The Articulation Ladder
Speech therapists work on articulation all of the time! If you want more background information on articulation, click here. Often times, speech therapists will rave about the progress a child has made, but the family might not be able to hear the progress. Why is this you might ask? Speech therapists work with children on their speech sounds based on a progression, often referred to as the speech ladder. This post will explain how the ladder works and what you can expect regarding articulation progress with your child.
Step 1: The child will work to be able to say the target sound in isolation (for example the target sound: /s/) and then combine into simple syllables. The child may practice silly/nonsense words at first, for example, targets might be “so, see, say, sah, sue”. The target would be “s” paired with a vowel to create a simple syllable. Working with a child, this might be huge progress to get them to produce /s/ and pair it with a vowel. After this is mastered, the child moves on! Parents will not notice the progress during conversations, but mastering the sound in simple syllables is a step in the progression!
Step 2: The child will work to produce the target sound in words. This step can take time to master, as the target sound can be at the beginning, middle AND end of words. The child will work to master the target sound in words but the sound will need to be mastered in ALL positions of words. So the child will master: initial /s/ (sun), medial /s/ (lesson), AND final /s/ (lots). This can be difficult for children. The child and therapist may work at step 2 for awhile. The therapist might be excited when the child masters /s/ in words in the initial position, however, the family still might not hear it when the child says the word “lesson”, simply because they are still working at the medial word level, with that target /s/ sound. This can be confusing but the progression continues and once the child masters the target sound at the word level in all positions, they move on!
Step 3: The child will work to produce the target sound in phrases/sentences. The therapist will provide targets for the child to practice that include the target sound in a longer utterance, therefore increasing the complexity, and requiring the child to focus on more than just their target sound. Again, the child will work to master their sound in the beginning, middle, and ends of words at this level. For example, an initial /s/ sentence, “The sun will shine tomorrow”, the child is working to get the accurate production while also reading and/or creating sentences. It gets harder for kids to remember to do all of these things, but the therapist and child work as a team to master this level! Once the child masters the target sound at the phrase/sentence level in all positions, they move on!
Step 4: The child will work to produce the target sound while reading. The therapist will now provide the child with stories that are age appropriate and loaded with target sounds. The complexity has increased even more as the child now has to read an entire passage and remember to use their good sounds! This is a stage parents will start to notice more progress in everyday speech. Although the child is at the reading level, sounds may start to generalize more into conversation. They won’t be fully there, but more progress can be observed by the family when a child reaches this stage!
Step 5: The child will work to produce the target sound during conversations. This is the final stage of articulation therapy! Once a child is working on their target sound at this level, it will be obvious and you will hear the sounds starting to generalize into the child’s everyday life! Therapists will work with kids during structured conversation, so the child is aware that the therapist is tracking their sounds. After they don’t need reminders during structured conversation, they move on to working on unstructured conversation! This is the final stage, yay! The child is ready to graduate from articulation therapy once they make it to the end of this step!
Each child is unique and can take a different amount of time to work up this ladder. But with consistent practice and support, they will get there!
If you are curious if your child would benefit from articulation therapy, contact Berry Speech Academy today for a FREE speech screening!
