Once a child has started working with a Speech-Pathologist, and have shown some consistency in therapy, the child will be working on a target sound. The child will now need support outside of the therapy environment in order to produce that target sound correctly. You can help this student in generalizing this sound in the classroom.
5 Tools for Classroom Teachers to Generalize an Articulation Target:
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Model the Sound, Not the Letter.
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Ex: “Ruby, Let’s hear your RRRRrr Sound” as opposed to “Ruby, can you say the ‘R’ again?”
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Hot List.
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Create a list of 3-5 words that are frequently used words in the classroom that contain the child’s target sound. Reinforce the child’s production of those 3-5 words each time they occur.
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Ex: If the child’s target sound is /th/ you might choose:
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Math
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Bathroom
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Thursday
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Highlight It.
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During worksheet activities, or written assignments, highlight the target sound for the child each time it occurs. This will increase the child’s awareness and attention to that target sound.
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Buddy Up
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The therapist may provide a list of words the child is targeting in therapy. You might Buddy your Articulation Student up with another child who has mastered the target sound. Encourage the 2 friends to practice the word list together as a consistent time in the schedule each day.
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Secret Visual Cues:
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The key here to to ask the child to think of a cue that he thinks would work as a reminder for him. This could be a subtle visual cue, such as scratching your nose. The teacher can ;scratch her nose’ when the target sound appears.
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