Articulation and Phonological Therapy Approaches: How to Choose

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Speech and Language Kids Podcast 29 min 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 15 hours ago

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What is the purpose of this episode and the Black Friday sale announcement?

Carrie Clark 0:00

Hey everybody, it's Kari Clark, and you are listening to episode number 55 of the Speech and Language Kids podcast. I am your host, Kari Clark, and this is the podcast with resources and activities for speech therapists, as well as for parents of children with speech and language delays. now today we are talking about speech sound errors and how to choose what type of therapy to use so if you are working with a kiddo who has trouble saying specific sounds we're going to talk about how do you decide on which type of therapy are you going to do articulation or phonology or core word approach or cycles or one of the umpteen other types of approaches so we're going to go into all of that here in just a moment

Carrie Clark 0:44

But I did want to go ahead and mention that it is currently November and my Black Friday sale is coming up. Now, you may be thinking, Black Friday sale, what? Yeah, no, I haven't actually done one of these before, but it sounded like fun. So I'm gonna get on the bandwagon of Black Friday, mostly because I don't have to like staff an office full of people to run this sale. I can just give you guys a code and you can do it whenever you want. So we're not really working on Thanksgiving, it's okay. But we are gonna run a sale. So... This is gonna be, I think, my best sale of the year. I'm gonna do 40% off of all of my eBooks, and you can get your first month into my membership site for five bucks. So the membership site, if you're not aware, it's called The Speech Therapy Solution, and I answer your speech therapy questions with five to 10 minute training videos that I customize for the question that you're asking.

Carrie Clark 1:37

As a member, you also get access to watch everybody else's videos, all of the videos I've ever made for anybody, And you get access to the monthly webinar. So it's a really good deal. It's usually $18 a month and you can get your first month for $5 if you sign up during the Black Friday sale. There we go. Okay, so in order to get these things, you have to put in the code GOBBLE. during the sale, which would be G-O-B-B-L-E, all caps. You have to use all caps. And the sale is going to be going on from the 25th to the 30th. I know that most of you are probably out shopping the awesome sales at wherever speech therapists shop. I don't know. I go to Target. But anyway, You're probably going to be out shopping on the actual Black Friday.

Carrie Clark 2:21

So I'm running the sale from before Thanksgiving through that next Monday. So the 25th, I think, is the Wednesday through the 30th that Monday. So the sale is going on that whole time. Make sure you head on over to the site, speechandlanguagekids.com. And during that sale, you can type in the word gobble on your shopping cart and you'll get 40% off eBooks and your first month in the membership for five bucks. So yeah, check it out. All right. Now we're going to jump on in with our content. So therapy for speech sounds. one of the things that i always struggle with as a speech therapist is knowing what type of therapy is going to be the best for a kid so i'm going to walk you through the four main types of therapy for speech sounds and when to use them and then i'm going to kind of briefly discuss what they are in case you're not familiar with any of them plus i'm going to just touch on some of the less common types of speech sound therapies in case you've tried all those four main ones and you're still having a kid that struggles or if you have a kiddo that you just know is not going to respond well to the main types of therapy

Carrie Clark 3:22

Hopefully one of these other ones will pique your interest and you can go find some more information about those. Okay, now I will also tell you that there is a flow chart for this episode and for the month of November. November is Speech Sound Month over at Speech and Language Kids. So if you would like the flow chart, this is a free download where it will show you exactly which type of speech therapy, speech sound therapy to use based on what's going on with the kiddo. So it's a pretty simple little flowchart.

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Chapters

8 chapters

1 What is the purpose of this episode and the Black Friday sale announcement? 0:00–4:01 2 How can I use the Speech Sound Screening Checklist to choose a therapy approach? 4:01–7:40 3 When should I choose articulation therapy over other approaches? 7:40–11:19 4 What are the key steps and milestones in articulation therapy? 11:19–15:03 5 When is phonological therapy the best fit for a child’s speech errors? 15:03–18:34 6 How does the cycles approach work and for which children is it most effective? 18:34–22:00 7 What is the core‑word approach and how can it help children with severe speech problems? 22:00–26:01 8 What other speech‑sound therapy approaches exist and how do I decide which to try? 26:01–29:15

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Carrie Clark 27 min

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iTunes 1 autism 1 Luke 1 Asha 1 Black Friday 3 speechandlanguagekids.com 8 Childhood apraxia of speech 1 Speech Therapy Solution 1 Speech and Language Kids 3 Cycles approach 3 articulation therapy 7 core word approach 1

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Recorded09 Nov 2015

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Articulation Therapy or Phonological Therapy: Which Therapy Approach to UseWhich therapy approach should you use when a child struggles to say sounds correctly? Articulation Therapy Approach? Phonological Therapy Approach? Something else? This page will explain the difference between an articulation therapy approach and a phonological therapy approach (along with a few others). We’ll also help you decide which approach is right for each client you work with. Speech Sound CurriculumsComplete Curriculums for Articulation, Phonology, Motor Speech, and MumblingView the Speech CurriculumsSpeech Sound Screening Checklist:There are four main approaches to working on speech sounds with children and teens. Use the following checklist to determine which path is most appropriate for each client: Download the Printable Screening Checklist Inside our CurriculumArticulation Therapy ApproachChoose this if the individual has difficulty with specific speech sounds, producing them incorrectly or with noticeable distortions. This is the best pathway for traditional sound-by-sound therapy. In articulation therapy, we focus on teaching children how to produce individual speech sounds correctly, starting with isolated sounds and gradually working up to using them in words, sentences, and conversation. This structured approach helps build muscle coordination and sound awareness, making speech clearer and more intelligible over time. Choose the Articulation Therapy Approach if the Individual: Says specific sounds incorrectly Has certain sounds that are distorted or sound different than they should (such as a lisp) Articulation CurriculumA Structured Program for Using the Articulation Approach to Speech TherapyView the Articulation CurriculumPhonological Therapy Approach For children who have phonological processes, or problems with entire classes of sounds These children are often difficult to understand due to many sound errors All children use phonological processes up to certain ages but they disappear between 3-5 years Therapy differs from articulation because you don’t start with sounds in isolation, you start with minimal pairs of whole words to show the difference between the correct production and the child’s error Therapy Phases: Auditory discrimination, production at the single word level, phrase, sentence, unstructured conversation, structured conversation Phonology CurriculumA Structured Program for Using the Phonological Approach to Speech TherapyView the Phonology CurriculumCycles Therapy Approach to Phonology For children who meet the following criteria: Highly unintelligible (very difficult to understand) Frequently leave out or omit speech sounds Replace some sounds with other sounds Don’t use very many different consonant sounds Instead of working on one phonological process until it is mastered, the children works on each process for a few sessions before moving on to the next. Then, processes are cycled through and targeted again This approach is supposed to mirror typical phonological development Click Here to Learn More About Using the Cycles Approach Cycles Approach Materials and CourseA Structured Program for Using the Cycles Approach to PhonologyView the Cycles CurriculumMotor Speech Therapy Approach Motor speech disorders, such as childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) and dysarthria, affect a child’s ability to plan, coordinate, and produce speech sounds accurately. Unlike articulation or phonological disorders, which stem from difficulties with specific sounds or patterns, motor speech disorders are rooted in challenges with motor planning, sequencing, and execution of movements needed for clear speech. These difficulties can result in inconsistent speech errors, trouble producing longer words, difficulty transitioning between sounds, and even physical struggle during speech production. Intervention for motor speech disorders focuses on building motor planning skills, increasing speech accuracy and consistency, and supporting smooth and natural speech movements. Therapy in this pathway follows a structured, motor-based approach that emphasizes repetition, multisensory cueing, and carefully sequenced speech practice. Unlike traditional articulation therapy, which focuses on individual sounds, motor speech therapy targets the movement between sounds to improve speech fluency and intelligibility. Motor Speech CurriculumA Structured Program for Helping Children with Motor Speech ProblemsView the Motor Speech CurriculumMumbling Therapy Approach Mumbling occurs when speech is unclear, slurred, or too quiet, making it difficult for others to understand. Children who mumble may drop sounds, speak too quickly, or fail to fully articulate words, often without realizing it. While their speech may technically be correct, the lack of clarity, volume, or articulation can interfere with communication, leading to frustration in academic and social settings. The goal of this Curriculum is to help children recognize when their speech is unclear and develop strategies to improve clarity and volume. Unlike articulation or phonology therapy, which focuses on correcting specific speech sound errors, mumbling therapy targets overall speech clarity, awareness, and self-monitoring. This process involves intentional over articulation, cued corrections, and ultimately independent self-correction in conversation. Mumbling CurriculumA Structured Program for Helping Children and Teens who MumbleView the Mumbling CurriculumOther Speech Sound Therapy Approaches Core Word Therapy Approach: Good for children with very severe speech problems (like severe childhood apraxia of speech) or those with limited attention for drill and practice. Also helpful for children who make very slow progress in speech or who only say a few words because of their speech problemsA short list of common words that the child mis-pronounces is assembled These words are practiced in isolation and then the child gets to play with whatever he wants (as long as he will talk with the therapist). When those words come up in conversation, they are practiced with correct production Contextual Utilization: Pair the target sound in syllables with other sounds that will make it easier for the child to produce it (For example, production of a “t” may be facilitated in the context of a high front vowel) Minimal Oppositions Contrast Therapy: also known as “minimal pairs” therapy, uses pairs of words that differ by only one phoneme or single feature signaling a change in meaning, in an effort to establish contrasts not present in the child’s phonological system Maximal Oppositions Contrast Therapy: uses pairs of words in which one speech sound known and produced by the child is contrasted with a maximally opposing sound not known or produced by the child Treatment of the Empty Set: similar to maximal opposition contrasts, but uses pairs of words containing two maximally opposing sounds that are unknown to the child—ideally, an obstruent with a sonorant (e.g., /l/ vs. /s/ Multiple Oppositions Contrast Therapy: a variation of the minimal opposition contrast approach that uses pairs of words contrasting a child’s error sound with three or four strategically selected sounds that reflect both maximal classification and maximal distinction Distinctive Feature Therapy: Target distinctive features that are missing in the child’s repertoire (frication, nasality, voicing, and place of articulation) Metaphon Therapy: Metaphon therapy is designed to teach metaphonological awareness, the awareness of the phonological structure of language. You teach the child about phonological rules, like the difference between noisy and quiet sounds for voiced vs. voiceless Naturalistic Speech Intelligibility Intervention: During natural activities, the child’s errors are recast when the child is most likely to repeat them but the child is not demanded to do so More Information on the Additional Approaches Here: https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/articulation-and-phonology/#collapse_6 About the Author: Carrie Clark, MA CCC-SLPHi, I’m Carrie! I’m a speech-language pathologist from Columbia, Missouri, USA. I’ve worked with children and teenagers of all ages in schools, preschools, and even my own private practice. I love digging through the research on speech and language topics and breaking it down into step-by-step plans for my followers. Fun Fact: At the last ASHA convention I went to, I purchased a double-wide booth so I could fill it with inflatable lounge chairs and phone chargers to create a hangout space. Did you see me there??? Connect with Me: The post Articulation and Phonological Therapy Approaches: How to Choose appeared first on Speech And Language Kids.

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