As
your child’s most important teacher,
you are a role model for everything.
Children observe how their parents walk, eat, behave, feel, and learn. Your child will
also observe how you talk. Not just the sounds you make, but how your mouth
moves as it forms sounds and words. She’ll notice how the expression on your
face changes as you speak, and how the words and expressions relate to your
feelings and tone of voice.
Articulation begins with making sounds. Your
child needs you to explain what all those other sounds are that she is hearing: the hum of the refrigerator,
the swish of the washer, the bark of the neighbor’s dog, and the tweets of the
birds in the trees. Explain and point to where the sounds are coming from. Then
have her point and name the sounds as she is able. Together, you can have fun
trying to make those sounds. Take turns, laugh, and try again.
Remember
to speak in an elaborative style. By
elaborative, I mean you are going to elaborate on everything. Speak in complete
sentences that include articles (the, a, an) and verbs (is, are). Using
complete sentences means you have communicated a complete thought. You will
build your child’s vocabulary, and make it possible for them to understand Standard American English, the dialect
used by most North Americans, and in most of the North American books your
child will read. Many households use a restrictive
style of speech at home. A parent may shout, “Go!” and point in the
direction of the child’s bedroom. While this may sound efficient, in the long
run it is more work, because it does nothing to develop articulation skills or
background knowledge. A parent using an elaborative
style would look at their child and say, “You need to go sit in your room
for three minutes because you hit your baby brother. I want you to go think
about why that is wrong. I will come get you when it is time, and I will expect
you to apologize for what you did that was wrong.” I know – that seems like an
awful lot of explaining, but that’s
the point. You have to explain everything to build background knowledge, and
you have to articulate everything in complete sentences in order for your child
to comprehend the language of Standard American English. Children who grow up
in households using a restrictive style have a much harder time learning to
read. The children from elaborative style homes will progress quickly, leaving
the restrictive style kids falling further and further behind. Having said all
that, don’t worry; I won’t judge you if you first shout, “Go!” and then later
elaborate. After all, she just hit her baby brother for goodness sake!
As
to which sounds your child should be able to articulate, you will see many
different scales online, but in general they agree on:
By ages 2-3 p, m, h, n,
w, b
Ages
3-4 t, d, f, g, k, ng, y
Ages
4-5 v, r, l, s, ch, sh, z, j, bl
Ages
5-6 may still be learning l-blend,
and r- blend sounds
Ages
7-8 may still be working on th,
zh, z, and s-blends
If
your child is having minor articulation difficulty, you may want to pick up
some articulation drill cards at an
educational supply store. These cards have pictures and words that focus on a
particular sound. The sound will be in the beginning,
medial, or end position of the word. Young children need to think of practice as a game. Here are a
few ideas:
- Child gets to
feed the card to a stuffed animal, after trying to say the word.
- Use a mirror, so
your child can see if his mouth is moving like yours.
- Child gets to
keep the card (until game ends) if she articulates the word correctly.
- Play a memory
game using 2-3 pairs of cards turned upside down. Try to match up pairs,
articulating the word each time she turns over a card. Add more pairs as she
becomes skilled at this game. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to teach her
how to take turns while you’re at it!
Once
children master articulation at the word
level, they are often able to apply
that skill at the phrase and
sentence level. For those students who are not able to apply what they’ve
learned, you will need to help them practice phrases first. You can find
articulation work books at education supply stores. Practice in sets of ten.
When your child has repeated all 10 phrases correctly three days in a row, she
has mastered that sound at the phrase level. Now she is ready to move on to the
sentence level. Use the same method. Practice in sets of ten sentences. Some
young children have trouble remembering all seven or eight words in a sentence,
so you’ll need to begin by breaking the sentence apart into two – three
phrases. Then encourage her to try putting all the words together to form a
sentence. When she is able to repeat all ten complete sentences, and articulate
the target sound correctly three days in a row, she has mastered the sentence
level.
Keep
in mind that this requires a lot of patience
on your part. Getting mad or frustrated won’t help. Your child is learning the
best she can. We all learn and mature at
our own rate. We all have our strengths
and weaknesses. If your child has not mastered all the same sounds your
friend’s child has, that does not necessarily mean there is a problem. Proper
articulation is developed over a wide range of ages.
On
the other hand, if you can’t understand your child, or your child is not making
progress in her speaking skills, talk to
your pediatrician about getting an evaluation from a speech pathologist. Many insurance policies will cover private
services. You can also look into whether your child qualifies for speech and language services through
your local school district.
