By Hillary Collins, M.S., CF-SLP
FIRST THINGS FIRST: What exactly is articulation? Articulation is a fancy way of saying the production of speech sounds.
- An articulation disorder involves problems making sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added, or changed. These errors may make it hard for people to understand you.
- A phonological process disorder involves patterns of sound errors. For example, substituting all sounds made in the back of the mouth like “k” and “g” for those in the front of the mouth like “t” and “d” (e.g., saying “tup” for “cup” or “das” for “gas”). (www.asha.org)
My child is AWESOME & MOTIVATED at practicing sounds when at speech- At home? Not so much.
When mastering speech sounds, practice and repetition are KEY and motivation can be hard. Here is a look into resources commonly used for articulation therapy practice. A variety of web pages and blogs are available with fun ideas to help bring some spice back into your home practice activities! With many of the sites there are search bars in which you can search:“ARTICULATION” and activities and ideas to use at home will pop up.
- Speech Room News: TheSpeechRoomNews.com
- Busy Bee Speech: busybeespeech.com
- Home Speech Home: home-speech-home.com
- Peachie Speechie: PeachieSpeechie.com
- Playing With Words 365: playingwithwords365.com
But wait, what about the tablet? Anything we could do on there?
Let’s face it, kids love technology. There are many apps that you can use to help promote home practice. Some of my favorites include:
- Word Vault by HomeSpeechHome
- Dance Party Articulation by Erik X. Raj
- Wacky Selfies Articulation by Erik X. Raj