Talking to an adult is as natural as breathing or walking. We pronounce sounds and put them into words on the machine, thinking only about the content of speech. Children also learn the sounds of speech unconsciously - in imitation, but they are not yet fixed in their speech. Sometimes this process can be disturbed. What prevents a child from making a specific sound or, in general, speaking clearly and distinctly?
Articulation Bodies
Speech is a complex motor act. It involves the organs of respiration, voice formation and articulation, that is, the pronunciation of sounds. The latter are interesting to us. Active and passive organs of articulation are distinguished. Passive ones remain in place, but due to their location and shape, the desired sound can be pronounced. Active are in constant motion and change their position and shape. Passive organs of articulation include hard palate, teeth. The active ones are the tongue, lips, lower jaw, soft palate with a small tongue. The main organs of articulation, on the position of which the pronunciation of sound depends, are the tongue and lips. They consist of many muscles, and these muscles, like any others, can be trained with the help of speech therapy exercises for clear speech. It is especially important to develop coordination of their movements, to form the skill to give the tongue and lips the desired position.
How sounds are broken
Why are some sounds broken more often than others? There are sounds - “champions” of violations: these are whistling (S, W, C), hissing (W, W, W, H) and R. Also, the pronunciation of the sound of L. can be violated. These sounds can be distorted - simply put, the sound is pronounced in a lisp or burr. And speech therapists have special terms for this. For example, can be lateral when air goes from one side of the tongue, labial-labial, similar to a snort. Sound can also be skipped or replaced with similar ones. For example, often P is replaced by L or W by C. In children's speech, such replacements are much more diverse.
Why are some sounds harder than others? Vowel sounds do not require complex language movements. When pronounced, air passes easily and freely through the mouth. Therefore, they are usually not violated, there is only a fuzzy and blurred pronunciation, especially O and Y, because they require lip extension. Among the consonants, there are also many sounds that are violated only in severe cases, for example, with paralysis and paresis.
Charge for tongue
Articulatory gymnastics strengthens the muscles of the mouth, develops accuracy and coordination of movements of the organs of speech. Children need it for training. All speech therapy exercises for children that are part of it are designed to form certain postures and movements. These movements and postures will then form the basis of the pronounced sounds. Therefore, if there is a desire in general to improve speech, to make it clearer, to accelerate its development, if it is slowed down, then it is worth doing general articulation gymnastics. There will be no harm from her. But if specific sounds are violated, then the emphasis is on those speech therapy exercises that develop precisely the necessary movements of the language.
We are engaged
Articulatory gymnastics should be performed daily. You can give this 3-5 minutes a day. It is better not to do this immediately after eating, so that manipulating the tongue does not cause a gag reflex. All speech therapy exercises are done in front of the mirror together with an adult who monitors the correctness of the execution and tells the child how to do the exercises. To make the process more interesting, short poems and illustrations are often attached to the exercises.
Below will be offered the whole list of speech therapy exercises for every day. They can be alternated.
Tasty jam
Smile, open your mouth wider and with a wide tip of your tongue lick your upper lip from top to bottom. They do not need to move in different directions. It’s necessary to hug the lip.
Fungus
Smile, open your mouth wide. Tongue suck to the sky, stretching the bridle. The tongue will resemble a mushroom hat, and the bridle will resemble a thin leg.
Painter
Smile, show teeth. Tongue to drive along the upper teeth - left and right, then up and down. Repeat with lower teeth.
Fence
Smile and show both rows of teeth. Hold to 5.
Tube
Stretch out the lips with the tube forward (about the same as with the sound Y), hold it to the count of 5.
By the way, these exercises are useful to alternate. You can repeat the "fence-tube" combination several times. This teaches the child to switch from one pose to another.
Bagel
The same thing, only the lips are a little wider. Like when we say O.
Pancake
Smile, open your mouth. Put a wide and flat tongue on the lower lip.
Spank your tongue with your lips and say "pah-pah-pah." Sometimes this exercise is called "Punish the naughty tongue," and "Pancake" is simply keeping the tongue on the lip.
It helps to relax the muscles of the tongue.
Woodpecker
You need to rhythmically and clearly pronounce D-D-D, resting the tongue on a tubercle behind the upper teeth. Usually this sound is pronounced when the tongue touches the teeth, but the exercise is usually used when setting the sound of R. To pronounce it correctly, the tongue is located a little deeper in the oral cavity. First you need to pronounce slowly, then you can accelerate.
A horse
Smile, open your mouth. To clatter with your tongue (stick it to the sky, as in the exercise "Fungus" and abruptly tear it off). The lower jaw does not move, only the tongue works. If it doesn’t work, you can gently hold your chin.
Watch
Smile, open your mouth. In turn, touch the narrow tip of the tongue of the corners of the mouth - right-left. Repeat 4-6 times.
Turkey
Open your mouth. With tongue, stroke the upper lip back and forth and make a sound. It will turn out something like "bl-bl-bl." Sometimes children make such sounds themselves when they indulge and play.
Cup
Smile, open your mouth. The front and side edges of the tongue are raised, but do not reach the sky. The tongue is wide and in shape resembles a cup with a recess in the middle, as can be seen with a mirror. Keep account up to 5.
Articulation of sound P
How do we pronounce the sound of P? This sound in each language is pronounced in its own way. French r differs from English, English from Russian. Therefore, speech therapists always work according to the language standards of the country in which they live and work. After all, the throat P is the norm for the Frenchman and pathology for the Russian! So, how do we pronounce this sound in Russian? The sound P together with its soft pair Pb (and for speech therapists and linguists these are two separate sounds) is the only trembling or, in other words, vibrant in Russian language. When we pronounce it, the tongue vibrates. At this point, its tip touches the alveoli - tubercles, which are located in the mouth a little deeper than the upper teeth. This sound is one of the most difficult to pronounce and some have not mastered it all their lives. Therefore, in order to learn him, speech therapy exercises are especially needed!
Sound Stages
Exercises are usually used by speech therapists in the preparatory phase for staging sound. First, the child must learn to give the tongue and lips the necessary poses, and then you can already make a sound. When the sound appeared, this is not enough. Need a stage of automation. After all, a new sound is unusual for a child and it can, for example, clearly say “R-R-R” and even “fish”, but at the same time say “potato” in the old way. Therefore, when automating sound, the child pronounces simple, and then increasingly complex words with the desired sound in different positions - at the beginning, at the end, in the middle of the word. There are many games that make the process of repeating words more interesting - from the name of the pictures to all kinds of lotto or making sentences.
Performing speech therapy exercises at home and various games for the automation of sound are most accessible to parents. Sound production requires professional skills and experience most of all, so a speech therapist should do this. However, with regular exercise, the sound may appear in the child’s speech itself. If this does not happen for a long time, and the sound pronunciation is noticeably behind the age norms, it is better to go to a specialist.
Exercises for sound P
To learn how to growl correctly, all exercises that help lift the tongue up will be useful. For the sound of P, speech therapy exercises are best done with such a “Painter”, “Fungus”, “Horse”.
And the main exercise is Woodpecker. You need to repeat it daily. To set the sound P, you can try during the exercise with a clean finger of the child (the nail should be cut short) to move the tongue from side to side to cause vibration. It will not turn out right away, this movement must be repeated. There are videos on how to set sounds correctly, but not the fact that they will be able to master this skill with their help.
Exercises for Sound
Sound is characterized not only by the special position of the tongue, but also by a change in the position of the lips. The lips are slightly extended forward, so the exercises “Tubule”, the alternation of “Smile-Tubule”, and especially the “Bagel” will be useful. This exercise is most reminiscent of the exaggerated pose of the lips at the sound of S. The tongue is raised upward when it is pronounced, its edges are pressed against the sky, but the tip does not touch either the teeth or the sky, but forms a cup. Therefore, for the formation of this sound, all exercises for raising the tongue up “Tasty jam”, “Fungus” will be useful.
The exercises that help make the tongue wide and flat are also important. Especially if the child always sticks out his tongue with a “needle” and cannot flatten it. These are exercises such as Pancake.
The most important exercise for the Sh sound is the “Calyx”. It most closely resembles the position of a language when pronouncing a sound. And for its formulation, you can try to ask the child to press the edges of the cup to the sky, slightly round the lips and blow into the cup. You may get a hissing sound, quite similar to S. Speech therapy exercises require great awareness and possession of your articulating apparatus. This is not accessible to all children, so speech therapists often help clients with the help of probes or a scarf to take the desired position of the tongue and lips.
By the way, if a child has all hissing sounds violated, then you need to start with the sound of S. It is considered the base for this group and all other sounds are already set from it.