ARK's Blog

. .  This young man has conquered /ch/ both alone and in sentences. Since he can say /ch/, /sh/ is a breeze from here. So I had him say /ch/ in isolation, and then just prolong it. I told him to "hang on to the ch." For a visual and tactile activity to go with this, I had him roll a toy car along the racetrack on our hallway wall to demonstrate that sh is prolonged. It's hard …

Speech therapists have a variety of classifications / categories for speech sounds.  One such category is voiced versus unvoiced phonemes.  Voiced phonemes are sounds made when the vocal folds vibrate.  Unvoiced phonemes are sounds that do not require the vocal folds to vibrate.   . As an example, say "sss" and then "zzz," listen and feel the difference.  'S' r …

The tongue is connected to the jaw, so wherever the jaw goes, the tongue follows. Speech sounds are properly articulated when the jaw and tongue are at midline and symmetrical. So if the jaw and tongue slide left or right as you talk, it can cause a lateral lisp and unclear/slushy speech. Having control over your jaw is also important for biting and chewing skills, for holding your jaw in …