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.

THE MOST COMMON SUBSTITUTIONS FOR /k,g/.

The most common substitution for /k/ is /t/; and for /g/ is /d/.  For example, when my younger son was 3, he would ask for “a tiss and a tuddle”.  I thought that  was much cuter than a kiss and a cuddle, and was a bit sad when the error resolved itself – too quickly.  Bear in mind that /t,d/ and /k,g/ are minimal pairs.  Therefore, although there are 2 sounds involved, it is in effect one error.  Everything is the same about /k/ and /g/ except that one is voiceless and the other uses voice.  You may need to learn about/refresh your memory about minimal pairs on the link above.

FREQUENTLY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER SPEECH SOUND PROBLEMS.

Unlike most other speech sound problems, /k,g/ are frequently pronounced correctly in the middle and at the end of a word.  The error is only at the start of a word.  This results in sentences like: “We went to stool in the tar (school; car)”, but: “I want that book”.  Similarly, you would hear: “That dirl (girl) lives in our street.”  I know /k/ is not right at the start of “school”, but children tend to treat it that way.

You would think that, since the child already says /k,g/ correctly in the middle and at the end of a word, they could easily imitate the sounds.  More often than not this is not the case, and you have to teach the sound from scratch.  And that can be surprisingly difficult.

I will outline a few tips and tricks for encouraging the /k,g/ sounds in a minute.  But first I should mention that this speech sound problem is also accompanied by another error, which few people seem to notice.  That is, substituting /n/ for /ng/.  Once again, it is really the same error – substituting a front sound for a back sound.  See the article on place of articulation for an explanation of where speech sounds are made in the mouth.  In the case of /ng/, we don’t use the sound at the start of a word, only in the middle and at the end.  Therefore the error is less noticeable.  I note, however, that this error was much rarer many years ago.  The substitution doesn’t interfere with speech intelligibility at all, which is another reason it goes unnoticed.

Note that the two letters, n+g, are put together to make one sound.  This is the opposite of one letter doesnt always equal one sound.

TIPS FOR TEACHING /k,g/ SOUNDS (and /ng/).

Gargling.

As I said above, many children use /k,g/ correctly in the middle and end of a word, but not at the start.  But even if they do, but are unable to imitate the sound, you’re in the same boat as if they don’t use the correct sounds at all.  Usually I teach /k/ first, and then you can race through /g/ afterwards.  But sometimes we have to do it the other way round, depending on each child’s responses.  What I have observed is that children who can’t imitate these back sounds seem to have no idea of the feel of the back of their mouth.  Their soft palate, to be more specific.  To achieve this, I get the parents to teach them to gargle.  (In the bath is a good place – less messy.)  And you can gargle with voice (/g/), or with no voice (/k/), although it doesn’t really seem to matter.

Once they can gargle with water, then they need to gargle without any liquid – just saliva.  From there you can get them to do a pretend gargle, ending in /k/ or /g/, whichever is more successful.

Tipping the head back, wide open mouth.

Sometimes it helps when learning how to say these back sounds, to have the child tip their head back with their mouth open wide.  This tends to encourage them to use the back of their tongue and soft palate.  It’s sort of an extension of gargling, really.  Just asking them to tip their head back and open their mouth wide will often be enough to get them saying /k/ as opposed to /t/.  Obviously this will be phased out later when they have had some practice.

Getting /k,g/ at the start from middles and ends of words.

If the child already has the sounds in the middle and on the end of words, you can sometimes use that to work your way round to getting it at the start.  Since I’m not advocating for people to be their own therapists, and it can take a bit of fiddling about to achieve the desired result, I won’t go into that any further.  Many things should be left to the professionals, but carers can help the process along.  In this case with gargling, and in all cases emphasising the sound and where it occurs without expecting anything from the child, as mentioned below.

Don’t forget to feed the correct sound in.

This is outlined in should I correct my child’s speech?, the second link above.

 

In summary, there are some tips to get you started on helping your child learn /k,g, ng/ but if in doubt, or if something doesn’t come easily, consult a speech pathologist.

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