Tips for Articulation Placement/Production

By Dawn M. Moore MA, CCC/SLP

Nonsense Sheets: I typically use them for most sounds at the e!innin!.
I use one pa!e per sound "i.e., a whole sheet of #ray$ can e done in one
session and then #ree$ in the ne%t session and so on.& 'ach sheet has ()
productions on it, so that$s a lot of practice at the e!innin! with each
long *owel. I do not use the nonsense sheets after we have moved
onto Webbers oo!"
I highl# recommend that #ou use a mirror and a $ashlight during
articulation therap#% especiall# for /r/" &ou will have much more
success if #ou implement these simple tools into #our therap#"
I spend most of m# time with Webbers 'umbo Artic oo! (not for
phonolog# though)" I believe *+,& strongl# in drill and will drill
each level (i"e"% word% phrase% sentence) to -./ before moving on"
That means repeating the same words each session" This is di0icult
for some people to want to do% but I have had great success in
articulation therap# following the old principle that 1practice ma!es
perfect" &ou can add a game% but do not let the game ta!e awa# too
much time from #our therap#" &ou onl# have these !ids for 2.
minutes and if there are 2 !ids in a group% each !id onl# gets 3.
minutes of #our time" Pass the Pigs is a great short game #ou can
do at the end for 4 minutes and the !ids 56*+ it"
/,/ "6rder: ,a#% ,ee% ,#e% ,ow% ,oo% Initial%
7inal% 8edial)
Note: See m# /r/ program for full details on remediating /r/
+here are so many techni,ues for !ettin! correct placement for /r/. +he
one that has always wor-ed for me is usin! the nonsense words and ha*in!
the child smile when they say the word .ray/. 0ou need to tell the child
they need to onl# use their tongue to ma-e /r/. +hey will need to ele*ate
their ton!ue "not 1ip it ac-&, 1atten it out and touch the sides of it a!ainst
the upper side teeth. +his will need to e done with a mirror, $ashlight,
ton!ue depressor "to show where the sides of the ton!ue are&, and L2+S of
cues. Some children can automatically do it, ut others will need a lot of
placement wor-. Sometimes it helps to ha*e them lay on the 1oor so their
ton!ue naturally falls into place for /r/. See the /r/ therapy pa!e for
additional information and how to wor- on *ocalic /r/. 3or stuorn /r/
prolems, the retro1e% /r/ is also a possiility. It 4ust depends on the child.
9 S:; "6rder: Nonsense Sheets<add =nal 1sh to
words on the paper% 7inal% Initial% 8edial)
Note: &ou ma# need to change the order% depending on the child"
Sometimes initial 1sh is easier" If that is the case% #ou would do the
nonsense words sha#% she% sh#% show% shoe and then move onto
Webbers drill boo!)
+his is a di5icult sound ecause the child needs to ele*ate the sides of the
ton!ue. +his ele*ation is needed to create the midline furrow for the air to
escape the middle of the mouth. Most children do not -now how to do this
automatically. I ha*e had a lot of success with a ton!ue depressor. 0ou put
it in the middle of their ton!ue and tell them to try to raise the sides up
while the depressor is on their ton!ue and to try to wrap the sides of their
ton!ue around it. It helps to !i*e them the awareness they need to ele*ate
the sides. I practice this enou!h until they can ele*ate the sides on their
own and I ha*e had !ood success with 6sh6 after that. 0ou can e*en ha*e
them try to produce #sh$ with the ton!ue depressor in place. A few
sessions of this is usually all that is needed to !et them to produce a !ood
#sh$ and then you can use the nonsense sheets from there "shay, she, shy,
show, shoe&.
9 >:; (6rder: Nonsense sheets% the easiest to
produce% w)
I typically do not wor- on .ch/ until .sh/ is estalished. +he reason for this
ein! that .ch/ is actually /t/ 7 .sh/ which is why it is transcried the way
that it is. Some children can produce .ch/ and not .sh/, ut it is usually
the other way around. If they ha*e neither, I would try .sh/ 8rst, ut you
can try .ch/ too ecause you ne*er -now what each indi*idual child will e
ale to do. I usually teach .ch/ y ha*in! them produce the /t/ and then a
,uic- .sh/ fadin! out the !ap etween them o*er time to ha*e a true .ch/
/S/ (6rder: Sa#% See% Sigh% So% Sue% Initial%
7inal% 8edial)
3or children that ha*e di5iculty for /s/, it is sometimes easier for them to
produce /s/ with their ton!ue tip ehind their ottom teeth "as I learned
from my speech therapist in second !rade when I had a frontal lisp&, the
teeth sli!htly apart, and the rest of the ton!ue pushed towards the roof of
the mouth.
5ateral /S/ (6rder: 7inal /t/ words% 7inal%
Initial% 8edial)
Lateral /s/ is one of the hardest sounds to remediate. 0ou will need to
spend a lot of time e%plainin! to the child what they are doin! "air is !oin!
out the sides& and what they need to e doin! "air !oin! out the middle&.
0ou can usually accomplish this y ha*in! them produce 8nal /t/ words
with you .lettin! the air of a tire/. D2 92+ +'LL +:'M +:'0 A;'
P;2D<CI9= /S/. 0ou tell them they are !oin! to wor- on /t/ to help them
!et /s/. 0ou can use the /t/ since it is a midline sound and then their ton!ue
drops down ehind the ottom teeth for /s/. 0ou 8n!er models.
+on!ue/8n!er up for /t/ ehind top teeth and the 8n!er/ton!ue drops as
you let the .air out of the tire/. It may ta-e a lot of wor- to !et them to do
this and you will need to !i*e A L2+ of feedac-. 2nce they can produce
the /t/ with !ood aspiration "an /s/ appro%imation& fade out the /t/ y
throwin! in some 8nal /s/ words without a /t/ or 8nal /ts/ words. '*entually
drop the /t/ alto!ether after they ha*e success in the 8nal position, you can
mo*e on to initial and then medial. Some people ha*e had success with
straws ha*in! the child low throu!h them to correct the air1ow. 0ou can
put a piece of paper in front of them to show if the air1ow is correct.
:owe*er, I ha*e had more success with the 8rst approach.
A55 6T:+, 5AT+,A5S
0ou need to wor- on the correct placement for each indi*idual sound. If
they are laterali>in! the .sh/, wor- on the ao*e placement techni,ues for
that sound. I typically tar!et /s/ 8rst as I ha*e noticed that if they can 8%
/s/, many of the others are easier to !et and some, especially #sh$ can 8%
itself.
N6T+? If you cannot correct the lateral sound no matter what you do, a
dental referral may e in order to see if there is a structural prolem with
4aw ali!nment.
AN6T:+, APP,6A>:: It was recommended on the messa!e oard to
use a frontal lisp and actually teach a frontal to help remediate a lateral. I
ha*e used this with some success with -ids where nothin! else wor-ed.
/7/ (6rder: Add =nal /f/ to end of words on
Nonsense Sheets% 7inal% Initial% 8edial)
+his is usually an easy sound to correct ecause of the *isiility of teeth of
on the lip. Ma-e sure you tell them to low air out across their lip when
the teeth ma-e contact. <se a mirror@@
/5/ (6rder: 5a#% 5ee% 5ie% 5ow% 5oo% Initial%
8edial)
I have not had to work specifically on /l/ a lot during therapy. I remember from graduate school that you are not
supposed to work on final /l/ as it is not a true /l/, but syllabic /l/. I do think it is hard to work on in the final
position. I do believe initial /l/ is the easiest to work on as you can have the child produce it with their tongue in
between their teeth at the beginning (have them look in a mirror) so they get used to making it with their tongue
and not their lips (i.e., /w/). Most of my kids have naturally moved their tongue back in their mouth for
productions with my models, but /l/ can be made many different ways, so it will depend on the child. The rule
of thumb that I use !oes it sound good" #ven if the production is a little off and maybe the tongue is too far
outside of the mouth, I ignore it if the sound is good. That goes the same for all sounds for me as well.
Tips for Phonolog#
The above is for traditional articulation drill ONLY! As- for my
Cycles outline. +hat is all I now use@ 0ou will waste a lot of time tryin! to
remediate phonolo!ical errors with a traditional artic approach. I -now
this ecause I did it for years@@@@@@ 0ou can remediate a se*ere delay usin!
Cycles in half "if not less& the time than you can tryin! to tac-le one sound
at a time. Cycles tar!ets patterns and the carryo*er results are ama>in!.
+he est part is you only e*er tar!et A2;DS, ut you see !enerali>ation to
con*ersation@@@@