Step 6 of Acquiring a Speech Sound

Note: This is a continuation of the previous posts- Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, Step 4, and Step 5 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, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Now on to Step 6.

Mastering at the conversation level means that a child can say the sound correctly most (80%) of the time when speaking. Usually, this step should ONLY be worked on after a child can say the sound correctly at the sentence level, or when reading, but keeps forgetting in daily conversation.

THIS and ONLY THIS is the time to correct a child when he/ she is talking. But even then, only 5-10 minutes a day should be set aside for this kind of correcting. If not, a child can get self conscious or rebellious, and the attitude towards correcting sounds can become counterproductive.

Some activities that are used to get a child to the conversation level when saying speech sounds include : tongue twisters with the target sound, talking about a favorite movie / TV show while watching productions of the sound, or playing games like "Guess Who" or "Hedbanz", which require spontaneous, varied, talking, and making sure there are correct productions of the sound.

It can sometimes be hard to teach a child how to make the leap from structured speech activities to spontaneous correct productions of sound in coneration. This is where an SLP comes in, with visual and verbal cues and hints that help induce the words. It is also a matter of practing - around 5-10 minutes a day, and then during a weekly therapy session with an SLP, to get to 80% accuracy at conversation level and finally master the sound.

A FINAL RECAP AT THE END OF THIS 6-POST SERIES

It may take some months to go from Step 1 to Step 6 of the acquisition steps for a speech sound. 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!

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.