sounds

Language Development and Singing to Babies.

Jj is for Jottings 163.  Language Development and Singing to Babies.

We’ll now have a look at the relationship between language development and singing to babies.  This ties in closely with the previous article on the connection between literacy and music.  If you haven’t read it, I advise you to, since it creates a more rounded picture than this article on its own.

Before you take fright at the idea of singing, you will find that there is much value in rhythmic speech, as you will see when you read on.  Continue reading →

Auditory Discrimination and Sound Errors.

Jj is for Jottings 155.  Auditory Discrimination and Sound Errors.

When children make speech sound errors, we need to consider auditory discrimination and speech sound errors.  A child needs to be able to discriminate the difference between the correct sound and what they are saying instead.  Otherwise they don’t have much chance of replacing the error sound with the correct (target) sound. Continue reading →

Speech Sound Problems: /k,g/.

Jj is for Jottings 153.  Speech Sound Problems: /k,g/

We have previously learned about /s/ as a speech sound problem.  Let us now focus on speech sound problems: /k,g/.  As always, if your child makes speech errors, you need to know whether the error is actually appropriate for age.  (In which case, is it actually an error?  Perhaps an “age-appropriate substitution”!)  You can find out the rough developmental ages for speech sounds here. Continue reading →

Place of Articulation.

Jj is for Jottings 144.  Place of Articulation.

We classify the spoken aspects of consonants across 3 dimensions:

  • Place of articulation.
  • Manner of articulation.
  • Voicing.

The voicing dimension specifies whether or not the vocal folds (or cords) are vibrating.  It has already been discussed in Voiced vs voiceless minimal pairs.  And I have outlined the rules for when we voice the normally voiceless /s/ (resulting in /z/).  Most people are completely unaware of doing this, and would be surprised to learn that they are correctly following the rules.  The voicing dimension is rounded off by the article on partial devoicing of consonants. Continue reading →

Speech Sound Problems: /s/

 

Jj is for Jottings 139.  Speech Sound Problems:/s/.

Probably one of the first sounds that springs to mind when one thinks of speech sound problems would be /s/ and, more specifically, a lisp.  (Remember that the slashes / / mean that we pronounce the sound; ‘s‘ or s means to say the letter name.  I think I may have done both at some point.  Certainly it is underlined in Aa is for Alpacas.)

The word “lisp” generally refers to the tongue tip protruding between the teeth for /s,z/.  (Note that /s,z/ are minimal pairs, and therefore have the same error. For the sake of ease I shall refer to just /s/ from now on, but remember that what refers to /s/ also refers to /z/.)   Some definitions of a lisp are much broader, and refer to any speech sound problem involving any or all sibilant sounds.  Since this is cause for confusion, I am not going to use the term “lisp” at all.  This particular /s/ problem is called an interdental /s/.  “Inter” means “between”, and of course “dental” means “teeth”, so there can be no confusion about what it is. Continue reading →

Auditory Processing Disorders.

Jj is for Jottings 137.  Auditory Processing Disorders.

Following on from auditory skills and developing auditory processing skills, we now turn our attention to auditory processing disorders.  There are so many conflicting ideas in the literature as to exactly what constitutes auditory skills. One could really become bogged down by this and therefore any resulting disorders.  There is even disagreement as to whether it should be “auditory processing disorders” or “central auditory processing disorders.”  I’ve decided to go with the thinking that “central” implies problems only at the brain level and consequently limits the definition.

Picture of woman reading "Aa is for Alpacas" book to a group of children, with baby alpacas in the background, and the caption: "Auditory processing disorders - attempting to prevent them is a good policy."

Auditory processing disorders – attempting to prevent them is a good policy.

Continue reading →

Developing Auditory Processing Skills.

Jj is for Jottings 136.  Developing Auditory Processing Skills.

Following on from the article on auditory skills, we turn to the topic of developing auditory processing skills.  An article on communication milestones from 12 months to 5 years can be found here.   But now we will explore the development of auditory processing skills in a little more detail.

Photo of man reading to 2 children, with the caption: One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.

One general way of developing auditory processing skills is to read to your children.

Continue reading →