Step 3 of Acquiring a Speech Sound

Note: This is a continuation of the previous posts- Step 1, and Step 2, of Acquiring a Speech Sound!

Most speech therapists use an approach known as the Van Riper Approach when teaching sounds. This means that, to ensure quick progress and decrease frusration, a sound must be mastered at 80% accuracy at one "level" before moving to the next "level."

The levels of speech sound acquisition are -

1. Isolated sound level

2. Syllable level

3. word level

4. phrase level

5. sentence level

6. conversation level

We have already talked about level 1 and level 2. Now on to Step 3.

Mastering the word level at 80% accuracy means that a child should be able to say words with the sound in the beginning of the word, words with the sound in the middle of the word, and words with the sound at the end of the word 80% of the time.

So, for example, if a child is working on the /t/ sound... they should be able to say words like top, tap, and turn (initial /t/ words), letter, better, daughter (medial /t/ words) and cat, bat, dot (final /t/ words) 80% of the time. Until this is mastered, it will be very difficult to work on phrases / sentences, or to correct the child in conversation.

It can sometimes be hard to teach a child how to say the sound in a word correctly. This is where an SLP comes in, with visual and verbal cues and hints that help induce the words. Once the child can say the words with sounds in all three positions, it is a matter of practicing - around 5-10 minutes a day, and then during a weekly therapy session with an SLP, to get to 80% accuracy and only then move onto step 4 of the hierarchy.

It may take some months to go from Step 1 to Step 6 of the acquisition steps. But the investment is worth it, because it is an easy and natural progress, which puts minimal stress on the child and the family.

Don't be afraid to approach a sound slowly. Slow and Steady wins the race :)

PS - if you are interested in resources to work through a sound in the hierarchy mentioned above at home, check out Smarter Speech's Speech Sound Packets on TPT! They go from bombardment to minimal pairs to Step 1 and all the way through Step 6!

PPS - Stay tuned for Step 4 of Acquiring a Speech Sound, in the next post.

Happy Talking!

Disclaimer : Smarter Speech is a pediatric speech therapy / speech-language pathology practice for toddlers and children providing in-home and teletherapy services in and around Mountain View, CA and Los Gatos, CA. Smarter Speech Blog aims to provide free speech and language tips for parents educators and therapists. However, this post is not providing speech-language pathology services. This is general information, not speech -language pathology or speech therapy. This article does not assume or create a client – SLP relationship. The author is not liable for any losses or damages due to actions or failure to act based on the content in this article. If you need assistance with a child’s speech or language needs, please contact a speech-language pathologist in your area.