What are some suggested exercises that parents / teachers can do with kids that need assistance with correcting their speech.
In pakistan - they call it being “tootla” or where kids emphasize the “t” sounds.
I have noticed that my todder uses 'w" instead of "r"s.
***wabbit instead of rabbit. ***
How can you help children pronounce accurately?
Sound Cards? Phonics? Speech Therapy?
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
Many times, those sounds are developmentally on target. Most kids will say "wabbit" before "rabbit" because the "r" sound comes later on.
When the proper sounds do not develop within a reasonable period of time or if speech isnt happening as quickly as it should, a speech therapist will start with exercises that strenghten, develop and "wake up" the nerves and muscles that are needed to make the sounds.
Early speech exercises include blowing bubbles, blowing a cotton ball across the high chair table, learning to drink through a straw, blowing a horn hard enough to make good sound come out. Learning to chew, starting with dissolvable foods and moving on to chewier things. Then they will use picture cards and play name the picture. The child needs to at least attempt to say what the picture is and then they get a reward.
Parents are asked to follow up and cement these sessions by never giving the child what they want until they make an attempt to use words to ask for it. And to do speech exercises every day - a couple of times if possible. Things like the blowing above and also having them repeat after you - "a,a,a,a,a" "e,e,e,e,e" "i,i,i,i,i" "o,o,o,o,o", "u,u,u,u,u".
Sing simple songs and encourage the child to sing along. Twinkle twinkle little star. Old MacDonald. Have the child do the animal sounds for old macdonald.
These are some of the things I remember....
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
Thanks mama - I have been doing the nursery rhymes
"nick nack patty wack - give a dog a bone" comes out
"mick mack wacky wack, give a dog a bone - this ol' man came wolling home"
It's cute and entertaining but I am over concerned parent. I have had her hearing tested which is fine.
Does speech therapy cover "phonics" and pronunciation as well?
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
The 'r' sound is the last sound children learn, something to do with their mouth/tongue (it was explained to me a very long time ago so i dont know specifics).
I would say for specific speech difficulties you need specific activities.
I have 2 children in my class who have speech difficulties, one talks too quickly and omits sounds in his words, so for him we do counting syllables activities. The other pronounces the 's' sound as the 'th' - he hasnt been to the speech and language therapist so I dont have any activities for him, but when he talks and mispronounces the word, I usually just repeat back to him what hes said but with the correct word.
I would never tell a child 'No, its not the thun, its sun' - thats very bad practice.
Speech and langauge therapy (in the U.K) gives specific activities for the child. I used to work with Speech and Language therapists a lot in my previous profession and they need to make assessments before they can suggest.
I would ask your GP for a referal and inform the schools SEN teacher too.
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
Thanks Milly
Have you ever heard that this type of speech should be corrected in a younger age because they won't be able to correct it when they are older?
Is it the same as talking with a lisp or stuttering? ot two different things?
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
I think a lisp/stuttering are different.
It can be assessed, treated and with hope and patience be corrected if caught early on, depends on the specific difficulty though.
How old is your daughter?
some activities tht might b useful
sounds of animals and objects- u could sing nursery rhymes, concentrate on the sounds of the animals say them slowly and clearly another example cars go vroom vroom vroom
Mouth muscle exercises- play a game of pulling funny faces and really get ur child to stretch the mouth around. (Muscle weakness and instability of the jaw, lips and tounge can lead to poor muscle coordination for speech) also chewing on hard foods like apples help too
Give the child plenty of time to finish their sentences never finish their sentence for them. never make them feel pressured. If they miss pronounce a word just repeat it again correctly but casually.
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
She's 3. She talks constantly but misprounounces words all the time. Some of her speech is not clear.
Good Bye is Goo bye
School Bus is Schoo Bus
but then she will say really hard words perfectly - words like hexagon, flying, adventure.
Should I get her hearing tested again?
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
No.
She's only 3, her speech is still developing.
I would carry on as you are for now and just correct her mispronouced words by repeating her whole sentence but saying the mispronounced words correctly.
She is too young for speech therapy yet as her language is still developing.
She has no speech difficulties that are not normal for 3 year olds. From someone who has worked with 3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10 year olds for a long time I would say her speech for a 3 year old is normal, I am not a speech and language professional though.
However, you are a concerned mother and I can understand that. I would still advise you talk to your GP.
njgal...dont stress yourself too much about it. Has she achieved her other milestones in good time?
At almost 3 my daughter could not even talk. She had a vocab of about 10 words. Even those she used to whisper most of the time. I had taken her to a speech therapist, but it did no good. When she did start talking, we could not understand her well enough. She used to get pretty frustrated. So I started speech therapy again. After just 1 session, we traveled and somehow, she started pronouncing those words much better....although it suddenly happened after about 4-5 weeks. Even the speech therapist was surprised when we got back. I did a follow up 3-4 sessions just as a precaution. She used to get a list of sentences to stress the letters she could not pronounce properly. For ex Goo By..you keep saying Goo*d* Bye. Keep stressing on the D...make a game out of it...use different funny words...somehow you need to repeat it like a hundred or so times during the day. So make a sentence like Re*d* Sa*d* Bu*s* is waitin*g* in the schoo*l*
She will be fine :)
Re: Speech Therapy for kids
njgal, at some points, I was also told to let things go. But a mom knows in her heart if theres truly a problem. My mistake was not listening to that little voice inside me that would say "yeah but....". Listen to your insticnt as a mom. If you feel theres a problem, have her evaluated (for free!!!) through the state Early Intervention program. If she does not qualify (she would need to be really pretty delayed), at least you will have a really good idea of how much she actually is delayed in a pretty exact manner (2 percent behind, 10 percent behind etc). If speech is her only area of difficulty, she would have to be I think like at least 35 percent delayed to qualify for free speech therapy. But again, it will give you a clear idea of where she is compared to other "typically developing" children of exactly her age. So you could decide whether to go for private speech therapy or not.
Meantime, try to enjoy the age-typical cuteness of how they say some of the words!! This is SUCH a fleeting stage and once they start talking like a walking dictionary, you really kinda miss the cuteness of "i WOVE the Wabbit!!"