Articulation Rating Scale - Picture Rubric

We are working on Michael's interdental /s/ production. His standard production is a visually distracting interdental production that sounds like a clear /s/. When asked to keep his tongue behind his teeth, he gets a lot of lateral air escape making the auditory result more like a /s/-/sh/ hybrid. When he is coached, is paying attention, and is not fatigued, he can occasionally produce a crystal clear /s/ with appropriate placement.

His production varies widely from repetition to repetition and I was having trouble giving him appropriate, useful feedback quickly and efficiently without disrupting the flow of practice and slowing us down significantly. Then I saw a post on The Learning Curve about an articulation rating scale she had made. I thought making something similar scaled down to the toddler/preschool level might help me give Michael more consistent feedback.

So I made this:

When we sat down to use it the first time I explained that this was going to help us with our /s/. I reminded him that making the /s/ with his tongue sticking out was incorrect and told him that if I saw him make it that way I'd point to the stop sign. If he made a beautiful clear /s/ sound (I demonstrated) I'd point to the smiley face with the fireworks. If the /s/ looked good, but sounded mushy (again, I demonstrated) I would point somewhere in between. He grasped the concept immediately and loved using the chart as a feedback tool. I was able to give him feedback instantly and quickly without needing a lot of words to explain what needed to be corrected. Every time I pointed to something below a 5 he was able to self-correct with no other cues needed (Until he got fatigued. At that point I just couldn't get any more clear /s/ sounds.).

The chart could be used in a similar fashion with any phoneme production that needs to be shaped. You could also use the rubric for just about anything with small children because the stop-sign to smiley face progression makes sense to little ones. You could use it to show children how well they cleaned up a room. You could use it to show a child how close his written "A" matched the one he was trying to copy. It's a really flexible visual scale.

As a funny side story, this is version 2 of the rubric. The first one I made had this:

instead of the stop sign. I was pretty pleased with my rubric and was showing it off to my husband. He thought the sobbing face was a bit harsh for little ones and suggested switching it for something else. I granted him the point and switched to the stop sign. Sometimes a second opinion is useful.

Any other ideas for how to use the scale?

Inspiration

My children inspire me. I don't mean that in a generic "I'm a better person." way. They inspire me to stretch a little and step outside of my comfort zone. Arts and crafts is a great example. Historically, I considered myself to be a decidedly non-artistic person. It doesn't come to me naturally. I don't have a good eye for color, design, or form. The only kinds of coloring I enjoyed as a child were color-by-number. As for crafts, I liked cross-titch. There was a pattern and I all I had to do was follow the pattern on a cloth grid.

Then I found myself staying at home with two young children. Partly from a desire to expand their horizons, and partly from pure self-defense (we all needed something to do) I began to do some simple arts and crafts with them. After coloring with crayons and cutting snowflakes with scissors I ran out of ideas. Through the brilliance and generosity of some talented bloggers (That Artist Woman and Art Projects for Kids for example) I have been inspired to do a wide variety of beautiful crafts with the children. I have learned a lot myself along the way and we all have fun together.

Again, historically, I am not great at keeping plants alive. I pretty much accidentally kill any houseplant that isn't a cactus or succulent in short order. The few plants I do manage to keep alive I tend to tire of caring for and give away. As for gardening, I'm not really outdoorsy. I also don't much like getting dirty. So, I have very little gardening experience.

However, I think I'd like to try some simple gardening with the children. I think they'd enjoy growing some vegetables and perhaps the experience would encourage them to consume a few. I have fond memories of eating cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots from my dad's garden when I was little. The children would have the opportunity to participate in a long term project with delayed gratification. It would force us all to get outside regularly. I am interested in perhaps trying cucumbers, carrots, and bell peppers with the children. Preferably in pots. Can you grow vegetables in pots? Specifically, can you grow those vegetables in pots?

That's the problem. I'm an starting with zero experience and knowledge. Online research should get me started, but there's a long stretch from reading an article on the internet to eating home-grown vegetables. It's kind of fun to take a leap and try something new though. And the project will be a learning experience for all of us no matter how it turns out. Online research here I come.

Initial Minimal Pair Rhymes: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

This articulation card set is designed to be an extension of my single-syllable cards sets. The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape and include no blends or vocalic /r/ sounds. This is a speech exercise of minimal pairs rhymes contrasting the initial early-emerging consonant sounds. The target audience for these cards are children with severe speech delays who need exposure to a minimal pair technique to emphasize that they need to differentiate production of two different words. Move to these exercises to add complexity and increase generalization after the child has achieved good accuracy with single word, single word repetitions, and simple alternating single words with these phonemes.(Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 12 therapy cards sequenced so that they form minimal pair rhymes.
• The words are CV or CVC in syllable shape.
• The words feature early emerging consonants.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses this card set. Let me know if you find errors or there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.