Speech-Language Pathology Topics: Consonants

What are consonants and why are they important to speech?

Consonant sounds are produced by constricting or interrupting the air flow at some point during the production of a sound. In contrast, a vowel is a sound produced with a relatively open vocal tract. Consonants are combined with vowels to make syllables and words. When consonants are produced incorrectly, that makes speech very difficult to understand.

There are 24 consonant sounds used in spoken American English. These sounds may or may not match up with English letters and the phonics typically associated with those letters. Here is a chart of the 24 American English consonant sounds. The symbol on the left is the phonetic symbol most Speech-Language Pathologists use to represent each sound. On the right is an example of a word with that consonant sound. The letters used to spell the sound are in bold.

What are the characteristics of consonants

What makes a "p" different than an "v"? The consonants sound different from each other because they are made in different ways. They differ in their place of articulation, their manner of articulation, and their voicing status. Speech-Language Pathologists use a consonant chart to keep track of the consonants and their characteristics.

What are the different places of articulation?

A consonant is made by constricting the airflow between where it starts with the exhalation in the lungs and where it exits the mouth at some point. One reason sounds differ is because the point of constriction happens at different places. If the point of constriction is at the lips (/p/, /b/, /m/, /w/) then the place of articulation is bilabial. If the point of constriction is just behind the top teeth (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/) then the place of articulation is alveolar. Here is a list of the places of articulation and a picture to help you visualize those places.

• bilabial - constriction between both lips
• labio-dental - constriction between top teeth and bottom lip
• dental - constriction between top and bottom teeth
• alveolar - constriction between the tongue and the alveolar ridge (top of mouth just behind top teeth)
• palatal - constriction between the tongue and the hard palate (roof of mouth)
• velar - constriction between the tongue and the soft palate (roof of the very back of the mouth)
• glottal - constriction at the vocal folds

What are the different manners of articulation?

A consonant is made by constricting the airflow between where it starts with the exhalation in the lungs and where it exits the mouth at some point. One reason sounds differ is because the method of constriction happens in different ways. If the airflow is completely stopped and then released in a puff of air (/p/, /b/, /k/, /g/, /t/, /d/) then the manner of articulation is a stop. If the the airflow is redirected through the nose (/m/, /n/, /ng/) then the manner of articulation is a nasal. Here is a list of the manners of articulation.

• stop - airflow is completely stopped and then released
• fricative - airflow is constricted causing slight hissing noise
• affricate - This is a combination of a stop and a fricative. First the airflow is completely stopped and then it is constricted causing a slight hissing noise with the consonant.
• nasal - airflow is redirected out the nose
• liquid - airflow is constricted significantly more than a vowel, but not enough to cause a hissing noise with the consonant
• glide - similar to a liquid, but with slight movement during the production of the consonant

What is voicing?

There is a third characteristic of consonants. /s/ and /z/ are made with exactly the same place and manner of articulation and yet they are different. /z/ is made while vibrating the vocal folds. If you place your hand on your throat while making a /z/ sound (buzz like a bee) you will feel the vibration of your vocal folds. /s/ is made without vibrating the vocal folds. If you place your hand on your throat while making an /s/ sound (hiss like a snake) you will not feel the vibration. So the third characteristic of consonants is the presence or absence of voicing.

Why are consonant characteristics important to understand when planning therapy for Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

First of all, understanding the characteristics of consonants can help you understand why some consonants are harder than others for your child. Affricates are going to be harder than stops or fricatives because they require more complicated motor planning. Words with consonants that are all produced in the same place (dot) are going to be easier than words with consonants that change place (pod). Words with consonants that move from the very front to the very back are going to be even harder(back). Voiced sounds are going to be harder than their coresponding voiceless sound because the motor planning is more complex. Speech-Language Pathologists take all of these factors into account when choosing targets for speech therapy.

You might also be interested in the following articles:

Speech-Language Pathology Topics: Vowels

Voicing Pairs

Random Example of the Complexity of Motor Planning

Let the Games Begin

We've had the game Don't Break the Ice for a long time. The children love it. They never actually played the game mind you. I would spend three minutes carefully setting it up and they'd spend 5 seconds frantically pounding out all the pieces of ice in a fury of excitement. They simply couldn't grasp that the concept of the game was to prevent the bear from falling down.

This weekend Michael asked to play Don't Break the Ice. I pulled it from the shelf and set it up and in a rather pessimistic way told him, "Now, you lose the game if you make the bear fall. You win if the other person makes him fall." He got it. He loved it. I even loved it. Now that we were actually taking turns and using strategy to try to keep the bear from falling, each "game" lasted longer and I had an opportunity to play too. So far, he's a good sport no matter who wins. Game playing finally became fun.

I got really ambitious and pulled out the Candy Land game I bought ages and ages ago when Michael learned his colors and I overly optimistically assumed that meant he was ready for Candy Land. Turns out he's also ready for Candy Land. We played 4-5 games in a row. He wanted to discuss every character and really wants to build a real Candy Castle. I have rediscovered the fact that I personally find Candy Land to be a little boring and I think I'll search out some other games that might be fun. Any suggestions?

Oh, and Happy Father's Day. Enjoy it everyone.

And to my husband: Happy 7th Anniversary! I love you. (And Happy Father's Day - You are an amazing Daddy.)

Simultaneous Relief and Sadness

Oh my goodness is she talking. The other day Ava commented that, "Daddy put peanut butter on Ava's really really big pancake." That's a 10 word sentence coming from my little girl who's only 27 months old. It is such a relief. 6 months ago she had only three words in her vocabulary and couldn't imitate. Now she's talking in multi-word sentences. Obviously her language is fine.

However...

More and more, I can't understand her at all. I'm pretty good if she's talking about something immediate and in front of us (like Daddy and the pancakes). If I have some context and we can see and point at it I can understand most of what she has to say. But if she's talking about anything else I'm clueless. You often can't understand a word of what she's saying. If she starts rattling off her opinion of a tv show I haven't watched or telling me about something she did at her grandparents' house I often have no idea.

As you would expect for Childhood Apraxia of Speech, the longer the utterance, the less you can understand. It's killing me. She has so much to say. Her little mind wants to tell stories. She wants to engage in back and forth conversation. Instead she says something which I hear as, "Garble, garble, garble, garble, garble" and I just look at her and reply, "Uh huh sweetie." And then I try to change the subject. Sometimes I say, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, Mama didn't understand you. Can you tell me again?" But I only do that when I think I have some chance of getting it. Otherwise, she just gets frustrated at trying to tell me over and over unsuccessfully.

I know we're working as fast as we can. I know she's made phenomenal progress in a relatively short time. I know she can communicate so much more than before. But honestly, I feel that it is terribly unfair that she's worked so hard, she's finally got so much to say and is actually trying to say it, and she still can't communicate successfully much of the time with her loved ones. That sucks.