![]() For example, I worked with the cutest 3 year old little girl who did this very same thing. Leaving sounds off the ends of words is a common error among our little toddlers and is known as the phonological process “final consonant deletion.” Targeting one specific sound at a time at the end of words has been the most successful approach for me when targeting final consonant deletion. Doing this repetitively will give more opportunities to bring his lips together and strengthen those muscles. Simply have your son take a single sip out of an open cup, put the cup down, have him swallow, then take another sip. Then when he says “ma-ma” simply imitate him and wait to see if he says it again after you.Īs far as good lip exercises for the /m/ sound I would suggest starting with single sip cup drinking. If you can get him to take turns saying “ooooo” start there. Once your son is good at playing this imitation game with you, you can try playing it with sounds. After he begins to get the idea you try to get him to imitate an action you perform. It won’t be long before he catches on to the game you are playing together. If he is tapping the table with his hand, sit right next to him and when he pauses you tap the table with your hand as well. When starting with imitation I would suggest imitating actions that your son is already doing. Thank you for reading! It may be that your speech pathologist is working on imitation and turn-taking and that is a very good place to start. But be patient, no one performs well under stress, especially not our little ones! Remember, the more opportunities for practicing the sounds the quicker you will see change. It is at this point you can correct your child if he forgets to pronounce the /m/ correctly in conversation. If your child is successful with the /m/ sound while retelling the stories you have created he is ready to move the /m/ sound into conversation. Then he met a mermaid and shared milk and muffins…” Be creative with this, the most important thing is to create an opportunity for your child to get as much practice with the sounds as possible. For example, “The mummy went to the mountains and ate marshmallows and macaroni. For example, “Sammy has a _.”Ĭreate short stories with the picture cards you have been practicing. If your child can say the /m/ sound well in the middle of words then practice the medial /m/ in sentences. For example, “_ come home.” Again filling in the blank with the final /m/ words you practiced. If your child can say the /m/ sound at the end of words then practice the the final /m/ sound in sentences. For example “Mail me a _.” Fill in the blank with the initial /m/ words you have been practicing, “Mail me a moose, or Mail me a mermaid…” ![]() If your child can say the /m/ sound in the beginning of words then practice the initial /m/sound in sentences. Here are 3 sets of word cards to help teach the /m/ sound: You can also download these and other sound cards on the worksheets page. Below are 3 links to download picture cards of words beginning with the /m/ sound, ending with the /m/ sound or with /m/ occuring in the middle. If your child can say the syllables above with a nice /m/ sound then he is ready to move them into words. If your child can successfully say the /m/ at the beginning of syllables then they are ready to practice the sound at the beginning of words. Then practice the /m/ sound at the end of the vowels, um, am, im, om, em and finally in the middle of the vowels, imo, aymu, ema, omee … you get the idea. Put the /m/ sound in front of all the long and short vowels, may, me, my, mow and moo. If this is the case let me know and I’ll give further suggestions. If they have difficulty bringing their lips together because of low muscle tone it is time for some lip exercises. Have them watch themselves in the mirror to make sure they are bringing both lips together.Ĥ. Put your child’s hand on your mouth while you are making the sound so they can feel the vibrations, then put their hand on their own mouth and encourage them to try to make the sound.ģ. Model the sound yourself and encourage your little one to imitate you.Ģ. If however, you feel you need to start from the very beginning I will walk you through the steps. “Ma-ma-ma-ma,” is usually one of the first sounds we hear our little kiddos babble because the /m/ sound is made by bringing the lips together which is one of the first motor skills our little ones learn. A fun sound to teach, because even if your child isn’t using it correctly in all positions of words he/she most likely uses or has played around with this sound.
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