Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Speech Sound
Development
and Intervention
Mary Hampton
specialist speech and language therapist
Director Language Therapy Ltd
13 May 2015
• Putting speech sounds in perspective
• The anatomy of speech
• Classification of speech sounds by production
• Cued articulation
• Typical speech development
• Developmental errors / simplifications
• Intervention programmes
Place
Labial (lips) Coronal (tongue tip) Dorsal (back of
tongue)
Manner Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palato
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop /
plosive
p b t d k g
Fricative f v th th S z sh shz h
Afficate
Nasal m n ng
Liquid l r
Glide w y
Classification of speech sounds
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Cued ArticulationTELL ME - I FORGET
SHOW ME - I REMEMBER
INVOLVE ME - I UNDERSTAND.
~ANCIENT CHINESE PROVERBAll of the 49 sounds, or phonemes, which make up the
English phonological system have a separate hand sign
which is related to where and how in the mouth the
sounds are made. The consonant sounds are colour coded
for written work which helps decipher words with tricky
spelling. The cues are based on linguistic theory and are
logical and easy and fun to learn.
CA is not a sign language where whole words and finger
spelling are used, nor should it be confused with Cued
Speech which is a totally different scheme used
specifically with the severely hearing impaired.
http://cuedarticulation.com/
http://youtu.be/EGvXxvBzLTg
http://www.stasspublications.co.uk/publications/cued-articulation Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Early 8 m n y b w d p h around 3 years
Middle 8 t ng k g f v ch j around 4 ½ years
Late 8 sh l r s z th up to around 8 ½ years
(Shriberg 1993)
Typical Progress of Sound Development
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Types of speech errors
• Omissions child leaves out sounds or syllables.
• Additions child adds extra sound or syllable to a word.
• Distortions child pronounces word mostly correctly, but one of
the sounds is not correct.
• Substitutions child consistently substitutes one sound for another.
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Simplification Errors in Children’s Normal Development
(from Grunwell 1987)
Simplification process Examples Description Common up to age
context sensitive
Voicing
Pig big
Kiss giss
A voiceless sound is replaced
by a voiced sound usually in
the initial position
3.0
Word final devoicing Red ret
Bag back
Final voiced consonant
replaced by voiceless
consonant
3.0
Final consonant
deletion
Home hoe
Rough ru
The final consonant is
omitted
3.03
Velar fronting Kiss tiss
Give div
Wing win
A velar sound is replaced by
an alveolar sound
3.06
Palatal fronting Ship sip Sh and shz replaced by s and
z
3.09
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Simplification process Examples Description Common up to
age
Consonant harmony Cupboard pubord
Yellow lellowPronounciation of whole
word affected by presence
of particular sound
4.0
Weak syllable deletion Again gen
Tidying tiding
Banana nana
Weak syllables are omitted 4.0
Cluster reduction Spin pin
Ant atPart of the consonant cluster
is omitted
4.0
Gliding of liquids Real will
Leg yegL and r are replaced by w or
r
5.0
Stopping Funny punny
Sip tipFricative or affricate
replaced by plosive / stop
consonant
F / s 3.0
Van ban
Zoo doV / z 3.06
Ship dip
Jump dump
Chip tip
Sh / j/ ch
4.06
Thing ting
Them dem5.0
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Terms describing speech difficulties
• Speech sound difficulties SSD
• Articulation difficulty
• Phonological problems
• Childhood Apraxia of Speech CAS
• Dyspraxia
• Motor Speech DisorderLanguage Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Predictors of long term speech delay in late talkers at 30 – 35 months
Speech characteristic
Limited number of sounds Order and rate of acquisition of
sounds is delayed eg only 6-9
different consonants
Simple syllable structures Fewer syllables with more than one
consonant or consonant clusters
More sound errors Omissions and substitutions common
Inconsistency in substitution errors Individual sounds are produced in a
variety of ways
Atypical errors Unusual substitutions, vowel errors
Slow rate of progress Little change in sound development
between 2yrs and 3 years old.
Adopted from Williams and Elbert 2003 Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Speech sound production for children with Down Syndrome
• Slower transition from babbling to words
• Greater range of substitutions
• More non developmental errors
• greater variability or inconsistency
• Better in imitation
• Longer period of sound substitutions
• Particular difficulty with structuring sounds in words
• eg missing off sounds at ends of words for longer than expected
• Difficulty sequencing sounds
• More dysfluency in connected speech eg repetition of syllables
• Greater variability between individuals.
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Working on speech production
• Core vocabulary
• Auditory bombardment
• Motor speech planning
• Oral motor skills
• Syllable clapping
• Auditory discriminationLanguage Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Core vocabulary
Auditory bombardment
Motor speech planning
Oral motor skills
Syllable clapping
Auditory discrimination
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Auditory Bombardment
• Exercises in which children hear a target sound accurately produced and several times
in short period of time.
• For example, reading a story that has numerous occurrences of the target sound is
"bombarding" the child with that particular sound.
• Gives the adult the opportunity to model, emphasize and repeat the sound correctly for
the child to hear.
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Auditory discrimination
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Aim is to build strong representations of words to be
stored in the children’s internal dictionaries, so they can
compare their production of the word with a good adult
form.
Activities include
• Minimal pairs eg pointing to pat or cat
• Lexical decision is this a cat, pat, tat etc
Syllable clapping
Syllable awareness is one component
of phonological awareness. Children
gain the ability to hear phonemes
that comprise words and to explore
speech sounds as syllables. Syllable
clapping emphasises the overall
structure of the word giving salience
to unstressed as well as stressed.
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
• Intended for children with inconsistent speech disorder (Broomfield & Dodd, 2004a; Dodd, 2005) in
the absence of Childhood Apraxia of Speech.
• Children who have atypical speech that is characterised by multiple error forms in the production of
single words.
• The intervention is suitable for children from two years of age, including those from bilingual
backgrounds and those with a cognitive disability.
• Children are seen twice weekly for thirty minutes, for about eight weeks.
• Carers are required to carry out daily practice.
• Clients select a vocabulary of around 70 functionally powerful words.
• Each week, children learn to produce their best pronunciation of up to ten of these words
consistently, in isolation and connected speech.
(Crosbie, Holm & Dodd, 2005; Crosbie, Pine, Holm & Dodd, 2006)
The Core Vocabulary Approach
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Connected speech
Phrases and sentences
Consonant cluster words
Multisyllabic words
CVC
CVCV
CV words
Single sounds
Pre speech oral motor skills
Building Speech Production
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Motor speech planning
Articulation practice: Nuffield Dyspraxia Programme
• Listen and repeat single sounds in isolation: /b/ and in repetition /b b b /
• Listen and repeat cv words: me, moo, bee, boo
• Listen and repeat alternating sounds: /b m b m b m/
• Alternating words with contrast: pea tea pea tea
• Listen and repeat two syllable words: baby, digger,
• Practice clusters: spot, spinLanguage Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk
Oral motor skills
• Facial massage
• Blowing
• Sucking
• Chewing
Language Therapy Ltdwww.language-therapy.co.uk