How to teach a child the letter P

It would seem, how many problems can one sound give parents? In fact, it is a lot if the baby is not able to master his pronunciation in any way. Moms and dads get the most from the "R" sound. After all, this is one of the most difficult to pronounce sounds in Slavic phonetics. Not all children have a beautiful and high-quality growl. Therefore, from about 4 years old, parents sound the alarm due to the fact that the child is bursting. The speech therapist, the founder of the children's speech therapy school LogoClub, told us about when to "put" the "P" sound on the baby, and how you can do it yourself. Alena King

The sound "R" is the sound of late ontogeny. This means that it is formed in the child's speech by one of the the most recent (along with the sound "L" and hissing "Ш", "Ж", "Ч", "Щ"). At 3-4 years old, a child may not have it yet, and this is an absolute norm. Speech therapists recommend targeting this sound about a year before school.

Is it possible to teach a child the sound "R" at home

“I am not a supporter of the parents teaching their child to sound pronunciation themselves,” says Alena Korol. - Not a single article on the Internet, not a single educational video can assess the features of the articulatory apparatus and phonemic processes of a child. For example, a child has a shortened frenulum, there are features of the mobility of the articulatory apparatus or problems with the dentoalveolar system. Such a child needs specific activities. But the mother, too, does not always see this, and tries to teach the child in basic practices. "

What can happen in this case? It's great if the "stars are right" and the "P" sound appears in speech. “Unfortunately, this does not always happen,” says Alena Korol. - Often the required sound is pronounced incorrectly, and in the child's speech, for example, a guttural "French P" appears. If this pronunciation becomes a habit, this is a problem. After all, retraining the formed articulation pattern is more difficult than just putting this sound from scratch. "

If the "R" sound does not work at home, it is better to entrust the work to a specialist / istockphoto.com

The second problem is burnout syndrome. Yes, yes, this happens even in young children. “It happens that a child comes to a speech therapist so exhausted by home workouts that he does not even want to make an effort in the classroom,” notes Alenka Korol. - If you decide to put the sound yourself, take care of the child's condition. In the classroom, there should be a situation of success so that the baby can see what he is doing. Therefore, if you have been putting sound on the child for a couple of weeks, but the result is not visible, it is better to entrust this process to a specialist. "

Breathing exercises for correct speech

You need to start work on the production of any sound with breathing exercises. This is a kind of warm-up that trains the lungs and helps the child to form the targeted air flow necessary for the pronunciation of sounds.

“Children often have upper clavicular breathing, when the child breathes in shallowly and sharply, raising his shoulders. This type of breathing is not very conducive to good speech. Help your child develop diaphragmatic breathing - that is, belly breathing. To do this, we put the child on the back, put a voluminous light toy on his tummy and ask him to inhale so that the toy rises, ”advises Alena Korol.

Breathing exercises teach a child to form air flow for correct speech / istockphoto.com

Also, the following exercises will be very useful for breathing training:

• "Balloon". Inflate your cheeks and slowly release air through the lips, stretched out in a tube.
• "Hamster". Inflate the right and left cheeks alternately.
• "Warming up the pens." Imagine. That you blinded the snowman. Breathe into your palms, pronouncing the sound "Х-Х-Х", as if they need to be warmed up.
• "Football". Draw out the lips with a straw. Blow off a cotton ball or foam ball from the table, making sure that the cheeks are not puffed up
• "On the swing". Hang paper figures (flowers, snowflakes, dolls) on a string. Ask the child to swing them with their exhalation.
• "Bubbles". Open your mouth slightly, resting the tip of your tongue against your lower teeth. Put a cocktail tube in the center of the tongue, lowering its end into a container of water. Blow into the tube so that bubbles appear in the water. In this case, the cheeks should not puff up, and the lips should be motionless.
• "Focus". Open your mouth slightly and stretch your lips into a smile. Stick out your tongue in the form of a "scapula" on the lower lip. Put a small, light object on the tip of your tongue and blow it away sharply, directing the air flow forward.
• "Ship". Make a paper boat and put it in a bowl or bath of water. At first, the child blows smoothly, lips folded as for the sound "F-F-F". Then "a gusty wind swoops in." The child folds his lips as if for the sound "P" or pulls them out with a tube without puffing out his cheeks.

Articulation exercises for the sound "P"

“These exercises don't actually stage sounds. First of all, they are aimed at activating the muscles of the articulatory apparatus, - explains Alena Korol. - Tongue, lips, cheeks are all muscles. Therefore, after completing such exercises, children begin to speak much more clearly, because their organs of articulation are in good shape. Specifically, the sound "P" is the sound that is formed on the upper ascent of the tongue. Accordingly, for its formation, anticipations that raise the tip of the tongue upward will be useful. "

Articulatory gymnastics keeps the muscles of the speech apparatus in good shape / istockphoto.com

To train lifting the tip of the tongue up, the following exercises are suitable (in increasing order from simple to complex):

• "We brush our teeth." Open your mouth and brush your teeth with the tip of your tongue from the outside and inside of the upper and lower dentition, performing movements from side to side and from top to bottom. Execute on account 1-2.
• "Delicious Jam". Open your mouth. Lick your upper lip with your tongue. Perform a movement from top to bottom, at the end hiding your tongue in your mouth. Execute on account 1-2.
• "Painter". Open your mouth and “paint” the palate with your tongue, performing slow movements from the upper teeth to the depth of the mouth and back. Execute on account 1-2.
• "Horse". Open your mouth, suck your tongue to the palate and tear it off sharply by clicking it. Execute on account 1-2.
• "A cup". Open your mouth wide, stick out your tongue. Raise the tip and lateral edges of the tongue to the upper teeth, but do not touch them. Hold in this position for a count of up to 10.
• "Fungus". Suck your tongue to the palate, open your mouth wide. The back of the tongue is the cap of the mushroom, and the sublingual frenulum is its stem. Hold in this position for a count of up to 10.

Exercises for setting the sound "R"

Exercises for setting the sound "P" should be performed no longer than 2-3 minutes / istockphoto.com

In total, articulatory gymnastics should not take you more than 5-7 minutes. After that, you can try to "put" the child the sound "R" with the help of several exercises. In this case, you must follow certain rules.

“All exercises for setting the sound“ P ”are performed with a wide smile and with a wide open mouth. Thus, the tongue reflexively takes a favorable position in the mouth, - emphasizes Alena King. - Do not tell your toddler to say the R sound or growl. He will turn on the old articulation, and he will pronounce the sound with which he previously replaced the sound "R". If during the exercise you hear that the child has "slipped through" the wrong sound (guttural, lardy), stop the exercise so as not to automate the habit. "

Exercise "Drum" ("Woodpecker")

The child smiled, opened his mouth and quickly, quickly hits the alveoli (tubercles behind the front teeth) with the tip of his tongue, while uttering the sound "D-D-D". If at the same time the child also blows on the tip of the tongue, vibration may spontaneously occur there. At this moment, the mother can move the baby under the tip of the tongue with a cotton swab. So we additionally activate the lingual muscles and can achieve enhanced vibration and the appearance of the sound "P".

Exercise "Fly" ("Buzz")

It can be done provided that the child knows how to pronounce the sound "Ж" and can hold his tongue well in the shape of a "cup". On a wide smile and with an open mouth, the tongue is in the position of pronouncing the sound "F" (the tip is on top, the lateral edges of the tongue are pressed against the teeth). The child begins to pronounce the sound "Ж", but with an open mouth you will hear a sound similar to the buzzing of a fly. At this moment, the child should blow very hard on the tongue, and the mother can again move the cotton swab over the tip of the tongue in the place where vibration should occur - under the tip of the tongue.

Sound combinations "TR" and "DR"

On the Internet, you can find a "one hundred percent" way to start the sound "P". This is the pronunciation of the sound combinations "TR" and "DR". Speech therapists do not deny its effectiveness, but they advise you to be careful. Firstly, this exercise must also be done with your mouth wide open in order to achieve vibration in the right place. Secondly, it is important to "separate" the desired sound from the sound combination in time. At first, the child seems to be repelled from the front sound ("T" or "D"), thereby triggering the sound "P". However, then it can be difficult to get rid of the "helpers". As a result, the child has a “fish” or “dryba”, and he cannot break this connection on his own.

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