How to teach the s sound

How to Teach the S Sound by Chicago Speech Therapy

The /s/ sound is made by placing the tip of your tongue just behind the front teeth, very close to the roof of the mouth but not touching it. The sides of the tongue are raised to touch the roof of the mouth, leaving a passage for air down the middle of the tongue. The sides of the tongue should also rest against the side of your teeth, which should be together. Finally, the lips should be parted slightly with the corners drawn up, like a smile. The /s/ sound is unvoiced, so the sound comes purely from the air travelling through the passageway created in your mouth and through your teeth.

This is a trickier sound for kids to make and it is common for children replace it with the /th/ sound. Your child should begin getting the sound by around three years and should have it mastered by age seven or eight. The /s/ sound has a little more leeway in the age by which it needs to be developed, but if your child has trouble pronouncing it, the longer you wait to seek help, the more difficult it will be to remediate the sound. If your child is over eight years old and still has a lisp or other difficulty with the sound, it is highly recommended that you consult with a licensed speech-language pathologist as soon as possible.

At any stage in your child’s language development, practicing articulation at home can be a wonderful activity for you and your child. Schedule specific time to spend working on articulation with your child and take advantage of smaller moments like making dinner or walking to the park to reinforce your practice.

Here are a few speech therapist recommended activities for you and your little one:

• Verbal cues

When you practice a specific sound with your child, begin by pronouncing the sound slowly and clearly for your little one. With a sound like /s/ that does not have an inherent end point, say it one a time, for a few seconds each: “/s/”. This helps your child understand the single sound you will be focusing on, and provides a correct example for her to imitate. As your child masters the individual sound, move on to simple syllables by adding vowels to the /s/: “so, so, so,” “see, see, see,” “sa, sa, sa.” With time and practice, your little one will be able to move on to words and, eventually, sentences and conversation.

• Visual Cues

Often accompanying a sound with a visual cue helps to ground the idea for a child and provides an association for them to remember the sound in the future. When you pronounce the /s/ sound for your child, place your index fingers at the corner of your mouth and pull them back towards your ears as your mouth stretches to make the sound. Encourage your child to do the same each time he pronounces the sound. Practice with a mirror for even more visual feedback.

• Tactile Cues

Speech therapists often use tools similar in size and shape to a tongue depressor or a toothbrush that are specifically designed to help children with the placement of their mouth for certain sounds. Ask a speech-language pathologist about tools like the Speech Buddies for tactile help in improving articulation. These tools are effective, but should only be used with the help of a trained therapist.

• Awesome /s/ Activities

The /s/ sound is particularly fun because it is the “snake sound”. Put your hands together with the palms flat and facing each other, then move your arms side to side as though you are a snake. Encourage your child to do the same and slither around the house together making the /s/ sound. Create games and challenges for your little snake; he must name and then eat every object he finds that begins with /s/, or he must introduce himself to all the family members as “I am Sam, the slimy, slithering snake!” Kids love these activities and they are a great way to reinforce the /s/ sound!

S Sound Articulation Therapy Guide

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Jan 15, 2022 As a speech pathologist that works with little kids all of the time, one of the biggest sounds that I work with is the “S” sound.

An articulation disorder or speech sound disorder is when a child has problems making speech sounds properly. One typical articulation error kids make is the /s/ sound.

To produce a clear /s/ sound, the tongue is raised high in the mouth to almost touching the alveolar ridge, the roof of the mouth. This action by the tongue should create a groove in the center of the tongue through which the air flows. Because the tongue constricts the space through which the breath stream travels, the /s/ sound should have a faint hissing quality to it.

If your child is having a difficult time reaching this position, you can stick some peanut butter or marshmallow behind their teeth so that your child can raise their tongue to hit the spot where the sound is created!

To produce a clear /s/ sound the tongue is raised high in the mouth to almost touching the alveolar ridge, the roof of the mouth.

Let’s Start with These

When working on this sound, I print out a picture of Sammy the Snake. It’s a very simple picture that isn’t distracting for young children. If you don’t like this picture, you can easily google “plain snakes” and a multitude of pictures will come up that you can use. 

As your child traces the snake’s body, give them the /s/ sound to produce. In order to produce any sound in conversation, they have to be able to say it in isolation, or by itself. 

You can also read a list of words that have the letter “s” in it. When your child hears the sound produced correctly, they can hold up the snake! This is a great activity because it will teach your child discrimination skills for when they are producing the sound independently. 

Where to find some words? You will find hundreds more on Word Vault Essential where you can take data and play the words aloud. This is great to use right now while access to speech pathologists is restricted due to the pandemic. You’ll be able to determine if your child has gained progress and if you can move on to the syllable level of production.

Once the child is stimulable for the /s/ sound, have them use it continually for many seconds at a time. You can add vowel sounds such as, /a,e,i,o,u/. For example, have your child say “sa, sa, sa” as they trace the body of the snake. 

Have them hold the sound as they trace their finger all the way down Sammy the Snake’s body.

You can also do something reinforcing while they say the sound, like blowing one bubble at a time. When the bubble pops, the child can stop saying the sound.

The “s” sound is a great sound to work on because it’s so accessible in the English language. One of my favorite activities I do with any articulation sound is a sensory bin. You can even use a cardboard box for this activity if you don’t have a plastic bin at home. Fill it with rice or noodles and place small toys inside of it that correspond to the letter you are working towards. You can find these small toys at the dollar store. As your child pulls out the toy, have them repeat it three times to make sure they are producing the sound correctly. 

Show Visual and Audio Cues with the Help of Speech Blubs 

Speech Blubs App has multiple activities that you can use to target specific speech sounds. The games are fun and highly engagable so your child won’t even realize that they are working on speech sounds!

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To practice making the S consonant here is the list of sections and words in them that you can practice with your child:

• Wild Animals: Seal, Skunk, Horse, Mouse, Fish.
• Petting ZOO: Fish, Sheep, Horse, Skunk, Mouse.
• Outdoor Wonders: Grass, Ice, Seed, Summer, Storm, Spring, Sun.
• Living Colors: Silver.  
• Yummy Time: Soup, Rice, Pizza, Cheese. 
• Toy Box: Swing, Tricycle, Slide, Puppets, Dice.
• When I grow up: Dancer, Policeman, Astronaut.
• We are Family: Sister.
• Get into Shapes: Square, Circle, Cross, Star.
• Numbers and me: Six, Seven, Sixteen, Seventeen. 
• School Rocks: Eraser, Bus, School, Desk. 
• This is my Body: Ears, Nose, Skull, Lips, Eyes.
• Ride your Wheels: Motorcycle, Bus, Bicycle, Stop.
• Dinorawrs: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Apatosaurus.
• Universe: Astronaut, Sun, Mars, Saturn, Uranus, Galaxy. 

How to Play Articulation Bingo?

1. Use the button below to download our Articulation Bingo Board
2. Print out the board and give it to your child or cut out the pictures and put them into a bag
3. Let your child pick a word from the board/bag 
4. Find the word in Speech Blubs App and practice it, play with fun filters, and watch educational videos
5. Your child is a winner when he practices three pictures in a row (across, down, or horizontally) or the entire board

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Download Articulation Bingo Here

I typically play “word sandwich” once my kids get to this level. You can use play pieces of bread or just two brightly covered pieces of paper. Inside the “bread,” put pictures of objects that have “s.” Have your child say the sentence, “Today, I’m making a _____ sandwich.” 

Another activity you can do is print out a picture of Superman and Superwoman. Have your child walk around your house or outside and say things like, “Superman is sitting on the _____.” If you can find objects that have the “s” sound in them, like the sink, that’s even better! Sticking with the superhero theme, you can make diagrams about what superheroes do . . . they save people, they soar through the sky, they have secret identities.

If your child has difficulties with other sounds, here are the articles that can help you with speech therapy and articulation activities ideas:

• Articulation Therapy: An All-in-One Guide for Parents
• B Sound Articulation Therapy
• H Sound Articulation Therapy
• JJ and CH Sounds Articulation Therapy
• L Sound Articulation Therapy
• Lisp Articulation Therapy
• M Sound Articulation Therapy
• N Sound Articulation Therapy
• NG Sound Articulation Therapy
• R Sound Articulation Therapy
• SH Sound Articulation Therapy
• T and D Sounds Articulation Therapy
• W Sound Articulation Therapy

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Articulation disorders

The author’s views are entirely his or her own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Blub Blub Inc. All content provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for independent professional medical judgement, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

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A few tips on how to teach a child to speak the letter s

Contents

1. How to properly conduct speech therapy classes with a child? Tips and tricks for parents
2. How is work on sound pronunciation organized?
3. Articulation gymnastics and its peculiarities
4. “Hit the ball into the goal”
5. “Naughty tongue”
6. Wide tongue

Quite often, parents complain that children face problems when pronouncing sounds that are difficult for them. As a rule, hissing sounds are the greatest difficulty for them; in particular, the questions of parents are related to how to teach a child to pronounce the letters “s”, “k” and others correctly. The development of this skill should be given due attention in childhood. nine0003 Sound C - problematic pronunciation

Despite the fact that most parents seek speech therapy help most often when the child is already 5 years old, most pediatricians agree that work on sound pronunciation should be started much earlier.

This will not allow mispronunciation of the sound to take hold. To carry out such activities, it is not at all necessary to have special skills - it is enough to learn only a few simple tricks. nine0003 Tips for pronunciation of the sound C

How to teach a child to speak hissing sounds, including the letter c? Any parent can provide simple speech therapy assistance to a child. However, the success of the events will largely depend on how well they are carried out.

If the child does not have complex speech disorders and can pronounce most of the sounds, home remedial classes with the parent will be quite enough to bring the sound pronunciation back to normal. In this case, the correct setting of the sound will be achieved by automating pronunciation. nine0003 Speech therapy classes should be started as soon as possible

Exercises to develop sound pronunciation skills are useful not only for children with certain speech problems, but also for quite healthy ones, due to the fact that they perfectly develop the articulatory apparatus, making it more mobile and flexible.

In the event that a child has more serious pronunciation disorders, and in speech he makes a large number of grammatical errors, solving the problem on his own is still quite risky. And, the sooner parents turn to a speech therapist for help in solving the problem, the more benefit it will bring to the child. And the easier it will be to teach him pronunciation and speak correctly. nine0003

How is the work on sound pronunciation structured?

• First you need to find out which speech organs are involved in the pronunciation of sounds that cause problems for the child. You will need to work on them first of all with the help of articulatory gymnastics for one or another letter.
• Stage of direct sound production.
• The stage of amplifying the sound and learning it in special speech therapy verses, texts, songs, etc.

Let's consider in more detail how to teach a child to pronounce the letter s easily and freely.

Articulatory gymnastics and its features

As a rule, difficulties in pronouncing the sound “s” are associated with insufficient mobility of the organs of the articulatory apparatus. This must be done with the help of specially organized gymnastics. What is the best way to conduct classes?

1. A strict sequence of exercises and regularity are the main principles that ensure the effectiveness of exercises for the organs of speech. It is best to use ready-made sets of exercises that teach you to pronounce certain sounds. They are selected taking into account the age and other characteristics of the child
2. In order for the child to more willingly participate in the lesson, it is best to teach him to speak in a playful way, supplementing him with interesting riddles for the desired letter, songs, nursery rhymes and jokes
3. Do not overload your child with exercises. It is better to do no more than 2-3 in one lesson, but with multiple repetitions - it is easier to teach a child something new.
4. It is possible to introduce new exercises with the letter “s” only after the child has already properly mastered all the previous ones and copes with them without much effort
5. In order for the child to have the opportunity to see and correctly understand the technique of the exercises proposed to him and pronounce the sounds, it is best to use the mirror
for classes
6. When performing exercises, it is important to monitor the symmetry of the child's face, the accuracy and smoothness of movements, and the correct pace. Without this, the effectiveness of the exercises will be minimized.

Useful advice: Before starting articulation gymnastics, you need to do several exercises in order to “warm up” the organs of speech: a simple smile, stretching your lips with a tube or a ring, raising your tongue will prepare them well for the exercises and improve your student's results. nine0003

After that, you can start the articulation gymnastics itself (in this case, we will consider the complex of Fomicheva M.V.). Such exercises should teach the child the correct pronunciation.

“Drive the ball into the goal”

The exercise teaches the child to direct the stream of air and pronounce hissing sounds. Improvised "gates" of cubes are installed on the table. The task of the child is to drive a cotton ball (“ball”) into them, stretching his lips forward and directing a stream of air at him. It is important that at the same time the child does not puff out his cheeks, and the action is carried out in one step. nine0003

"Naughty tongue"

This exercise allows you to relax your tongue and form a directed air flow. The child puts the tongue on the lower lip and, holding the mouth slightly open, says "five-five-five." It is important that the lip on which the tongue lies does not tuck, and the air flow goes as smoothly as possible, without interruptions.

Wide tongue

The wide edge of the tongue is placed on the lower lip and held in this position for up to 5-10 seconds. In this case, the organs of the articulatory apparatus should be as relaxed as possible, and the smile should be free from tension. nine0003

Advice to parents: Be patient and try to treat these activities as an exciting game.

Remember that your baby is improving, for him this is something new, which he does for the first time in his life. Try to understand that for him this is connected with serious efforts, and the more interesting this activity will be for him, the greater your chances of a quick result.

Articulatory gymnastics exercises that teach you to pronounce sounds are quite complex and unusual for a child. That is why you should not expect that he will complete them the first time and completely without errors. In order to teach a child to speak correctly, you need to think over a lesson-game plan. And in case of failure, do not scold him - it is better to support him and offer to try again. Over time, the child will learn both the letter and the corresponding sound. nine0091

How to teach a child to speak the sound c and other whistling sounds correctly

How to teach a child to speak the sound c and other whistling sounds correctly: articulatory gymnastics, staging sound s, video - a demonstration of simple and affordable ways to set sound s, songs with sound from

Many children mistakenly pronounce the sound C and other whistling sounds that are difficult for them (s. z, z, ts). They can skip this sound or replace it with other sounds. nine0091 In the norm of speech development, by the age of five, children correctly pronounce all the sounds of their native language a (with the possible exception of the sound p, which may appear a little later - at 5.5 years). But now, few of the children reach this norm. What is the reason?
1. Previously, in every kindergarten, from the age of three until graduation from kindergarten, articulation gymnastics was regularly held with all children before breakfast, and in the evening - individual exercises with children who find it difficult to pronounce sound. And this was not done by a speech therapist, but by the most ordinary trained educator! And these were not isolated complexes, exercises and games, but a strictly substantiated system of teaching speech and pronunciation of sounds. Because problems cannot be solved without a system. Now this is already history, and it is rare where you can find such a clearly and consistently built system for the work of a teacher on sound pronunciation with kids. Perhaps that is why modern children have more problems with speech. nine0091 2. Parents now pay much less attention to the speech of their children. Often the child is required only to show something: “Where is Saturn? Where is Jupiter? Where is the Hermitage?” rather than the ability to express YOUR thoughts, YOUR feelings. Very often I hear: “What difference does it make what he says. The main thing is that you can understand it, and that's it! But speech is a means of self-expression, communication, knowledge. And the success of all types of human activity depends on its development.

How can I help my child if he mispronounces the sound c and other whistling sounds? Can parents help a child? nine0086
That's right, parents wait for the age of 5 and then take the baby to a speech therapist. Although sometimes one push is enough, which will cause the correct sound in the child and help to fix it in speech, without waiting for the age of five. And this “push” should be done not at the age of 5-6, when they were already late, but much earlier - at the age of 4. And most importantly, you don't need to be an expert to give such an impetus! You just need to know the exact technology teaching babies sound pronunciation and its nuances.
To form the correct pronunciation of all the sounds of the native language in kindergartens, special sound pronunciation classes are held for all children (Note - not even in speech therapy kindergartens, but in the most ordinary kindergartens, sound pronunciation classes should be regularly held). If for some reason there are no such classes, then at home you can help the baby.
I know many mothers and grandmothers who, living far away from a speech therapist, coped with the problem of difficult sounds themselves and helped their babies. And I know many educators who can prevent speech disorders and help the child speak correctly and learn to pronounce all the sounds of his native speech. We are all able to help the baby and tell him the right way! nine0091 But I want to warn you:
• If the child does not have complex speech disorders, then the techniques that I will describe in this article will be enough. And he will please both you and himself with the correct sound suddenly appearing in his speech with or z. And there are many such children! The only task left is to make the correct pronunciation of the sound automatic, i. automate the correct pronunciation of a given sound.
• But if a child's sounds are disturbed, he makes many grammatical errors, his speech is slurred, he speaks with difficulty, then a speech therapist is indispensable. nine0129 And the sooner you see a specialist, the better the results will be.
• All articulation exercises are useful not only for children whose sound pronunciation is impaired, but for all preschoolers, because. they develop the articulatory apparatus, make it more mobile, flexible, teach them to control it consciously.