Last Updated on October 18, 2022 by Editorial Team
Speech development is a crucial process as it enables communication. It starts from a very early age when a kid starts to babble and make various sounds. If the grasping skills are strong, the child may start speaking clear sentences at the very first year of school, and sometimes at home too. However, progress does not take the same curve for all. A few children require more effort. You can cushion the efforts to learn by accustoming yourself with speech sound examples and resources.
What is speech sound and why it is essential to learn?
Quoting Marriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of a speech sound is, “the smallest recurrent recognizably same constituents of spoken language produced by movement or movement and configuration of a varying number of the organs of speech in an act of ear-directed communication.” In simpler words, a phonetically unique unit of speech is the speech sound. We also know them as phonemes.
Delayed speech and learning disabilities may hinder the speech development process. Speech sound is an important skill required to ‘learn to read’, spell, and to learn speaking correctly. It improves pronunciation, boosts word development, and allows to make spelling correctly. Let’s take a look at examples of speech sounds and resources available to learn.
Speech sound examples: Complete list
Speech sounds are actually the phonetic units or phonemes. There are 44 phonemes in the English alphabet. The list comprises:
1. 20 Vowel Sounds.
- 6 Short Vowels.: Examples are a, e, i, o, u, oo, u as used in words bat, bed, pin, run, look, put respectively.
- 5 Long Vowels: (ai, ay), (ee, ea), (ie, igh), (oe, ow), (oo, ue) as used in words (paid, bay), (bee, mean), (Lie, High), (toe, bow), (boon, sue) respectively
- 3 r-controlled vowels: ar, (er,ir,ur), or as appearing in words far, (her, sir, fur), horn respectively
- 5 other vowels: (ow,ou), (oy,oi), (eer, ear), (air, ere), our as included in (cow, pout), (coy, join), (deer, near), (chair, there), tour respectively
2. 24 Consonant Sounds
Consonant sounds are produced by using various parts of the lips, palate, nose, etc. Based on the part involved, these sounds are classified as follows:
- Bilabial plosives: /p/, /b/ as in cup, cub
- alveolar plosives: /t/, /d/ as in hat, had
- post alveolar affricates: /tʃ/,/dƷ/ as in church, judge
- velar plosives: /k/, /g/; /k/ is written as k,c,qu and ch as in king, car, mosque, epoch respectively
- labio-dental fricatives: /f/, /v/; /f/ is used as ph, ff, gh, and f as in phone, suffer, rough and first respectively.
- dental fricatives: /ɵ/, /ð/ ; /e/ stands for th as in think, thin, myth and /ð/ is also th as used in father, with, etc.
- alveloal fricatives: /s/, /z/; /s/ represented by s,c,ss,sc,x as in son, cycle, miss, mess, and fix respectively. Similarly, /Z/ sound appears as z, s, ss in spellings, example being zebra, phase, scissors.
- Palate – Alveolar Fricatives: /ʃ/, /Ʒ/
/ʃ/: sh, si, ci, sci, ti, s, ch, sch; usage is fish, Asia, facial, science, probation, moustache, porsche
/Ʒ/: sure, si, ge, s, z: usage is leisure, vision, cage, phase, seizure
- bilabial and alveolar nasal: /m/ and /n/ respectively as used in aim, main, summer, and /n/ appears as n, nn, gn,mkn and pn in words such as man, funnel, sign, know, pneumococcal.
- velar nasal: /ŋ/ as used in king, sink, jinx, uncle
- glottal fricative: /h/ written as h in words like hand, have, etc.
- alveolar lateral /l/: /l/ written as l,ll,lk,ld in words pal, ball, milk, bald
- Post-alveolar Frictionless Continuant /r/: /r/ appears as r, rr, rh, wr in spellings like bright, parrot, rhythm, wrath
- labio-velar semi-vowel /w/: /w/ appears as w, wh, u, o in spellings like wall, when, quick, once
- palatal semi-vowel /j/: /j/ is employed as y, i, e, ew, eau, ui, eu in word yak, scion, courageous, few, beauty, suit, feud
The reading system that focuses on sensory-cognitive ways the speech sound is produced is useful in learning how to sound out consonants. Learning resources available for mastering these speech sounds focus on some or all aspects of building fluency. Let’s take a look at some notable resources.
Speech sound learning resources
Several speech coaches have developed learning resources to help children overcome the difficulties they experience in pronouncing letters or words. Both students and teachers/parents can benefit from the resources mentioned below.
1. Speech and Language Kids
It is an SLP solutions initiative where a dedicated section for speech sound development is available. The learning resources provided in this section are:
- Articulation programs
- Phonological processes program
- How to teach fricatives (long sounds) to kids
These programs offer therapy activities, pre-designed worksheets, discussion forums, training videos, webinars, step-by-step guides, etc.
2. See and Learn
It is an evidence-based program aimed at developing linguistic skills in children with Down Syndrome. The program covers all aspects of speech development and works on the fact that language and speech development are inextricably linked. In this program, the users have access to:
- Learning phonemes
- Discriminating between sounds
- Phonology
- How to produce clear speech, etc.
The program allows smooth transitioning from developing sounds to making complete words and sentences. The stepwise intervention of the speech training augments speech skills and prepares children for daily life conversations. Users get access to apps, instruction materials and guides, and various other resources. It is suitable for nursery, preschool level, and other levels of schooling.
3. ACT on speech sound home program
Home program to develop speech in children at places where they are most comfortable! This speech sound learning program allows to start practicing targeted sounds. Children get lots of activities and study materials to build speech sound skills. This program teaches systematically:
- Starting sounds
- End sounds
- Sound blends, etc.
The program complements the learning needs of children with delayed speech, and also provides engaging material to learn for preschoolers and elementary school students.
4. Storyplace
Story place provides a goldmine of story-reading materials that are suitable for delayed speech corrections. The practice material available here comprises lots of reading materials and activities based on themes. Learners can do:
- online activity
- solve printable worksheets
- support for parents
- online stories for decoding words
Keeping children engaged in speech development becomes more enjoyable with this support. Merge fun with learning and drive kids to practice more and help develop accuracy and clarity in speech with this free resource available online.
5. Speech Articulation games
Quia, an interactive speech articulation site by speech pathologist Tracy Boyd, serves a multitude of games to help with linguistic skills development. This gamified resource contains:
- Matching games for starting sounds
- Matching games for end sounds
- Match rhyming words games
- Medial sound games
- Various challenge boards, etc.
It takes participation, patience, and perseverance to build speech sound skills in children with language deficiencies. Students, teachers, and parents need to come together to learn and evolve into confident speakers. Online resources offer the perfect pretext to make speech learning a matter of practical training.
Conclusion
Speech development happens when one knows about phonemes and builds cognition towards the principles of sounding out these phonetic units. Speech sounds knowledge offers a primer to linguistic skills development. You can refine this skill further by employing doable resources like worksheets, reading programs, learn-to-talk programs, games, etc. Build skills gradually using these resources or by joining IEP programs, and evaluate progress to check the level of proficiency for choosing from whether to repeat or to move ahead.
I am Pratiksha Bhatt, Bachelor of Life Science, and Masters in Management Studies. I have done certification courses in early education counseling. I am a writer, a mother of a child with spelling difficulties which drove me to alternative resources of education like manipulatives and participatory activities. My areas of expertise are learning difficulties, alternative learning methods, and activity-based learning.