Lovely Lara’s Sound
Below you will find BONUS ACTIVITIES that come with your purchase of The Speech Sound Set Alphabet Cards.
Note that in this series, only lower-case non-cursive letters are included. Lower-case letters are certainly more difficult to write than capitals, but this resource is about exposing children to the look of the letters that they will be seeing in the sentences of their ‘readers’ (books) when they begin formal schooling.
Buy The Speech Sound Set Alphabet CardsAbout the Sound
Lovely Lara makes a loud long sound. The position of her tongue is similar to that of Nosey Nick when he makes his sound.
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 sound of Lovely Lara (loud) does not have a Sound Pair.
When it develops
This sound usually emerges later in a 4 year old child’s speech. It is, however, usually being used correctly by the start of school.
How it is made
Lift the front of your tongue and place the tip hard on the roof of your mouth as you say a long, loud sound.
Tips to Help
Press the tongue hard on the roof of the mouth. If a child is saying Wonderful Worm’s sound instead, I say to them “No little lips”. Try keeping the lips slightly spread as the tongue is lifted.
Common Errors
Remember, some speech sound errors are perfectly NORMAL as a child progresses in their speech development.
1. It is a common error for children to say the /w/ sound or the /y/ sound instead of the /l/ sound in words. Examples are a child saying “wike” or “yike” for “like”. This error is called GLIDING. A child usually “grows out” of this error by around 6 years of age. ***There’s a sheet of pictures below (Minimal Pairs) to help with this.
2. This sound often occurs as the SECOND sound in a word (fly, please, close). In these words, the sound is making up part of a cluster or blend (fl, pl, cl) . It is a normal developmental error for children to leave out the sound that is second in the cluster (or blend). Children might say “fy” for “fly” and “pease” for “please.” This is not an error associated with saying the /l/ sound, but a difficulty with producing the cluster. It is called CLUSTER REDUCTION and usually resolves naturally by the time a child is around 4 years of age. To help children with this error – say the target word slowly, separating the sounds slightly… /c/…/lean/ for “clean”.
You can contrast the correct and incorrect production of a word using minimal pairs (see sample page below). For example, if a child is saying /w/ instead of /l/, try SHOWING the pictures “light” vs “white” etc and SAYING these words so the child develops an awareness of the difference. Loads more contrasts are available as a downloadable resource – Minimal Pairs to the Max by Pelican Talk.
Arnie the Articulation Teddy shows how to make the /l/ sound.
The Arnie puppet, along with his articulation program, is available from the Puppets for Learning online store.
About the Letter
The lower-case letter used in this set is the non-cursive letter l, although a small kick forward is included in the non-cursive font used. You might want to explain that sometimes just a straight line is used with no kick. (The straight line looks just like the capital I).
The letter’s name is pronounced “ell”. For this reason, some children in early writing tasks think they can write words like “bell” using the letters b+l alone (/b/+ell) To prevent this, it’s important to reinforce that the letter name is “ell” and the sound is…. /l/ (Lovely Lara’s sound).
Activities
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 when you show a child how to form the letter. E.g. “Here’s how we do the letter l. Down and little curl forward”. 2. Children can practise again and again within the outline. Using different colours can make it more fun. Encourage children to say the SOUND as they trace the letter. 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.
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.
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. Start by saying “Let’s look for all the l letters”. When you find them, say the sound as you point/circle/underline.
References
Crowe, K. and McLeod, S. (2020). Children’s English Consonant Acquisition In the United States: A Review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 4(29), 2155-2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00168
McLeod, S., & Singh, S. (2009). Speech sounds: A pictorial guide to typical and atypical speech. Plural Publishing.
Peña-Brooks, A., & Hegde, M. N. (2015). Assessment and Treatment of Speech Sound Disorders in Children: A Dual-Level Text. Austin, TX: PRO-ED.
Shipley, K. G., & McAfee, J. G. (2016). Assessment in speech-language pathology: A resource manual. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.