TEACHING PHONEMES:

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TEACHING PHONEMES

• /k, g, s, z/

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I. TEACHING /K/ AND /G/

• The dorsum of the tongue must raise to contact
  the soft palate and form a seal which completely
  blocks the air stream
• The back of the tongue must suddenly pull away
  from the velum to create a burst of air

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Problems with producing /k, g/

• Often involve a t/k and d/g substitutionfronting
• Another possibility is that the child does not
  have enough lingual strength to produce these
  soundsthat is less common
• Lastly, the child may delete these
  soundsespecially in word-final position

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Strategies for eliciting these phonemes

• If the child fronts these sounds, hold down her
  tongue tip with a tongue depressor. Tell her to
  hump up her tongue and explode the air quickly.
• Place your fingers under the childs chin, on the
  uppermost part of her neck, and push upward

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• Tell the child to hold his tongue against his
  lower teeth and hold his hand in front of his
  mouth to feel the burst of air as he imitates
  youtell him to raise the back of his tongue
• Use a mirror, and have the client imitate you
• Use a tongue depressor to push the tongue upward
  and backward in the oral cavity

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• Hold a piece of tissue, paper, or a feather in
  front of your mouth to demonstrate aspiration.
• To demonstrate aspiration, press the clients
  hands together and suddenly separate them
• Put some marshmallow crème on the clients soft
  palate. Tell her to get the crème with the middle
  of her tongue

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• Have the client say /iiiiiii/. As she sustains
  this, she should raise her tongue to contact her
  soft palate. Then she can make the burst of air.
• Shape /k/ (and especially /g/) from a prolonged
  /ng/

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To elicit /g/

• Follow those same steps, but tell the client to
  turn her voice on
• If she has trouble with this, have her put her
  hand on your larynx and feel the vibrations

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II. TEACHING /S/ AND /Z/

• I like to refer to these sounds with animal
  analogies
• /s/ is the snake sound, and /z/ is the bee sound

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Types of Lisps (see pp. 176 on if you want to
read more)

• Type 1 the frontal lisp
• The teeth are not together the tongue tip is
  typically near or behind the lower central
  incisors
• The tongue is not between the teeth
• Children who do this may have an open bite

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Type 2 The interdental lisp

• The tongue tip is protruded between the upper and
  lower central incisors
• I like to use Mr. Mouth to illustrate in a
  hands-on way where the tongue goes
• Kids love Mr. Mouth! ?

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Type 3 the lateral lisp

• The tongue tip is touching the alveolar ridge
• Air is forced laterally, creating significantly
  distorted friction
• It is VERY hard to fix!

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However, we can

• Have the child strongly aspirate a /t/
• Use a bite block to stabilize production
• A bite block helps the jaw to not move around
• Have the child say /t t t t t t ssssss/
• Eventually you can get away from the bite block

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• We can also shape /s/ from words that end in /ts/
  (like boats or cats)
• Tell the child to drop her tongue after she says
  the /t/
• We can also try having the child strongly
  aspirate the /s/ this will result in the German
  affricate /ts/. Have the child prolong the second
  part of this affricate.

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Try this yourself

• And notice that when you make a really strong
  /t/, your tongue tip drops into perfect position
  for a predorsal /s/ ?
• Tell the child that when her tongue drops down,
  hold it there and produce an /s/

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Another trick to try

• Have the child say /sh/, move the tongue slightly
  forward, and raise the lateral edges of the
  tongue toward the upper molars

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Other techniques for /s/ include

• Show the client in a mirror how to produce /s/
• For a tongue-tip down /s/, tell the client to
  position the back of the tongue to contact the
  upper back teeth
• Place the tongue tip behind the lower central
  incisors
• Close the teeth, and initiate /s/

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To develop a central airstream

• Have the child close her teeth and direct the
  airstream through a straw
• Place her finger at the very center of her teeth
  and have her attempt /s/
• Draw a small target and hold it in front of the
  childs mouth tell her to make a bulls-eye with
  the /s/

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Other techniques

• Tell the child to make a smile and hide his
  tongue behind the white gate (teeth) while
  resting his tongue along his upper back teeth
• Tell him to blow out a straight, fine stream of
  air
• Place your finger in the center of his lips/teeth
  for an additional cue