Why Practice Vowels?
To help a child’s overall speech intelligibility improve!
When vowels are produced incorrectly, that makes speech very difficult to understand.
What is a vowel? They are sounds produced with a relatively open vocal tract. A vowel can be maintained until you run out of breath which is in contrast to consonants which are constricting in air flow during production.
By 24 months most children should be able to produce all the vowel sounds correctly.
If a child is producing the early speech sounds in the initial position of words (p, b, m, t, n, d, h, k and g) and also are able to produce the final sounds in words of: (p, m, n) but their intelligibility is still low, than most likely they may need help in the production of their vowel sounds.
ARE YOU WONDERING IF YOUR STUDENTS SPEECH INTELLIGIBILITY IS BEING INFLUENCED BY THE POOR PRODUCTION OF VOWELS? YOU CAN USE THIS FREE SCREENER TO FIND OUT!
There are three types of vowels. Front vowels, back vowels, and mixed vowels. There are also diphthongs which are words that are two vowel sounds in one syllable. The vowel sounds are different from each other because you change the shape of your mouth when making each sound. Some are made in the front of your mouth with the mouth closed ( i.e. read). Some are made in the center of your mouth with your mouth midway closed (i.e. but) and others are in the back with your mouth open (i.e. root).
Vowel Teaching Tips
Practice vowels first without saying any sounds. Show how to make the correct tongue placements. Then, have the child smile. The retraction of the lips will help the articulators fall into the correct placement for many of the vowel sounds with an E.
When introducing each vowel show and explain the tongue elevation (high, mid or low), the position of the tongue elevation (front, central or back) and the shapes of the lips (spread or rounded).
For early talkers, it is easier to begin with open vowel sounds such as the short /a/ and than the short /o/ due to their reduced complexity. Stressed vowels and Diphthongs are more difficult since they need more planning, coordination and lingual strength.
Help a child achieve good jaw, tongue, and lip positioning, strength and stability at the isolated vowel stage prior to attempted voice productions.
You can teach tongue positioning by placing a sticky substance on upper molars for the vowel sound E. “Have your tongue touch the peanut butter and then say E”.
Visual cues such as the use of Visual Phonics can be very beneficial.
Use a mirror to show a child their own physical movements while they are working on their productions of vowels.
Use a vowel diagram to help show where each vowel is being produced in the mouth and how the articulators are utilized.
Targeted Vowel Practice In Isolation and
In Words Packet Contents:
Page 4: Why Practice Vowels?
Page 5: Vowel Teaching Tips
Pages 6: Vowel In Isolation Screening
Pages 7-9: Vowels In Words Screening
Pages 10-12: Vowels In Isolation Practice
Pages 13-18: Interactive Vowels In Isolation Pages
Pages 19-38: Short Vowels In Words practice, Coloring sheets, Tracing fun, and, “I Spy” pages
Pages 39-40: Interactive Short Vowel In Words Scene
Pages 41-55: Long Vowel Words Matching, Flashcards
for games such as Memory or Go Fish, & coloring pages.
Pages 56-59: Interactive Long Vowel In Words Scenes
Pages 60-63: Diphthongs Tracing Fun
Pages 64-67: Interactive Diphthong Words Scenes
Page 68: Diphthong Words Coloring Scene
Pages 69-70: Long Vowel and Diphthong Dice Roll
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