Tapping Tessa’s Sound

About the Sound

This sound is  quick and soft.

Sound Pair

A sound pair is another sound that is made in the same way – only one of the pairs is LOUD (uses voice) and the other is SOFT (uses no voice, is whispered).  Not all sounds have a pair.  When a sound is involved with a speech error, often (but not always) the Sound Pair will also be involved in the same speech error. 

The sounds of Tapping Tessa (soft) and  Dave Drummer (loud) are  Sound Pairs. 

When it Develops

This sound is usually correct in a child’s production of words  between 3 years old and by the time they turn 4.

How it is Made

 Raise the tip of  tongue to touch the top the mouth right behind your teeth. You can see Tessa’s tongue shoe rising up in the picture. Tap down your tongue as you say a soft, quick /t/ sound. This sound is made in the same way as Dave Drummer’s /d/ sound, only his is loud and Tessa’s sound is soft (whispered). 

Errors in Production

Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child develops in their ability to speak clearly. 

1) When trying to say words starting with the blend ‘tr’ some children might produce the sound /ch/.  (For example, “chee” for “tree”).  Saying blends can be tricky. It’s not an issue with the production of /t/ as such.  Usually by the time a child starts school, they have stopped doing this. You can help them by repeating the word back,  slowly down as you say the /t/ and /r/ sound so they are a little more distinct.  

2) A child says the /ch/ sound instead of the /t/ sound in words like “tube” (“choob”) Fear not! This is totally normal in the way many Australians pronounce these words – even as adults. Think about how you say the t in the word “tuna”.  I bet you don’t say a pure /t/ sound! (Is it more like “choona?”)

3)  Sometimes young children may make a /d/ sound in place of a /d/ sound. For example, “durn on the dap” for “turn on the tap.” This is seen in normal speech development of a young child.  This error is called VOICING (meaning a soft sound is produced as its loud pair sound). A child who is VOICING will also produce other soft sounds as their loud pair. (The sound /k/ becomes  /g/,  as in “gum here” and the sound /p/ becomes /b/, “bink biggy”).   In normal speech development, this error pattern naturally “disappears” by the age 3 years. 

4) Tongue-tie is a condition where the small piece of skin under the tongue is abnormally short or tight, restricting the tongue’s movement. Usually this does not cause any issues, however in some instances the tongue-tie is extreme resulting in an inability to raise the tongue tip. If this is the case, the tongue is almost “pinned” down and the child will have issues making a range of sounds including Dave Drummer’s /d/, Tapping Tessa’s /t/, Nosy Nick’s /n/ and  Lovely Lara’s /l/.  A baby with a significant tongue-tie may also have issues with early feeding.  Rarely, do tongue-ties get “snipped”.  Instead, the piece of skin often stretches as the young child grows.

You can check out whether a child can lick their lips, by having them copy the movements of Danny the Dog in Pelican Talk’s Motormouth program.

 If you remain concerned about tongue-tie and a possible speech development issue, please contact a speech pathologist. 

About the Letter

The lower-case letter used in this set is the non-cursive letter t. Non-cursive is what is most often seen in text and in the world around a child, so we encourage all written text to be presented in non-cursive in the preschool setting.

The letter t starts with a downward stroke like many other letters. You could say that the letter looks like Tapping Tessa’s body with her arms outstretched (if you use your imagination)!

The letter’s name is pronounced “tee”. This letter is acrophonic meaning the letter name starts with the sound it represents. Acrophonic letter-sound links are generally easier to learn. 

Activities

The Colour-In. 1. Learners can be shown how to form the letter, starting at the star. If there are two possible ways the writer could head with their pencil (or crayon), they should head towards the smaller star next.  Try and give consistent instructions for the letter formation.  E.g. “Down and across”.  2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun.  3. Together look at the pictures, name each and LISTEN for the first sound of each word. It will begin with the target sound. 4. You can point to the first letter in each word. Name the letter. 

Colour-In

Picture Cards.  Each picture begins with the target sound. You can print these out and make cards or just look at them on a device.

1) Cards can be used for  these for a range of games such as SNAP, BINGO or MEMORY.

2) Start a double-spread page in a scrapbook for each sound. Paste in the colour-in (above), practise writing the letter and cut out and paste the pictures on the pages.

3) Combine them with another set from a different sound and do a SORTING ACTIVITY.

4)Make a poster for each sound and paste on the corresponding pictures.

Pictures of Words

Find the Letter View the download on a digital device and point to the target letters or print out and circle/ underline the letters.  Try and encourage scanning of left to right of each line while looking for letters. 

Find the Letter

REFERENCES