AUTUMN Articulation WORD LIST - D - Speckled Speech Therapy Materials

Rationale & Proposed Protocol

Rationale: It is typical for children to use phonological processes for various sounds while learning to speak.  According to Poole’s Norms* 90% of children develop the voiced, alveolar, stop consonant /d/ should be mastered by the age of 4.  Misarticulation of /d/ by this age is categorized as a phonological disorder at which time it is considered ethical and advisable to begin assessment by a Speech and Language Pathologist leading to early intervention for optimal outcome. (*Poole, Sander, Hena, Fudala, Templin & Wellman)

This Autumn themed Word and Phrase Checklist contains about 213 target words with the /d/ in initial, final, medial position of words, as well as blends and clusters, is recommended for, but not limited to, students who have mastered unprompted production of the sound in, for example, word repetition, word reading, sentence repetition, sentence formulation levels by 80% or more.

Procedure:  Read each word aloud and listen to your student’s production. Depending on your student’s level and ability and at the discretion of the articulation specialist, the student can also read the words aloud themselves. Additionally, these lists can be used for other activities such as prompts for sentence repetition or production levels. Any misarticulations other than the target sound within the target word should be ignored during data collection.

Sample prompts for the correct placement of articulators and airflow:

e.g., Teeth slightly together, use tip of tongue to build pressure behind teeth at alveolar ridge, then move tongue back or down and turn on voice..

Use: Although this resource is intended for use with Speech and Language Therapy students it can also be used to facilitate accent reduction in children and adults, in English for Second Language (ESL) learners, for stroke patients, as screening or testing tools, for individual or group therapy, for home work or vacation packages, homeschool, distance learning, general education teachers, Special Education teachers and other Communication Disorders specialists.