Situation A

Kate : Mom, tate want to tate the blue tar
Mom: Oh, Kate wants to take the blue car
Ok, please wait for a while
Kate: Otey mom

Situation B

Kate: Granny, tate want to tate the blue tar
Granny: What? What do you want?

Have you ever experience any of the above situations?

Mum or dad who is always with their kids will usually able to understand their kid; even when the kid mispronounces some word. People who are not familiar with the kid may have difficulty to understand them.

The above example shows a sound that is affected or mispronounced. In the above situation, the kid change the /k/ sound to /t/ consistently. Can you imagine if more than a sound are mispronounced? The kid’s speech will be hard to understand then!

In this article, we will discuss how to teach a kid to pronounce /k/ and /t/ sound. Both of the sounds can occur in the initial, medial or final word position.

Words with phoneme /k/ and /g/

Video how to pronounce /k/ and /g/ sound

1. Pronounce /k/ sound
2. Pronounce /g/ sound

How do you pronounce /k/ and /g/?

There are several part of mouth moved when we speak. For /k/ and /g/, the back of the tongue and back side of the soft palate plays important role and the following happens:

What are the common type of error with /k/ and /g/?

There are 2 types of errors that involve /k/ and /g sound/:

Source: http:// www.talkingtails.net

1. The sound is not pronounced by the kid. It will be deleted, results in  incomplete pronunciation
2. The sound is substituted. It is usually substituted to a sound with similar characteristic with /t/ and /d/. When this happens, the pronunciation of a word will differ, and the intended meaning of the word will changed.

The following show example of error that involves /t/ and /d sound:

Each sound is acquired by stages. The /k/ and /g/sounds are acquired at 2-4 years old. The sound deletion error is considered normal for age 3, and sound substitution error is normal up to age 4 years old. If your kid is 2 years old and mispronounce the sounds, please don’t worry!

What are the strategy to teach /k/ and /g/?

There are various strategies that you can do to teach a kid to pronounce /k/ and /g/. These strategies are used during the initial stages of teaching the intended phoneme. Among the strategy that you can use are:

How to start?

Speech Sounds are acquired in stages. For example, at age 2, a kid will be able to pronounce /p/ and /b/ and other sounds.

When we teach a kid to pronounce a new sound- we have to do it from the basic stage. You can move to the next stage if a kid show 80% correct responds in a stage. Refer to article let’s play with /t/ and /d/ for description.

What are activities to teach /k/ and /g/?

Refer to article let’s play with /t/ and /d/ for activities that you can do for teaching a kid to say the sounds correctly. Basic concepts for teaching are- the kid must be ready and enjoy the therapy session!

Words with /k/sound

Initial word position	Medial word position	Final word position
Kite	Monkey	Cake

Words with /g/ sound:

Initial word position	Medial word position	Final word position
Girl	Jogging	Bag

References

1. Developmental Norms for speech and language. Diperoleh daripada http://www.asha.org/slp/schools/prof-consult/norms/, pada 3 September 2015.
2. English pronounciation, lesson 22. Diperoleh daripada http://www.english247.net/english-pronunciation-lesson-22-consonant-k/ pada 7 September 2015.
3. Table 3 – Elimination of Phonological Processes. Diperoleh daripada http://www.speech-language-therapy.com pada 3 September 2015.