The missing "S"

" I daw a nake over there and it melled like a kunk!".  What's missing???  Hmmmmm, yep, you guessed it. This sentence is missing the important phoneme that most of us know as the /s/ sound.

The phoneme /s/ is the second most commonly used sound in the English language. So, when a child has difficulty with their /s/ sound, it can be REALLY difficult to understand them. Most of us are able to remember hearing someone speak with a lisp, and many of us have children who  have been known to have difficulty with this letter sound. So, let's explore how to help them find that /s/ again!

For purposes of this post not taking until Christmas to read (or write for that matter), I will focus on one specific difficulty with the /s/ sound. That is, the /s/ in a consonant blend.

A blend of consonants is two or more consonant sounds in a sequence within a word. For example sn---as in 'snake', sp---as in 'spider', and even ts---as in 'hats'.  When a child has difficulty with their consonant blends, the general rule is that they will leave off or delete the more difficult of  the two consonants. In /s/ blends, the /s/ is almost always more difficulty than it's adjoining consonant. Therefore, it gets the boot!

Spider is renamed a "bider"
Snow becomes a very excited "NO!"
Smile is now a unit of length, a "mile".

Confusing, right?  Imagine if you were the one trying to be understood!

Now that you know what is missing, how can you help? Let's start with the physiology...
The /s/ sound is produced with:

1) Your tongue tip slightly hovering behind your top teeth. 
2)The sides of your tongue lightly touching your upper set of molars. 
3)Your teeth remaining closed.


Now, let air out of the front of your mouth like a leaking balloon. Right over your tongue and out your front teeth.

Since this is a constant stream of air, I like to have the kids visualize the sound as a slithering snake, or a long string, even run a finger up or down their arm.

If the s-blend is at the beginning of a word, we have to define a stopping place for the next consonant. So, if you are using the "arm" technique make sure you help the child visualize where the /s/ ends and the next consonant is articulated.

For example, to teach the word "star", start at your hand and run  your finger (while making the /s/ sound) all the way up your arm to your face, and then tap your teeth when you get to the /t/ sound...to show where the /s/ ends and the next consonant is produced. You may also start at the shoulder or elbow and work your way down to the hand. Once you get to the hand, the second consonant sound is produced, followed immediately by the rest of the word.

It is important to remember that we are multi-sensory learners, children even more so. The more senses (sight, sound, touch, etc..) that you can incorporate, the easier it will be to learn!

This, again is a very visual sound and fairly easy to elicit...let me know if you have any questions/comment. I'm not going anywhere:)

Sarahv