How to Help Students with Speech Articulation
Most children experience a phase during their development where they make phonetic errors in speech. Speech therapy is a very important factor in helping with speech articulation in students, but along with speech therapy, there are several other ways to help students with articulation. Here’s how you can help your students with speech articulation both in and outside of a therapy session.
What are the characteristics of an articulation disorder?
An articulation disorder is a speech disorder that occurs at the phonetic level. If a child is having problems making sounds, it is likely an articulation disorder. They may leave out sounds altogether or substitute one sound for another. They may also add or change sounds. A child that has an articulation disorder has difficulty saying certain vowels and consonants. At the core of an articulation disorder, the focus is on the motor act of producing vowel and consonant sounds.
3 ways to help your students with speech articulation:
1. Encourage Reading
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”
– Sir Richard Steele
Reading transforms minds and plays a huge role in the development of a child, especially in their speech and language. When a child hears you read words correctly, it models correct phonetics and allows them to use their imagination. Outside of therapy sessions, it is important to encourage parents to read at home daily. Here are a few sound-loaded storybooks to share with your student’s parents or to read during therapy sessions that will help with articulation.
2. Practice Revision
Practicing revision is the act of repeating what your student said but with the correct pronunciation of the word. Revision is something that can be practiced in just about any setting – therapy, at home, in the classroom, at the dinner table. Just make sure to add extra emphasis on the correct phonetics for the student to understand what is being said incorrectly!
3. Flashcard Game
Another great way to practice speech articulation is through flashcard games. One that we love to play through a screen for articulation is Roll and Say. All you need is a set of flashcards and virtual dice.
How to play:
- Spin the virtual dice
- The number it lands on is the number of times that your student will have to repeat the flashcard at the top of the stack
- Have your student repeat out loud the flashcard
For example, if the dice lands on a four and the word at the top is “chain”, then your student would have to repeat “chain” four times.
For more speech tips and tricks, you can visit our blog here for additional resources.