Articulation Pt. 5 !!

Hello again! Are you ready for part 5 of our articulation series? Today we are going to talk about some of the factors that go into figuring out how we as therapists are going to teach each sound, and which sounds/sound combinations we might pick first when starting our therapy!

The first thing to consider is the way that words are comprised of different sound combinations. Many children who struggle being understood, also have some motor planning components of their speech. This means that the plan that the brain sends the child’s mouth to produce the word, has a hard time with consistency and accuracy. We, as therapists, need to figure out how to create and practice sound combinations that will be achievable for the child, as well as repetitive so the brain can figure out the right plan and then solidify it.

The sound combination hierarchy usually follows a pattern like this:

1. Consonant Vowel (CV)
   1. This is a very simple combination that we usually hear babies make in the first year of life. This would be one consonant, followed by one vowel. Some of these combinations include: bee, bay, mow, moo, pea, tie, knee, bye, two, or boo.
2. Vowel Consonant (VC)
   1. This is another one of the most simple sound combinations, which has the vowel in the front and the consonant in the back. Examples include: up, out, eat, and am.
3. Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC)
   1. This combination starts to build on the foundational skills of “CV” and add another consonant to the end of the word. Examples include: Pop, hot, boom, peep, moon, and beep.
4. Consonant Vowel Consonant Vowel (CVCV)
   1. This combination begins to add more and more length and complexity. Here we take the CV combinations that we’ve already worked on and repeat that twice in a row. Examples include: bye bye, boo boo, moo moo, and mama.
5. Consonant Vowel One Consonant Vowel Two (CV1CV2)
   1. These combinations begin to take the building blocks of our consonant vowels, and then combine them in different ways with other sounds. Examples include: Pony (poe-knee), Money (ma-knee), Tuba (two-ba), and Muddy (ma-dee).
6. Consonant Vowel One Consonant Vowel Two + Consonant Vowel Consonant (CV1CV2 + CVC)
   1. Again, we are working on building up the basic skills that we start with so we can begin to combine them to make longer words and eventually more meaningfully messages. Examples of these combinations include: Muddy Boot, Pony Ride, and Money Pig.
7. Consonant Front vowel Consonant Back (CfVCb)
   1. This is working on placing consonants that we make in the front of our mouth (t,d) in the front of the word, and then consonants that we make in the back of our mouth (g,k) at the end of the word. Examples include: tick, tag, dig, dog, and dock.
8. Consonant Back vowel Consonant front (CbVCf)
   1. This is working on placing consonants that we make in the back of our mouth (k,g) in the front of the word, and then consonants that we make in the front of our mouth (t,d) at the end of the word. Examples include: kit, kid, gate, goat, and cat.

These are the basic sound combinations that we work with when we are attempting to teach children different sound combinations instead of more specific individual sounds. Stay tuned for part 6 of the series next week to look at the tricks that we can use to teach articulation.

-Kasey-