Spaghetti and meatballs S blends!

Teaching prevocalic s blends....

I find that some SLP's still do not work on cluster reduction  of the prevocalic s blends with younger (pre-k to k) children.  Reasons?  Some SLP's look at /s/ blends from a strictly articulation standpoint and  believe that /s/ blends  are a later-occurring pattern that doesn't need to be  worked on until first grade or beyond.  However, from a phonological standpoint, we do need to work on the child marking both sounds in the s blend much earlier than first grade!   When I have a preschool-kindergarten aged student that is reducing their /s/ clusters (and it is impeding their speech intelligibility) and having difficulties with the entire class of stridents, I will often work on marking the /s/ in prevocalic  /s/ blends first and it often jump-starts the other strident sounds the child is missing!  You get more bang for your intervention buck!  Now, I'm not suggesting you work on prevocalic /s/ blends with every one of your preschool-aged students.  Perform a comprehensive evaluation and use your  clinical judgement to make this decision.

It can be a challenge to teach younger children to mark both sounds in these blends!  Here's a few tips that I have learned along  the way:

1.  Auditory bombardment is critical.  I  use amplification  and have the child  watch me and listen to me  while I slowly make the "sssss" while extending my finger from my  mouth  to mimic the forward  air stream.  I pause after the "s" and then LOUDLY produce the second sound in the blend while my hand (fingers closed together in a fist pointing away from my mouth) opens in conjunction with the "pop" of air.  Then, I say the remainder  of  the word.

Children learn speech from listening so this is a critical piece.  When they hear adults produce /s/ blend words in their everyday speech, we typically don't pause between the sounds and children don't always understand these are two separate sounds!

2.  Find a visual that works for the child.  I use "spaghetti and  meatballs."  I have the child trace the  noodle while they prolong a forward air stream for the /s/ sound and then quickly touch the meatball while they say the second sound.  These movements mimic the air stream that is used for the "longer" sssss sound and the shorter plosive (p,t) the accompanies it in the blend.  As we get deeper into the therapy process, I will remind my students, "don't forget the spaghetti" or  "don't forget the meatball" depending upon  which sound they are omitting.  Here's a page from  my "Spaghetti & Meatballs: Reduce cluster reduction of prevocalic s blends" from my Teachers Pay Teachers store that  I use to teach  the concept of  marking  both sounds in the blend:

From "Spaghetti and meatballs" Target cluster reduction in early s blends!

If you have an Ipad, check out the Doodle Buddy app.  At the time of this writing, it is free.  You can use it to draw the noodle and the meatball with your finger on the screen as the child produces the accompanying sounds and then traces it.

Some students respond to the concepts that the "s" and  the accompanying sound are "buddy" sounds, as in "that's a buddy sound word."  Teach the child that  the "s" and the "t" in "stop" are buddy sounds.  One feels lost or sad if we forget the other!  I have used  any toys that link together to show that the child has to produce both sounds.

3.  Minimal Pairs.  I will use  minimal pairs with my younger students but I choose pairs that  include vocabulary they will understand.  For example, I  might use "spot/pot" but not "Spade/paid."  Go to  the TPT store and do a search for minimal pairs activities.  You are likely to find a freebie!

4.   Act confused by their sound omissions!  We are good at this right?  When a child says, "top" for "stop," I  may repeat "top?" in a questioning voice and look around acting very confused because  I just don't see a  "top."  If the child still doesn't mark the /s/, I will say,  "Oh, you mean "SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS"top, placing emphasis on the s.

5.  Are they omitting the s from the blend?  Call the "s' the snake sound and use this as a cue, "don't  forget the snake sound!"  Read a book about snakes as a way of introducing  this cue.

Do you have other  ideas or tips for working on the cluster reduction pattern in prevocalic s blends?  Please add them in the comments section!  Thanks for the visit and "Happy Speeching!"

                                                            Donna