Anatomy of Speech Sounds

Speech sounds are a part of our everyday life, but do you know how it happens? In this 30 minute class, I will be teaching about the parts of our bodies that help us make speech sounds. This class may include a MOUTH PUPPET, MUSIC, GAMES, and ACTIVITIES for your student! First we start out with an engaging question. This is an opportunity for me to hear from your child. Then we will bring awareness to our lungs (where we get our air for speech) by doing a fun balloon breath exercise (no balloon necessary.) Then I will go into some detail about each articulator (lips, teeth, tongue, palate, nose, lungs and vocal folds) and the different ways they are used to make sounds. I have my helpful Mouth puppet to help me show the students the different parts of the mouth and I encourage you to bring a mirror to class so that your student can see in the mirror his or her own mouth. We will learn how to distinguish sounds based on placement of the articulators (ex. tap the tip of your tongue to the bumpy part behind your teeth on the top of your mouth to make the /t/ sound) and the way the sound is expressed (short or long air sound). I will provide visuals through props, slides, diagrams and demonstrations. No previous experience required. This class is not intended to be or take the place of speech therapy. It is intended to be for general learning and awareness about our speech and our bodies. 

Here are some general rules for the classroom. To help the class be the best it can be, classroom expectations are for the students to stay muted until I call on them. This helps with audio quality and also helps the class to flow better in this online format. Also, it is outschool policy to recommend parents stay off screen. But, I encourage parents to stay near by to assist their child if they feel it is more beneficial.