How to teach a child to say letters without “swallowing” and to correctly pronounce the letters R and L?
If it is difficult for your child to pronounce R or L, then a special set of exercises to strengthen the muscles of the tongue, classes for the correct pronunciation of letters in syllables and syllables, as well as useful children's tongue twisters to improve diction will help solve this problem.
One of the most common problems that parents of preschoolers face is how to teach their child to pronounce letters correctly. Usually, for a very long time, children fail to correctly pronounce the “tricky” letters R and L. And in this article we will teach you step by step how to conduct classes with your child to improve diction and correct pronunciation of letters. After you carefully familiarize yourself with the methods that will help you teach your child to pronounce the letters r and l, the child may not need the help of a pediatric speech therapist at all.
The “difficult” letter P for most children remains resistant to mastering longer than all other letters. As a rule, problems with the correct pronunciation of the letter P appear at a time when the baby’s speech is just beginning to develop, at the stage of basic development. You cannot waste this time and put off learning how to pronounce letters correctly so that the child develops the skills to express his thoughts in well-delivered speech and so that burr does not take hold.
When teaching your child to correctly pronounce the letters R and L, it is important to organize classes correctly: Do not overtire the child, study with him no more than 15 minutes daily; Teaching the skills of correct pronunciation of letters should be organized in a playful way; The tone in the process of teaching a child should not be intrusive and must be friendly.
So, with the help of the 6 steps below, you can teach your child to pronounce the letter r correctly:
STEP ONE
Preparation for classes: facial massage
Before teaching your child to say letters correctly, we will give him a massage to warm up his facial muscles. The baby is facing you, his eyes are directly opposite yours. We do the massage and voice all the actions: Slowly and gently stroke the superciliary area of the baby’s forehead with warm fingertips and at the same time say: “This is how much we love ourselves, this is how reverently we love ourselves...” Then we begin to gently massage the wings of the nose and move our fingers in the direction of the maxillary sinuses sinuses, at the same time we say: “Oh, what a nice little nose we have, what a cute snub nose we have...” After this, smooth the baby’s skin around the cheekbones, lips, cheeks and up to the ears with massaging movements, and then in the opposite direction. Say at the same time: “Sponges, our lips, break into a smile! Our mouth is a mouth, it is not silent at all! Our ears are our ears, you are always on top!”
STEP TWO
Warm-up exercises
We have already given the baby a warming massage for the facial muscles. Let's start with the first exercises.
The child is still facing you, his posture is straight and his eyes are at the level of yours.
These exercises will help to thoroughly strengthen the baby’s tongue muscles and will contribute to the development of forced vibration of the very tip of the tongue.
Ask your baby to alternately touch the lower and upper teeth with the tip of his tongue (30-40 times).
Then the baby sharply slaps his tongue on the area of the palate, where the upper row of teeth is located, while pronouncing the letter D. Be sure to demonstrate all the actions so that the baby accurately performs the exercises.
Further. Ask your baby to stick out his tongue a little while keeping his lips closed. The child strongly pushes air out of his mouth, and by inertia the tip of the tongue should vibrate. In subsequent exercises, the baby will independently learn to reproduce this sound without pushing air out of his mouth.
STEP THREE
Basic exercises to improve tongue mobility and strengthen the skills of correctly pronouncing the letter r
* Now let’s introduce more game elements into training. Ask the child to show his tongue - let him relax it a little and wag it with a sound coming out between his teeth, as if teasing. Then arrange a competition with your baby to see which of you can stick out his tongue further.
* An excellent activity that will help your baby quickly learn to pronounce the letter P is to imitate the clatter of horse hooves, characteristically clicking your tongue. Teach your child to click his tongue and ask him to repeat these sounds fifteen times.
* How to learn to pronounce the letter r in a playful way using a proven method? An excellent exercise - the baby moves his thumb in different directions, placing it under the tongue. At the same time, the child tries to pronounce the letter P (growl like a running car engine).
* Another good exercise with which in a playful way you can master the correct pronunciation of the letter P and strengthen the muscles of the tongue. Ask your baby to show a smile by spreading his lips wider and using the tip of his tongue to “clean” the teeth, first from the outside and then from the inside. It is advisable to repeat the exercise 20-25 times. The lower jaw should not move.
STEP FOUR
How to teach a child to pronounce all letters, including R? We continue to strengthen the muscles of the tongue and develop its mobility.
– Ask the child to open his mouth wider and show his teeth. The sides of the tongue are located on the molars, and the tip is on the surface of the front teeth. Ask your child to make the tongue “strong” for ten seconds, and then relax for a while. Repeat the exercise with your baby (6-7 times).
– This exercise to strengthen the tongue muscles will be a little more difficult for the baby. But having mastered it, the child will quickly learn to pronounce the letters r and l correctly. The exercise is as follows - the baby seems to “suck” the surface of the tongue to the palate, and then “tears” it away from the palate with a characteristic click. We do this exercise ten times at a slow pace, then speed up and slow down again (a total of 30-35 repetitions at different paces).
– Now ask the child to slightly open his lips and lightly bite the tip of the tongue (15-20 repetitions)
– The final exercise to strengthen the muscles of the tongue - the baby blows air with force, while the tongue is between the lips. It is advisable to ensure that the tongue vibrates.
STEP FIVE
And now we move on from “physical education” exercises for the language to mastering the skills of correctly pronouncing the letter P in different syllables and short combinations.
First, rehearse with your child the skill of correctly pronouncing R in an open syllable - ro, ra. Then try to pronounce R with hard consonants - dr, tr. When the baby consolidates these skills, move on to learning how to correctly pronounce words (short ones known to the child) with these syllables. These exercises sharpen the technique of correct speech and help teach a child to pronounce the letter r.
STEP SIX
Children's tongue twisters for the development of speech and diction in a child.
If your child already knows how to pronounce the letter P quite well, but sometimes (during a conversation) he “chews” it or pronounces it incorrectly, then it’s time to introduce your child to tongue twisters.
Popular tongue twisters remarkably eliminate speech defects, relieve a child of tongue-tiedness, promote the development of skills in correct pronunciation of letters and words, and are considered the most effective method of “honing” the articulation of different sounds.
If your baby can already memorize short nursery rhymes, then you can start learning tongue twisters. But you need to learn tongue twisters by heart step by step - first, the baby repeats the tongue twister (after you) very slowly. In this case, the child must understand the meaning of the text being memorized. We gradually increase the pace of pronouncing the tongue twister, but you must correct articulation and diction. Below you will find the most suitable tongue twisters with which you can teach your child to pronounce letters, including the “complex” letter P:
5 EXERCISES WITH WHICH YOUR BABY WILL LEARN TO PRONUNCIATE THE LETTER L
Before you teach your child to say letters, do not forget that a preschooler learns the material more easily in a playful form of learning. Sometimes a baby does not pronounce the letter L correctly for quite a long time. There are effective exercises to solve this problem. The method is in many ways similar to practicing the skills of correct pronunciation of the letter P
It is advisable to perform each exercise for ten seconds 5-7 times. The whole complex - 3 times from start to finish step by step. (daily 2 times)
Exercise 1
We practice the skill of lifting the tongue up and strengthen the muscles of the tongue. Ask your child to show you his teeth with a wide smile. The child's tongue touches the palate and clicks, like a horse hooves on the asphalt.
Exercise 2
We “sharpen” the baby’s skill of making his tongue wide, developing the ability to quickly tense and relax the muscles of the tongue. Ask the child to open his mouth slightly and stick his tongue out far, and then place it on the lower lip with a wide edge. Ask your baby to hold his tongue in this position for 5 seconds.
Exercise 3
Now we teach the child to exhale air in thin streams along the edges of the tongue. Opening his mouth slightly, the child lightly bites the tip of his tongue with his front teeth and begins to blow, increasing the pace and strength. Control the strength and direction of the air stream using a light feather (don’t forget about the play element in teaching a small child)
Exercise 4
We practice the baby’s skill of quickly changing the position of the tongue. This exercise is necessary to strengthen the muscles of the tongue so that the baby can easily and quickly connect the letter L with different vowels - U, A, O, Y
the child opens his mouth slightly, presses the tip of his tongue firmly against the base of the upper teeth from the inside, and then quickly changes the position of the tongue, resting its tip against the base of the lower teeth. At first the exercise is performed slowly, then we speed up the pace.
Exercise 5
Now we move on to learning the correct pronunciation of the letter L in words and syllables. Words and syllables (lu-lu-lu-lu, la-la-la-la, lo-lo-lo-lo, la-lo-lu-la-lo-lu) are even better to sing rather than pronounce. After this, open a children's book with pictures, the objects in which contain the letter L in their names in different combinations with other letters. Let the child try to tell something about each object so that its name appears in every sentence.
Now you know how to correctly and quickly teach a child to pronounce “complex” letters, including the letters R and L. Let’s highlight 3 key points that form the foundation for developing a child’s pronunciation skills of different letters: exercises to strengthen the muscles of the tongue and its mobility , teaching a child the correct pronunciation of a particular letter in different syllables, learning tongue twisters and repeating them frequently (slowly-fastly). If your child does not succeed in something, do not move on to the next stage of training, but continue to practice skills in the exercises where you stopped.
The importance of correcting speech therapy disorders
There are various violations of the production of sound C, but most often speech therapists record the following:
- sigmatism - the baby distorts the sound C, for example, pronounces it as Сь;
- parasigmatism - replacement of a whistling sound with others, for example, hissing.
The process of producing any sound in speech therapy is special, as it is aimed at the simultaneous development of vision, central nervous system and fine motor skills. Techniques for producing the C sound are no exception, as they are aimed at ensuring that the baby automatically pronounces this whistling sound both in different combinations and in isolation.
It is very important to teach your child to correctly pronounce the letter C, since any speech deviations negatively affect the central nervous system. In particular, problems with sound production can cause the following diseases:
- dyslexia - reading disorder. The child does not understand how letters can be put together into a coherent text;
- dysgraphia - a disorder of written speech, rearrangement or replacement of letters while writing words;
- dyslalia - serious speech therapy disorders of the pronunciation of sounds.
Why do children pronounce R incorrectly?
- Pay attention to the speech of people with whom your child comes into contact.
Perhaps the baby is imitating incorrect pronunciation.
- Shortened frenulum or hyoid ligament.
If you are not involved in medicine, seek advice from specialists who will suggest correction methods.
tonguetie.net
In simple cases, the frenulum can be stretched using articulation exercises. The process is labor-intensive and lengthy. You may be advised to trim the shortened ligament. The procedure is unpleasant, but safe.
- Presence of adenoids and other physiological problems.
- Phonemic hearing disorders.
Perhaps the baby simply does not differentiate the unfortunate sound from others. Play the game: I will say the words, and you clap your hands when you hear R.
Articulation of sound C
To pronounce this sound correctly, the tongue muscle must be placed in the correct position. The correct articulation of the C sound is as follows:
- relaxed tongue, lips slightly stretched in a slight smile;
— the teeth are slightly open (the gap between them should not exceed 2 mm);
- the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the teeth;
- the middle of the lingual muscle is raised to the hard palate;
- the soft palate is slightly raised and overlaps the nasopharynx;
- the tongue tip rests on the front incisors of the lower jaw;
- the ligaments are relaxed, there is no vocal vibration;
— air flow supply. This must be done with effort, feeling how the air moves along the depression in the tongue.
To check the correct articulation, just bring your palm to the mouth area. If everything is done correctly, you will feel a cool breath of air on your palm.
In the correct articulatory position, the tongue acquires a tubercle in the middle and a hollow near the incisors. If the baby could not part with a pacifier or bottle for a long time, then, most likely, his tongue will be flatter with a weakly defined hollow. In this case, and also if there is no hollow at all, the air stream does not appear, and the child experiences speech therapy disorders of whistling sounds.
Cause of burr
There are several reasons for the inability to correctly pronounce the sound “r”, the presence of which is worth paying attention to in order to subsequently eliminate the problem:
Low level of mobility of the speech apparatus. What does it mean? This condition can occur with low or, conversely, excessive tone of the facial muscles. Chances are you haven't seen your baby grimace much. And in this case, this lesson will just help you! Antics will serve as a kind of “gymnastics” for the face - curl your lips and tongue with a tube, stretch your smile wide “to your ears,” check how long your tongues are by trying to reach your nose and chin with them, move your jaws, and just have fun, friend in front of a friend or in front of a mirror.
- Short hyoid frenulum. Because of it, the tongue simply does not reach the roof of the mouth to be able to growl. This phenomenon is diagnosed by a speech therapist or surgeon. To eliminate the problem, they may prescribe special exercises for the tongue, which will help stretch it, or they may trim it a little.
- Phonemic hearing, namely its impairment. A child’s incorrect perception of adult speech leads to its distortion in his own performance. As an example, the word “love” is perceived by ear as “love”, “stick” as “beam” and vice versa, and so on. This can also be facilitated by the deliberate mispronunciation of adults when they “soften” hard sounds, as if copying the kid's funny and absurd pronunciation.
- Incorrect speech breathing. This type of breathing is disrupted by a runny nose, enlarged adenoids, immune diseases and diseases of the cardiovascular system. In this case, in addition to speech therapy exercises, individual physical exercises are prescribed.
- Throat "r". When trying to pronounce words correctly, the baby could get an easier version of pronunciation through trembling of the laryngeal uvula (in the French manner). In this case, retraining is necessary.
Having figured out the reason for the incorrect pronunciation and found out that it does not have serious origins that require mandatory medical intervention, you can try to help the baby yourself, following a certain course of action.
- Do not immediately set a difficult task for your baby. First, practice pronouncing the letter itself, having previously done the so-called articulatory gymnastics described below. When the first stage is consolidated, move on to the next one - pronounce the letter in syllables, then in words, and then you can learn tongue twisters to practice speech.
- Conduct regular classes with your child, otherwise the effect of the work done will be zero.
It is difficult to force young children to do something against their will, especially systematically. Turn your training into a game, and then you will achieve a positive result much faster, since the baby will learn with enthusiasm. Let him also make faces in front of the mirror. Be tolerant. In this painstaking work, success will not come to you immediately. It may take many weeks and months to achieve this.
It is important not to discourage your child from doing anything at all with your impatience and irritability. And even more so, God forbid you intimidate him!
How to teach a child to pronounce the sound C
Exercises to develop phonemic awareness allow you to teach your child to pronounce the letter C. A qualified speech therapist will help you choose the right tasks for this. In addition, a qualified specialist will make a conclusion whether the child is ready for classes or not. In order for a baby to pronounce the sound C, he must distinguish sounds such as D, T, V, F.
Most often, a speech therapist recommends developing phonemic hearing with the help of sound-imitating exercises. The essence of the task is as follows: the child is offered several images:
- shower;
- punctured car tire;
- a balloon from which air descends.
The baby must reproduce the sounds that he associates with the pictures. Images must be selected taking into account the age category of the child. All objects depicted should be familiar and understandable to the baby. This simple exercise clearly shows your baby the difference between the sounds: hard C and soft Cb.
At the preparatory stage, you will need to practice exercises that train the skill of releasing an air stream with effort. To do this, the baby must take in as much air as possible, form a tube with his lips and blow with effort. At a younger age, a child can control the air stream with a piece of cotton wool or a feather, and older children can control it with the palm of their hand.
After mastering the ability to control the flow of air, you need to teach the child to feel the tongue muscle, what position it occupies when pronouncing the sound C and the sound Cb. For this, exercises that train the flexibility and mobility of the tongue muscle are suitable, for example, the following:
- push your tongue forward and place it on your lower lip;
- place a match or a small stick in place of the groove along the tongue and press on it until a groove appears.
When performing this exercise, you need to open your mouth wide and round your lips. You can try to complicate the task, for example, forcefully release an air stream in this position or perform the exercise without a stick. Systematic and long-term repetition of exercises will help to consolidate the results.
If, after completing the preparatory exercises, the child is unable to correctly pronounce the sound C, then it is necessary to consult with a speech therapist again, repeat the preparatory exercises, and only after that can one proceed to the exercise for automating sound production.
How to organize speech therapy classes at home: 5 tips for parents
- Before asking your child to perform an exercise, carefully rehearse it yourself in front of a mirror. You must clearly understand which position of the lips and tongue is correct and which needs to be corrected.
- Classes are more effective the more regularly they are held. If possible, exercise every day, preferably at the same time. Of course, it is necessary to choose a moment in the baby’s daily routine when the baby will be cheerful, cheerful and ready for work that requires a certain concentration.
- The activities should interest the child. You can’t force a toddler because you won’t achieve positive results. Based on the voiced exercises, come up with new stories that are close to your baby. Involve his favorite toys in the exercises. Show your pedagogical creativity!
- Be careful! Improper work on sound pronunciation can result in the development of speech defects. If your activities do not bear the expected fruits or, even worse, lead to regression, seek professional help from a competent speech therapist.
- Having achieved good, correct pronunciation, do not forget about the need to automate the sounds. Without this stage, the child's speech may return to the level before the start of classes. Learn speech therapy rhymes and songs with your baby, read special fairy tales and play word games, focusing on sounds that require special attention.
Happy parenting, friends!
Sound production With imitation method
For minor speech therapy problems in the pronunciation of whistling sounds, you can try the imitation method. Children often repeat sounds made by adults or animals, so imitation can be a very effective method for teaching a child to pronounce C. It is necessary to sit the child near the mirror and show him how the organs of the articulatory apparatus move during the sound production of hard C and soft Cb. Let the baby repeat all the actions of an adult and try to pronounce sounds on his own. Frequent repetition of the imitation exercise will help you create difficult-to-pronounce sounds.
Diagnosis of D pronunciation in preschoolers
The articulatory apparatus in young children is not yet sufficiently developed, which makes it difficult to pronounce. Children confuse the letters D and T, D and B, D and G, distort the sound, or are unable to pronounce sounds at all.
Speech skills are developed between the ages of 2 and 5 years. After this period, the child’s conversation becomes more confident and retraining becomes more difficult. Therefore, it is important to promptly identify difficulties in pronunciation and work to eliminate them.
Diagnosis at home can be done as follows:
- Show the child pictures that depict words with problematic letters: cake, tiger, telephone, cloud, cart, melon, road, children, tree, house, squirrel;
- Let your baby repeat after you words that contain the letter D;
- You can also ask him to find from the proposed pictures those that the adult names.
With this simple test, you will determine in which words your baby clearly pronounces D, and whether he actually confuses the sounds. After this, you can contact a speech therapist or start training yourself.
Articulatory gymnastics for producing the sound C
Completing this part of the lessons is very important for the correct pronunciation of difficult sounds, as this allows you to strengthen the baby’s articulatory apparatus and quickly achieve the desired result.
Speech therapists offer the following exercises to develop articulation:
- a wide smile, as when pronouncing the sound I - lips are stretched, teeth are open;
- whistle - clench your teeth, stretch your lips into a tube and forcefully release an air stream. Over time, you can rhythmically alternate between a wide smile and a whistle. This will allow better control of the speech apparatus;
- brush your teeth - stretch your lips in an open smile, move the tip of your tongue immediately along the upper row of teeth, then along the lower row. You need to drive from bottom to top, then left to right;
- clock pendulum - open your lips in a smile and use the tip of your tongue to make pendulum movements to the corners of your mouth, while the lower jaw should be motionless;
- swing - relax your tongue and try as much as possible to reach the tip of the nose, and then the chin. At the same time, it is important to ensure that the tongue remains flat and the lips do not stretch. This exercise trains high mobility of the tongue muscle.
Analysis of a child’s speech and exercises for its development
You need to have a well-formed speech apparatus in order to speak correctly and beautifully. This is a profitable business, and the sooner you start training to develop it, the better the result you will get.
A good pronunciation of the letter “P” can be achieved by doing exercises with a child aged 5-6 years. At 12 it’s already more difficult: you will need professional help from a speech therapist, but studying at home is always welcome.
Then move on to "L". It needs to be reprimanded firmly. From a solid “L” it is easiest to move to “P”, since the tongue is placed almost equally in the palate. Only the letter "P" requires vibration of the tip of the tongue.
An exercise to stretch the hyoid frenulum will help you stop burring.
