Using a New Sound in Conversation

LLA Therapy Speech Language Pathologist, Matthew Hagge M.A., CCC-SLP, discusses tips to carry over sounds to conversation

Transferring a former troublesome sound to conversation can be a very difficult task for a child and an extremely frustrating experience for a parent. A statement that I often hear from parents is: “He can say his ‘R’ sound awesome! But why can’t he do it in conversation?!” 

Remember, you have to learn to crawl before you walk. Breaking the habit of misproducing a sound in casual conversation is difficult for a child who has been making an error their whole life!
Try taking a couple words that frequently occur in your child’s vocabulary that contain their sound. For example, if your child is working on the “R” sound and your dog’s name is “Rover”. Make “Rover” the word of the week for your child. Tell your child that every time they say “Rover” they HAVE to make an effort to correctly produce it. The next week, change it to a new word, or add two new words to the program, and so on and so forth.
You will be surprised how fast your child will use their new sounds in conversation!