Strybook

Tuning Into Speech

This section focuses on the LISTENING part of speech training . . . something I didn't pay enough attention to for a long time. Some kids need a whole lot of good old fashioned Ear Training.

The assignments were originally designed as homework. However I discovered that I like them a lot for regular therapy too. Some pages are suitable for general target sounds and some are specifically designed for the "r" or "s,z" sounds.

There are over 30 more pages like these in the Tuning Into Speech section.

Huh?

Some Possible Therapy Goals:

To develop listening skills and be able to identify the chosen target sound(s) in the speech of others
To develop internal monitoring skills (that "little voice" inside one's head)
To identify target sound(s) in "beginning, middle, or ending" word positions
To keep overachieving parents at bay until their kid matures a little bit

BONUS: These assignments work well in the speech training part of therapy too. Just have the kids SAY their words rather than just listening for the target sound.

.........how about a couple of sample activities?

Sample Activity #1:

Listen Before You Leap
"R" at the beginning
Here are some clues to words that BEGIN with the "rrr" sound. The Speech Kid's job is to listen to the clue and then make a guess as to what the right word would be.
CAUTION: Listen to that little voice inside your brain say the word. Be sure your guess has the "rrr" at the BEGINNING. If it doesn't then
DON'T SAY IT OUT LOUD!
Keep thinking until you get the right word. This is an activity where you have to be careful not to just say the first word that pops into your head. Don't stink up the house with a bunch of bad guesses.
Listen before you leap!

SOME CLUES:

a type of soda pop

a beautiful bow in the sky

something you can listen to

a type of flower

when two words sound alike

and MORE CLUES:

we tie up presents with this fancy string
it falls from the sky
what we call fruits when they are ready to eat
the opposite of "wrong"
they look like mice, but they are much bigger

Sample Activity #2: NOISES
Target sound at the end

Here is the job for you and your family: Think of 10 things that have these two common features: They must have the target sound at the end of the word ... and they must make some kind of a noise.
After somebody writes these things down, see if anybody can imitate the noises well enough so that family members can guess what it is. OK, so it's a goofy idea. Try it anyway. Find out who has hidden talent.
Editor's note: Sometimes this activity can lead to some interesting discussions. One time we spent a lot of time on the subtle differences between a dog's grrrrowl and a lion's rrroarrr. The sound effects coming out of the therapy room must have been interesting to a passer-by.

By the way, try some of these activities out on your language kids. There's nothing wrong with giving them some listening practice either.

   Index

Storybook Therapy

Cheapo    Trivia

Tuning Into Speech

Rhyme Artic

Unwritten Stories

Plan        "B"

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