfield, CT. She has worked for almost 15 years with children of all ages with a wide range of Speech and Language disorders in a public and private school setting as well as private practice. For more information about scheduling an evaluation visit Murnick Speech & Language Associates on the web at www.murnickspeechandlanguage.com.