Age of Acquisition

Age of Acquisition

 ‘Phonetic development is the gradual acquisition of the ability to articulate speech sounds (e.g., /p/, /b/, /t/, etc.) and structures (e.g., consonant clusters such as /fl/ and /skw/). It is often referred to as articulation development’ (Bowen, 2011).

Speech Pathologists have collated and organised sounds and the manner in which they are formulated into groups. The ‘Age of Acquisition’ grouping allows you to better understand where a child is having difficulty and what the regular pattern of development is.

Kate Meredith (Educate to Communicate, 2015) has developed a ‘Speech Sound Development’ template below to demonstrate a child’s age of acquisition or visit http://bit.ly/29tUota for Caroline Bowen’s table on Phonetic Development.

There are 24 sounds which consist of;

/H/         /ZH/       /Y/          /W/        /NG/     /M/        /N/         /P/         /K/         /T/          /B/         /G/         /D/

/F/          /L/          /SH/       /CH/      /J/          /S/          /Z/          /R/         /V/         /TH/ - Voiced     /TH/ - Voiceless.

The manner in which these sounds are for formulated are;

• Voiceless fricative
• Voiced fricative
• Voiced glide
• Voiced nasal
• Voiceless stop
• Voiced stop
• Voiced liquid
• Voiceless affricate.

Description of the Resource/s:

In the Useful Resources you will find ‘Speech Sound Cards’ for each sound. These cards each have a header with an image, song/rhyme and letter/s that may represent that sound. E.g. TH or Ff. Passfield Park School utilize the ‘Ants in the Apple’ program which has images and songs to match each letter of the alphabet. The cards were made using the same rhymes and images, where applicable, as they were most familiar to the students.

On each card, there are words and representing images, also known as Picture Communication Symbols (PCS), which have the focus sound at the beginning, middle or end of the word. See each resource page for information about the manner and whether the Speech Sound Card has a beginning, middle or end page.

How would you use/adapt it?

These cards are very flexible in use and can be used in many different ways.

These rhymes and images could be adapted to suit other programs or individualised for the child, e.g. Jolly Phonics.

When teaching a sound to a child, to enhance learning, it is recommended that the sound be presented with an image, a rhyme/song/story, a gesture. E.g. sign language, action.

The educator should always demonstrate correct pronunciation and provide support and feedback for the child in how to formulate the sound/s. E.g. ‘round your lips’, ‘tongue behind your teeth’.
A mirror could be used to enable the child to see the shape they are making with their mouth and make the changes required to formulate the correct sound.

Based on the child’s interests you could also do a hands on activity to represent the sound, such as play dough, drawing, colouring in or Lego.

The PCS are some examples of words using the focus sound. For each beginning, middle or end sound there is one A4 card. These words could be used as a whole on the A4 card or cut out individually and used as cards.

These PCS can be used in assessments and to gain a baseline of the child’s current level of performance or used in activities. The cards can be used with one sound focus or in collaboration with others depending on the child’s speech difficulty. The educator can do receptive activities where they say the words and the child identifies them or activities where the child speaks them.

The PCS can be used in many different game based activities. Some examples include;

• Go Fish
• Snap
• Bingo
• Pair
• Memory

Or can be used in conjunction with other games that are motivating and rewarding to the child and may suit their sensory needs. For example;

• Pop Up Pirate
• Twister
• Pictionary
• Connect 4
• Kerplunk

When teaching these speech sounds speech therapists suggest following steps of difficulty to help the child to generalise the skill.  This may look like;

1.       Isolate the sound. E.g. /SH/

2.       Auditory discrimination – identifying the sound when hearing it receptively when isolated and then in a word.

3.       Say the sound in words – Start with beginning sound, then, as they develop the skill use end sound then middle sound words.

4.       Say the sound in a sentence – use the words with the sound in a sentence.

5.       Catch them in Conversation – support the child to generalise the skill in all areas of communication.