Keep in mind that the “rules” that Zach has formed in his head are completely out of his control. He has not chosen to change sounds around, in fact, he probably is unaware of the fact that he is doing it. One of the goals of intervention based on natural phonology is “to teach children to suppress innate simplification processes” (Hodson, 2010b, p. 55). Through the natural phonology theory, the therapist must re-train Zach’s brain to override the rule that it has already created. The first goal in therapy would be to work on Zach’s listening skills. In natural phonology it is important that the child hear the difference between his errors and the correct production. A simple activity for this would be to have the child say, “kitty cat,” and then have the therapist say, “kitty cat.” This will be repeated until Zach can identify that there is a difference between what he is saying and what the therapist is saying. The second goal would be to get the child to say the words without using the phonological process. Getting /k/ in isolation can be easily achieved by keeping Zach’s tongue tip from making contact with the alveolar ridge or teeth. This can be done by utilizing a lollipop or tongue depressor to gently hold the tongue tip down while Zach produces the /k/ sound. Once he produces the /k/ sounds on his own we can begin working towards making words with the /k/ sound. It is easiest to start with the /k/ sound in the final position such as words like fork, bike, sock, and snake. The next goal would be to have the child say the specific words in sentences and structured conversations. This activity includes playing with nursery rhymes such as “Hickory Dickory Dock.” The more /k/ sounds in the nursery rhyme the better. Zach will also help make up stories with /k/ words, and the
Keep in mind that the “rules” that Zach has formed in his head are completely out of his control. He has not chosen to change sounds around, in fact, he probably is unaware of the fact that he is doing it. One of the goals of intervention based on natural phonology is “to teach children to suppress innate simplification processes” (Hodson, 2010b, p. 55). Through the natural phonology theory, the therapist must re-train Zach’s brain to override the rule that it has already created. The first goal in therapy would be to work on Zach’s listening skills. In natural phonology it is important that the child hear the difference between his errors and the correct production. A simple activity for this would be to have the child say, “kitty cat,” and then have the therapist say, “kitty cat.” This will be repeated until Zach can identify that there is a difference between what he is saying and what the therapist is saying. The second goal would be to get the child to say the words without using the phonological process. Getting /k/ in isolation can be easily achieved by keeping Zach’s tongue tip from making contact with the alveolar ridge or teeth. This can be done by utilizing a lollipop or tongue depressor to gently hold the tongue tip down while Zach produces the /k/ sound. Once he produces the /k/ sounds on his own we can begin working towards making words with the /k/ sound. It is easiest to start with the /k/ sound in the final position such as words like fork, bike, sock, and snake. The next goal would be to have the child say the specific words in sentences and structured conversations. This activity includes playing with nursery rhymes such as “Hickory Dickory Dock.” The more /k/ sounds in the nursery rhyme the better. Zach will also help make up stories with /k/ words, and the