Testy yet trying

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Final TH (voiceless): Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Final /th/ (voiceless) Card Set

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.

Description

This articulation picture card set is designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for this set is young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with voiceless final /th/ at a one-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in this set. The set pairs the final /th/ with as many different vowel sounds as possible to maximize co-articulation variety.

Key Features

This set includes 15 therapy cards with the target word and picture on the front, and the difficulty level and a carrier phrase on the back.
The words are all VC or CVC in syllable shape.
The words are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
Combines the target sound with a variety of vowel sounds.
Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.

Permissions

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

Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
No copies are altered without my express consent.
No one makes a profit from these copies.
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. Other card sets include /p, b, t, d, m, n, h, f, v, k, g, w, s, z, l, th, ch, sh, s-blends, and l-blends/ and more sets are being added regularly.

What kinds of activities can I do with this cardset?

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Minimal Pairs Speech Therapy Activities

The new school year is here and Ava is back in her speech therapy group twice a week for 45 minutes. We have a wonderful opportunity to participate in a speech-only program that uses a Hodson Cycles approach to phonological processing therapy which is a great fit for her.

While Michael and I wait, I'll be doing speech therapy with him. That way, I know both children will get at least 90 minutes of therapy a week. I've been busy preparing some materials for Michael.

I did a brief screening with Michael last week. At this point, his /f/ and /v/ production are almost 100% correct at the word level, but he still produces them interdentally at least half the time in conversation. So essentially, his /f/ and /v/ are produced as a /th/. This is ironic, because he substitutes an /f/ for the voiceless /th/ even at the word level. He also substitutes /d/ for the voiced /th/. Those are his only errors. So in summary, his only errors are on /f/, /v/, and /th/ and he often substitutes /f/ for /th/ and vice versa. So, with some encouragement by our private speech therapist we're going to use a minimal pairs approach to working with these sounds.

I made a voiceless /th/ - /f/ minimal pairs set and we're going to begin working with those. Here are the types of activities I'm planning on doing with them. Does anyone have any additional ideas or activities for working with minimal pairs?

Minimal Pairs Therapy Activities

If child is reading, or has good phonological awareness skills, discuss the letter-sound correspondences of the targeted contrasting phonemes first.
Play a sorting game. (For this activity you'll have to cut the pairs in half.) Have the child sort the /f/ words into one pile and the /th/ words into another pile. Add some fun to this game by sorting into fun containers or pretending the cards are eaten by a puppet. If your child is savvy enough to "cheat" by looking at the printed words on the cards, hide the text when they are performing the sorting task.
Auditory bombardment. Have the child put on his or her listening ears. Then read all the /f/ words to the child. Next read all the /th/ words. Finally, read the contrasting pairs -slightly- emphasizing the contrasting phoneme.
Listen and point game (auditory discrimination). Again have your child put on his or her listening ears. Place one contrasting pair set in front of the child. Hide your face behind a piece of paper and say one of the words. The child must point to the word you produce. To make this activity a little harder, use the word with a carrier phrase ("I see a...", "I like the...", etc.).
Matching game. (Cut pairs in half.) Shuffle the cards and have the child sort and match the contrasting pairs.
Memory game. (Cut pairs in half.) Shuffle the cards and lay in grid face down. Play memory using the contrasting pairs and two halves of a match.
Production practice. Practice, practice, practice. Have the child say the words. Say the /f/ words. Then say the /th/ words. Then say the word contrast pairs.
Create-a-sentence. (Cut pairs in half.) Shuffle the cards and draw two to three cards. Make up a sentence using those cards and have the child repeat the sentence. If they can, have the child make up their own sentence.
Create-a-story. (Cut pairs in half.) Shuffle the cards and draw four to six cards. Make up a story using those cards and have the child tell it back to you. If they can, have the child make up their own story.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Voiceless TH / F Minimal Pairs Picture Cards

Voiceless /th/ - /f/ Minimal Pairs Card Set

Description

This articulation picture card set focuses on the contrast between voiceless /th/ and /f/. It would be a great set to use with a child who is substituting voiceless /th/ for /f/ or vice versa. Usually I avoid vocalic /r/ in my card sets, but there are not a lot of these minimal pair contrasts around, so I did include some vocalic /r/ words. There are no consonant blends in this set in order to minimize phonemic complexity.

Key Features

This set includes 14 picture cards (7 th/f minimal pairs) with the target word and picture on the front.
The words are simple in syllable shape and include no consonant blends.
Combines the target sounds with a variety of vowels in order to increase phonemic variety and improve carryover.

Permissions

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

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