| Articulation delays are common in young children | | | | 2. Practice raising and lowering the tongue tip to |
| and several speech sounds can be particularly | | | | strengthen the tongue and develop awareness. |
| difficult for children to master. One sound that | | | | 3. Have the child open his mouth widely, sustain an |
| challenges many children is the /l/ sound. /L/ is a | | | | "ah" sound while raising his tongue tip to the /l/ |
| fairly easy sound to teach because it is produced | | | | position. |
| near the front of the mouth, making it easy to | | | | 4. Practice /l/ vowel babbling.... "Lalala, loolooloo, |
| "see." Children should be able to produce /l/ in | | | | leeleelee." You may find that the /l/ is easier to |
| conversation by age 5. | | | | produce when combined with specific vowels. |
| The most common error is substituting a /w/ for | | | | Practice the easier syllables first. |
| /l/. Some children may use /y/ for /l/ or omit | | | | 5. Compare the tongue tip sounds. Have the child |
| the /l/ altogether. | | | | practice: "tee, dee, nee, lee," etc. |
| The /l/ sound is produced by placing the tongue | | | | 6. If the child substitutes /w/ for /l/, gently |
| tip behind the upper front teeth, against the gum | | | | spread the child's lips to discourage him from |
| ridge. The sides of the tongue are lowered in | | | | rounding them when producing /l/. |
| order to allow the voice to pass around the sides | | | | Once the child can produce an L sound |
| of the tongue. | | | | consistently in isolation or in a short syllable, have |
| Tips: | | | | him practice it at the beginning of words, such as |
| | | | light, lamp, let, and lip. Then start to practice /l/ in |
| 1. Model the correct placement of the tongue, | | | | the middle and ends of words and finally in |
| using a mirror. Touch the gum ridge with a spoon | | | | sentences. |
| or popsicle stick to demonstrate to the child | | | | With consistent practice, you should soon see |
| where to make tongue contact. | | | | improvement in your child's speech! |