Improving Your Child's Pronunciation: From Sound Selection to Word Practice (Part 1)
Karine Ross, orthophonisteWhen I first discuss pronunciation with a parent, they often mention that their child is able to make the sound in question when they repeat a word after them, but as soon as the child has to say it on their own, they can't do it anymore.
Did you know that this is completely normal, and it's not because the child isn't paying attention or is lazy? It simply means that the sound is not fully mastered. Indeed, when a sound is not naturally acquired by a child, it must be worked on according to a sequence of specific exercises, and in a well-established order.
Speech-language pathologists work on the pronunciation of a new sound in this order, and I will present this "magic recipe" to you here. The main steps are as follows:
Set up optimal conditions before starting the work.
Work on the pronunciation of the sound alone, then with a vowel.
Integrate the sound into different parts of words.
Transfer the correct pronunciation into sentences.
Maintain the pronunciation of the sound in spontaneous speech.
Step 1: Set up optimal conditions before starting the work
a) Choose the sound carefully
Before asking a child to pronounce a sound correctly, you must first ensure that this sound is one that they can know and say at their age. Indeed, working on the pronunciation of the R sound with a 3-year-old child is a bit like asking an 8-month-old child to learn to walk. It's too early.
The child may not have the neurological and muscular maturity necessary to make the sound. To get an idea of what is normal or not in sound development, we invite you to refer to the acquisition chart we have provided for you.
b) Check hearing
The other thing to ensure is that the child hears the sound you want them to pronounce clearly and can distinguish it from other similar sounds. For example, F and S sounds are very similar auditorily and are sometimes difficult for children with high-frequency hearing loss to hear.
The best way to ensure your child hears all sounds correctly is to have them undergo an audiology test at a hospital or private clinic. Without this certainty, you might be asking your child to work on a sound they don't even hear clearly, which will increase the difficulty of the task and create a feeling of frustration and failure for both them and you.
Only an auditory evaluation can confirm the quality of hearing. Many children seem to hear perfectly well but do not pick up on certain subtleties. We often suspect nothing... so it's best not to skip this step.
c) Exaggerate the target sound
Finally, once we are certain that the foundation is in place, it's good to start by bombarding the child's ears with the target sound. To do this, you emphasize the chosen sound when you speak to them daily.
Stretch out the sound in words every time you pronounce it. For example, for the F sound, it would be: "Look, Ffffelix! There's an annt carrying a piece of cheese on the ground!"
The more the child hears the sound they need to learn, the more their brain can record it correctly. It's even possible that your child will try to repeat the words after you, correcting themselves. If that's the case, praise them, but most importantly, don't ask them to do it... that's also part of the recipe. 😉
Step 2: Produce the sound alone and with a vowel
After a few days of auditory bombardment, your child should then be ready to do some more specific exercises to correct their pronunciation. First, ask your child to make the sound alone.
Often, by asking them to watch your mouth and by pronouncing the sound correctly yourself, the child is able to position their mouth like yours and make the same sound.
Next, you need to lead them to say simple syllables with this sound, combining it with vowels. To help you make these syllables, we have prepared a small chart that facilitates combining with the most frequent vowels. Thus, still using the F sound as an example, you will lead them to repeat after you the syllables FA, FE, FI, FO, FU, and FÉ, one by one.
To do this exercise, choose a simple game that your child enjoys and that requires only a quick action between each turn (e.g., throwing a ball into a basket). You model the syllable for your child to say, showing them your mouth (e.g., FA), and then point to their mouth for them to say it. If they succeed like you, you praise them and allow them to perform the game action (e.g., "Yes, great, that's it. Ffffa! You said it well. You can throw the ball.") If they weren't able to, you give them the model again...
Child: ffffPa
Adult: Ah... you were almost there, try again: Fffffa
Again, if they succeed, they can perform the game action. If they don't succeed, we encourage their effort and let them play their turn...
Child: ffffPa
Adult: Ahh, that's good. You tried hard. You can play.
Next time, you suggest another syllable, and the game continues.
It may happen that this step is easy for the child and everything goes smoothly. However, it may also take a few practices before they succeed (magic, unfortunately, only exists in books...).
In this case, make sure the activity is enjoyable for the child despite their difficulties, and if they can't correct themselves after 2 or 3 sessions, give up. You can try again in a month or two.
Step 3: Integrate the sound into different parts of words
The next step is to encourage the child to use the newly learned sound in words. Initially, choose words that begin with that sound, such as "Fourmi" (ant) for F.
The child can then focus on placing their lips, tongue, and mouth correctly before beginning to say the word. This is the easier approach.
Just like with the syllable exercises, ask the child to say a word by giving them the model, and when they succeed, they can perform an action from the chosen game.
Once they become proficient with the sound at the beginning of words, move on to words that end with that sound (like "œuf" - egg) and finally, those where the sound is in the middle of the word (like "enfant" - child). Indeed, practicing a sound at the beginning or end of a word requires less concentration than having to do it in the middle.
For a sound to be considered mastered in words, a child must be able to pronounce all words correctly in all practiced positions, without effort or conscious thought. As long as they don't achieve this systematically, there's no point in going further.
It goes without saying that this stage can be longer than the previous two. Regular practice is therefore essential, as is a good dose of patience. It also requires a good bank of words with pictures and objects to work with.
To help you out, we have prepared some practical sheets with several sounds often worked on with young children (CH, S, and R), including images of these sounds in the 3 positions mentioned above. You can also find images and objects with the target sound in your home to create a game for these exercises with your child.
It's your turn!
You now have the ingredients and the first steps of the speech-language pathologists' "magic recipe" for working on pronunciation. It's time to let you experiment with this first part before I give you instructions for what comes next. A bit like a bread recipe where you have to make the dough and let it rest before baking it, I'll let you incorporate these initial steps before we discuss the final part: transferring the sound into sentences and discourse. Until then, don't forget the essential magic ingredient: having fun with your child. Happy practicing!