Summer Learning with Learnigo #3: Supporting Fine Motor and Pre-Writing Skills
July 3, 2024
Learnigo Product Feature: Articulation Program
Learnigo’s Articulation Program
Welcome back, Learnigo Learner!
Let’s learn about Learnigo’s Articulation Program, one of the most comprehensive articulation products available to SLPs. This program is part of Learnigo’s ultimate online resource library, featuring thousands of engaging activities to help students learn and make progress.
The entire Learnigo Articulation program has over 1,000 interactive screens that target each of the English phonemes in the initial, medial, and final positions, from isolation to oral reading.
Who has articulation disorders?
Disorders of articulation are frequent in early childhood. According to the article by Laura Sices et al., 2007 children with these disorders may be at risk for reading difficulties because they may have “poor auditory, phonologic, and verbal memory skills.” Articulation skills are also important to produce clear sounds, convey ideas, be easily understood by others, express basic wants and needs, and make complex conversations (McLeod et. al 2007).
How can I support articulation skills?
Here are some tips to improve your child/student’s articulation skills.
1. First, it is important to recognize the early signs of articulation issues and seek professional advice if needed. Children acquire sounds within milestones, so not saying certain sounds by an appropriate age may signal the need for further intervention. For example, the child should be able to produce the following sounds between 1-2 years of age: p,b,m,n,t,d. Other signs of articulation difficulties include:
- mispronouncing words,
- difficulty saying syllables,
- leaving out certain sounds,
- substituting one sound for another,
- adding sounds where they don’t belong,
- and distorting sounds.
2. Practice regularly: regular practice is key. Have your child/student practice using simple exercises with specific sounds that your child struggles with.
3. Read aloud together: reading stories aloud helps children hear and practice clear pronunciation.
4. Use visual aids: pictures and flashcards can help demonstrate how to produce a sound.
5. Model clear speech: speak clearly and slowly to give the child a good speech model.
6. Break down words: if words are too long (e.g., multisyllables), break them down into more manageable parts.
7. Seek professional help if needed: speech therapists are trained professionals who can help your child improve their speech by providing targeted exercises.
What is the Learnigo Articulation Program?
Learnigo is a great tool to help your child improve their speech skills. Computer-led practice has shown promising results for promoting at-home practice for children with speech sound disorders (Nordness & Beukelman, 2010). The entire Articulation program is divided into three parts: early, intermediate and late-developing sounds (Crowe & McLeod, 2020):
- Early sounds: p, b, n, m, h, w, d, t, y
- Intermediate sounds: g, k, f, v, ng, s, s blends, z, sh
- Late developing sounds: ch, j, l, zh, l blends, r, r blends, th voiced, th voiceless
Imagine your child or student improving their articulation skills by playing over 1,500 evidence-based articulation activities such as games, puzzles, seek-and-find, coloring, and spot-the-difference … all ready to access on a tablet, interactive whiteboard, computer, and mobile devices. Carefully chosen material to elicit varied practice of skills. Synchronous or asynchronous access so this program can be used live in a traditional face-to-face or a virtual session or at home for practice. Additional features include:
- evidence-based articulation principles using the bottom-up approach (Tambyraja & Dunkle, 2014) allowing for systematic intervention from isolation to connected speech.
- multiple opportunities to practice a target phoneme including recording for audio feedback.
- easily accessible library organized by phoneme from isolation through oral reading.
- printable worksheets for more practice offline to use at any place at any time, to reinforce learned concepts online, and to provide variety to a child’s learning style.
- customizable session including hints, minimizing distractions, and a progress panel.
- multi-sensory support including options for written and recorded instructions.
- data is collected automatically to detail progress at the end of each phoneme.
This program is most appropriate for younger learners working on articulation but can be adjusted to fit individual needs. Some activities may be better suited for learners who can read. The program can be used in one-on-one and group sessions as well as a stand-alone practice or supplemental practice with other activities.
But don’t take our word for it: Try a free demo version of the Learnigo Articulation program here.
Here’s an example of an activity targeting sound production (“ch”) at the isolation level:
Isolation Practice
This section of the Learnigo articulation program features 1-3 different activities that target production of the “ch” sound in isolation. The activities are interactive and drill-based to elicit multiple opportunities for correct sound production before moving on to the syllable level. Research has shown that children especially benefit from active engagement in digital games used in speech therapy. A 2022 systematic review demonstrated that therapeutic games had a positive effect on children’s overall motivation, focus, and satisfaction (Saeedi, Soheila et al. 2022).
This section includes recording options for feedback. Some of the activities (such as CH – isolation (1) below) rely on a recording to initiate the activity to motivate the child and increase self-monitoring abilities.
Why Learnigo?
Learnigo is made by therapists for therapists. The Learnigo Articulation program is there to help your child or student with improving their speech. With more than 1,500 interactive screens, your child/student is assured to be engaged and focused throughout the session while making progress towards their articulation goals.
Many children learn through play, story read-aloud, and games. This knowledge is at the core of the program; children can learn and practice their sounds within a meaningful context. The activities motivate the child to complete the task and learn while having fun. This integrative approach to speech sound production has been proven effective for generalizing newly learned sounds to spontaneous speech after successful drill-based therapy.
The Learnigo Articulation program is one of many tools that you can use to support speech sound development and intervention. That’s why we created an evidence-based program, that collects data to track progress easily and is customizable to address your diverse caseload. As speech therapists, and professionals who work with students or children with disabilities and leading busy lives, having a tool that has fun planned lessons that can be accessed anywhere at any time is a lifesaver. Keep in mind that these resources will be regularly updated, and new materials will be consistently added. We listen to our Learnigo Learners to make this digital resource the best that it can be.
We know what it’s like on those Mondays when the printing machine doesn’t work and time doesn’t allow for extra material planning. Now, with the Learnigo Articulation program at your fingertips, you can spend minimal time planning while presenting interactive, evidenced-based activities that systematically target your students’ goals.
Follow our socials for more updates:
References
Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children’s English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155-2169.
McLeod et al.(2007) “Application of the ICF and ICF-Children and Youth in Children with Speech Impairment.” Seminars in Speech and Language 28 (4), 254-64
Nordness, A. S., & Beukelman, D. R. (2010). Speech practice patterns of children with speech sound disorders: The impact of parental record keeping and computer-led practice. Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 18(4), 104-108.
Saeedi, S., et al. (2022). Application of digital games for speech therapy in children: A Systematic Review of Features and Challenges. Journal of Healthcare Engineering, Article ID 4814945, 2-4.
Tambyraja, S. R., & Dunkle, J. T. (2014). Target Selection in Speech Therapy: Is a Non-Developmental Approach More Efficient Than a Developmental Approach? EBP Briefs, 8(5),1-9.
Recent Posts
