If your child has difficulty saying certain speech sounds clearly, you may have searched for articulation speech therapy activities or exercises you can practise at home.
There are plenty of speech therapy activities at home that can make practice more engaging, but the right activity will depend on your child’s speech development and the particular sounds or speech patterns they are finding difficult.
For some children, practising a particular sound may be appropriate. For others, a Speech Pathologist may recommend a different approach based on the patterns they hear in the child’s speech.
Understanding what articulation is — and what speech-sound practice is trying to achieve — can help you decide what to practise at home and when it may be useful to speak with a Speech Pathologist at a pediatric clinic.
What Does Articulation Mean?
Articulation refers to the way we use movements of the lips, tongue, jaw and other parts of the mouth to produce speech sounds.
Children gradually learn to produce different speech sounds as their speech develops. Some sounds are generally learned earlier than others, and it’s common for children’s speech to continue changing as they grow.
For example, a younger child may use one sound in place of another or simplify a word that is difficult for them to say.
Our Articulation Development: When Do Children Learn Different Speech Sounds? guide explains more about how speech sounds develop over time.
What Are Articulation Speech Therapy Activities?
Articulation speech therapy activities are used to help children practise speech sounds they are learning to produce or use more consistently.
Depending on the child and their therapy goals, practice might involve:
- learning how to produce a particular sound
- listening to or noticing differences between sounds
- practising a sound on its own
- practising words containing the sound
- using the sound in phrases and sentences
- practising the sound during conversation.
The activities themselves might involve picture cards, books, games, toys or everyday conversations.
The important part isn’t whether the activity looks like a traditional “exercise”. It’s whether the child is practising an appropriate speech target in a way that supports their individual goals.
Does My Child Need Articulation Exercises?
Not every speech-sound difference needs to be corrected or practised.
Children learn speech sounds over time, so a sound that is difficult for a younger child may still be developing.
Speech Pathologists also look at a child’s speech as a whole rather than deciding whether therapy is needed based on one difficult word or sound.
They may consider:
- which sounds are difficult
- the types of errors or patterns occurring
- whether those patterns are expected for the child’s age
- how easily familiar and unfamiliar people understand the child
- whether the child is experiencing difficulty communicating in everyday situations.
This is why finding a list of articulation exercises online doesn’t necessarily tell you whether those exercises are appropriate for your child.
Why Isn’t There One Articulation Exercise for Every Child?
Two children can have difficulty saying the same speech sound but need different types of support.
For example, one child may be learning how to produce a particular sound for the first time. Another may be able to produce the sound when concentrating but find it difficult to use consistently during everyday conversation.
A child may also be using a broader pattern across several speech sounds rather than having difficulty with only one sound.
A Speech Pathologist can listen to these patterns and determine which speech sounds or skills are appropriate to target.
This helps make practice more specific to the individual child rather than simply working through lists of sounds that seem difficult.
What Articulation Speech Therapy Activities Can We Try at Home?
Home practice can be useful when you know what your child should be practising and how they have been taught to practise it.
If your child is already seeing a Speech Pathologist, they may provide particular sounds, words or activities to use at home.
Articulation practice doesn’t always need to involve sitting at a table with worksheets. Play-based speech therapy activities can give children opportunities to practise their target words while doing something they enjoy.
Depending on your child’s goals, you might practise during:
- a favourite board game
- a treasure hunt
- pretend play
- a matching game
- story time
- drawing or craft
- everyday conversations.
For more general ideas, our Articulation Speech Therapy Activities – What Parents Should Know guide includes ways to incorporate communication practice into play and everyday routines.
What Might Articulation Practice Look Like?
Speech-sound practice may change as a child becomes more confident using a sound.
Depending on the child and their therapy approach, practice might move through:
sound → words → phrases → sentences → conversation
For example, a child might initially practise a sound on its own before using it in a word.
Later, they might practise the same sound in a short phrase or sentence.
Eventually, the focus may shift towards using the sound during everyday conversation.
This isn’t a set program that every child needs to follow. A Speech Pathologist can determine where a child should begin and how their practice should progress.
Should I Correct My Child Every Time They Say a Sound Differently?
Usually, turning every conversation into speech practice isn’t necessary.
If your child is working on a particular speech sound, their Speech Pathologist can show you when and how to provide feedback.
For example, they may recommend practising during a short activity rather than correcting the sound throughout the entire day.
Outside of practice, children still need opportunities to talk, tell stories, ask questions and play without every word being evaluated.
Following the approach recommended for your child can help keep home practice focused and manageable.
What Does Articulation Therapy With a Speech Pathologist Look Like?
Articulation therapy doesn’t begin with choosing a worksheet or a list of words.
A Speech Pathologist first needs to understand the child’s speech.
Depending on the child’s needs, this may involve listening to how they produce different speech sounds, looking for patterns across words and considering how understandable their speech is in everyday communication.
From there, the Speech Pathologist can identify appropriate therapy goals and choose strategies based on the child’s individual speech profile.
Therapy may then involve practising particular sounds or speech patterns through structured activities, games and play.
As the child progresses, the Speech Pathologist may change the activity, level of difficulty or type of practice.
They can also show parents and caregivers how to support practice between sessions when appropriate.
What If My Child Has Difficulty With a Particular Speech Sound?
If your child is already working on a specific sound with their Speech Pathologist, activities can make repeated practice more engaging.
For example, we have activity ideas for children who are working on:
K Sound Speech Therapy Activities — including K sound words, games, phrases and sentence practice.
Sh Sound Speech Therapy Activities — including “sh” words and ways to incorporate practice into games, books and play.
These activities are designed to give families ideas for practising a speech target that has already been identified.
How Much Articulation Practice Should We Do?
There isn’t one amount of home practice that’s right for every child.
How often a child practises may depend on their therapy goals, the type of speech-sound difficulty they have, their age and the approach their Speech Pathologist is using.
If your child has been given home practice, follow the recommendations provided by their Speech Pathologist.
Practice also doesn’t need to take over your family’s day.
A short activity that your child is comfortable participating in may be easier to incorporate into everyday life than trying to complete a long session at home.
If your child becomes tired or frustrated, it’s okay to stop and return to the activity another time.
When Should I Consider a Speech Assessment?
It may be worth speaking with a Speech Pathologist if you’re concerned about your child’s speech or aren’t sure whether the speech sounds they’re using are expected for their age.
You might seek advice if:
- your child’s speech is frequently difficult for you or other people to understand
- you’re noticing several speech sounds that seem difficult for them
- your child regularly substitutes or leaves out sounds
- you’re unsure whether a particular speech pattern is expected for their age
- your child is frustrated when other people don’t understand them
- you simply have questions or concerns about how their speech is developing.
You don’t need to work out which articulation exercise your child needs before asking for help.
An assessment can help identify what your child is already doing well, whether there are areas that would benefit from support and what the next steps could look like.
How Can Happy Chatter Help?
At Happy Chatter, our pediatric Speech Pathologists work with children and families to understand each child’s individual communication strengths and support needs.
If speech sounds are an area of concern, a Speech Pathologist can assess your child’s speech, look at the sounds and patterns they are using and help determine whether therapy is recommended.
If support is needed, therapy goals and activities can then be selected based on your child’s individual speech profile rather than using the same articulation exercises for every child.
For a broader overview of Speech Pathology and the areas it can support, visit our Speech Therapy for Children: A Parent Guide.
If you’re concerned about your child’s speech clarity or would like to understand whether their speech sounds are developing as expected, get in touch with the Happy Chatter team at our clinic to learn more about arranging an assessment.