mommy speech therapy

I wanted to write a quick note to let all of you know that my husband and I were blessed with a little baby boy 2 months ago. Having a newborn and a 2 year old in potty training has been a lot of work, I’ve never felt more like a mom than I do now! Exhausting! I know there are moms out there doing twice as much as me…I should be getting advice from them! I haven’t been on the blog for awhile to give my family as much time as possible. I apologize to those of you who have been waiting so long to get your questions answered. I will be going down the list and getting your questions taken care of over the next week or so. Thank you for being so patient and I’ll see you soon. Oh, we named him Sawyer and of course I’ll add a picture of him for you all to see!

-Heidi

I recently had a client that was struggling with the /t/ and /d/ sounds and realized I have not yet covered these on Mommy Speech Therapy, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on how to teach these sounds. I have grouped these sounds together because they are produced in the same manner and place. The only difference between the /t/ and /d/ sounds is the /d/ sound is voiced while the /t/ sound is not. If your child can produce a /t/ sound and not the /d/ sound you simply teach them to “turn on their voice” for the /d/ sound. Or if it is the other way around you teach them to “turn off their voice” by whispering the sound for the /t/.

Can Your Child Lift their Tongue Tip?

The most common substitution by children for the /t/ and /d/ sounds are /k/ and /g/ sounds. Children substituting the /k/ and /g/ sounds for /t/, /d/ and other front sounds generally do so because they have difficulty raising their tongue tip or they are confused about where to place their tongue to produce a /t/ and /d/ correctly. A simple way to test this is to have the child move their tongue from side to side and then up and down.

Teach Your Child Where to Place the Tongue for /t/ and /d/

If elevating the tongue tip is no problem then it is just a matter of placement. Try stimulating the gums behind the front teeth (the alveolar ridge), and the tongue tip with a small toothbrush, then tell the child to place the tongue tip behind his front teeth. Once the tongue is in place have him try to imitate a /t/ or /d/ sound all by itself. This should produce the sounds.

Teach Your Child How to Raise the Tongue for /t/ and /d/

If raising the tongue tip is difficult I like to use something tasty to provide a little incentive to get that tongue tip up. That something tasty might be putting peanut butter, pudding or marshmellow cream on the alveolar ridge, which is right behind the front teeth. Then have the child raise the tongue tip to lick the food off. Once the tongue tip is in place have them try to say the /t/ or /d/ sounds. You might say, “Make the sound of a clock, t-t-t-t-t-t.” This has been a very successful technique in therapy with the kids I work with.

Strengthen Tongue Tip Elevation for /t/ and /d/

Another good way to exercise that tongue tip elevation is to have the child hold a cheerio, or smartie on the alveolar ridge with his/her tongue tip. Play a game where they hold it up while you count to 10 then they can eat it. This typically works well with children who are 4yrs. of age and older.

Move the /t/ and /d/ Sounds Into Syllables

Once your child can produce a good /t/ or /d/ sound all by itself it is time to move it into syllables. For example practice saying, “ta, toe, tea, tai, tay, too, tu” or “at, ate, eat, ite, ot” or “atto, etta, ittu, auto, utta”

Move the /t/ and /d/ Sounds Into Words

If your child can say the syllables above with a nice /t/ or /d/ sound then he is ready to move them into words. Below are 6 links to download picture cards of words beginning with the /t/ and /d/ sounds, ending with the /t/ and /d/ sounds or with /t/ or /d/ occuring in the middle. You can download these as well as other sound cards on the downloads page.

6 sets of word cards to help teach the /t/ and /d/ sounds:
1. t-initial words.pdf
2. t-medial words.pdf
3. t-final words.pdf
4. d-initial words.pdf
5. d-medial words.pdf
6. d-final words.pdf

Move the /t/ and /d/ Sounds Into Sentences

If your child can say the /t/ or /d/ sound in the beginning of words then practice the initial /t/or /d/ sound in sentences. For example with /t/ words you might use the sentence “Talk to the _________.” Fill in the blank with the initial /t/ words you have been practicing, “Talk to the tree, or Talk to the toes…”

If your child can say the /t/ and /d/ sounds at the end of words then practice the final /t/ or /d/ sounds in sentences. For example for the /t/ sound try, “The _________ is hot.” Again filling in the blank with the final /t/ words you practiced.

If your child can say the /t/ and /d/ sounds well in the middle of words then practice the medial /t/ or /d/ sounds in sentences. For example with the /t/ sound, “I have a beautiful __________.”

Move the /t/ and /d/ Sounds into Stories

Have your child practice the /t/ and /d/ sounds while reading out loud. If your child cannot read have your child practice the /t/ and /d/ sounds while retelling short stories. I often make up stories using the picture cards we have practiced.

Move the /t/ and /d/ Sounds into Conversation

If your child is successful with the /t/ and /d/ sounds while reading aloud he is ready to move the /t/ and /d/ sounds into conversation. It is at this point you can correct your child if they forget to pronounce the /t/ and /d/ sounds spontaneously.

These suggestions should help your child move in the right direction for the production of the /t/ and /d/ sounds. Good luck with these steps, and remember to be patient. Your child will get this, it’s only a matter of time! I would love to hear your success stories with these or any other sounds you’ve been working on. I hope this post has been helpful.

-Heidi

One of the most common questions I hear from parents is “How much language should my child be using for their age?” As our children grow up, there are certain “communication milestones” that we can watch for which will help us know how they are developing. I thought it would be helpful to go over some of these briefly.

The following is a list of communication milestones taken from Linguisystems, Inc.

3 – 6 months
• Smiles spontaneously to human contact
• Smiles when playing alone
• Smiles at faces of several family members
• Stops crying when spoken to
• Shows different responses to different family members

6 – 9 months
• Responds to “Come here”
• Becomes more outgoing with familiar people
• Shows anxiety when separated from favorite caregiver
• Likes to be with specific people

9 – 12 months
• Reacts to others’ moods
• Is fearful of strangers
• Can tolerate momentary loss of contact with caregiver in unfamiliar places
• Shows off to get attention

12 – 18 months
• Has an expressive vocabulary of between 5 – 20 words
• Is aware of the value of communication
• Follows simple directions, especially with gesture
• Practices intonation, sometimes imitating an adult
• Uses mostly nouns with a few others, such as “down” or “up”
• Uses much, meaningful jargon with inflection and emotion

19 – 24 months
• Names common objects
• Uses two or three more prepositions such as “on,” “in,” or “under”
• Uses noun + verb consistently
• Family understands about 2/3 of what child says
• Receptive and expressive vocabulary is about 150-300 words
• Rhythm and fluency of speech is poor
• Uses “I,” “me,” and “you,” but may confuse “I” and “me”
• Control of pitch and volume is poor
• “My” and “mine” emerging (like a vengeance!)
• Follows commands, such as “Show me your nose”

25 – 36 months
• Uses “I,” “you,” and “me” correctly
• Uses some plurals and past tenses
• Knows principle body parts
• Uses three-word sentences
• Has about 900 words
• Family understands about 90% of what child says
• Verbs emerge quickly
• Understands and responds to questions dealing with immediate environment
• Tells about his experiences
• Can answer thinking questions, such as “What do you want when you’re thirsty?”
• Gives name, age, and gender
• Understands much more than he expresses

4 years
• Knows names of animals
• Uses at least four prepositions
• Knows some colors
• Can repeat four digits when given slowly
• Can repeat a four-syllable word
• Knows contrasts such as “larger” and “longer”
• Follows directions when desired object is not in sight
• Repeats many words, phrases, syllables, and sounds
• Loves make-believe and takes on multiple roles during play
• Talks extensively during play by himself or with others

5 years
• Uses adjectives and adverbs extensively in conversation
• Knows opposites such as “on-off,” “big-little,” “heavylight,” and “soft-hard”
• Counts to ten
• All speech should be intelligible, but articulation errors may persist
• Can repeat sentences as long as nine words
• Can define common words, such as “shoe,” “chair,” “hat,” and “bird”
• Can follow three-stage commands without help
• Understands simple time concepts, such as “morning,” “later,” and “tomorrow”
• Verbal language is generally correct
• Uses long sentences, including some compound and complex constructions

Keep in mind that this chart represents typical language development, and you can use this as a “barometer” of sorts to measure where your child is with their communication. There is a wide range of normal development, so there is some room for growth within these age brackets. However if you find that your child is falling significantly behind in regards to these age brackets it may be a good idea to have them evaluated by a Speech-Language Pathologist.

You can download the PDF file of this list here.