As a speech-language pathologist, it wasn't until I started working with children with significant speech impairments that I started to really appreciate the importance of vowels. I mean, I *knew* vowels are important. After all, without vowels our words have no meaning. Consider the following sound (letter) sequence: /bg/. I could mean 'bag' or 'bug', 'bog' or 'beg', or perhaps 'big'. It is the vowel that tells you which one I mean. So, yes, I knew vowels are important. But the importance of establishing a solid foundation of vowel sounds in a child's speech sound repertoire took time to crystallize for me.
When I say "vowels", how many come to mind? Our American alphabet has 5 vowel letters. Standard American English has about 15 vowel sounds. You may remember from my letter-sound of the week project, there is a long and a short sound for each of the 5 vowel letters: 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u' (go check out those posts for more information). That is 10 of the 15 vowel sounds. Letters need to team up to represent the remaining 5 vowel sounds. So, where do we begin?
A key point to keep in mind: teach vowel sounds in relation to each other. Exactly where you start, and the order you follow, depends upon the child. From a speech perspective, I start by assessing which vowel sounds are easiest for the child to produce and use those as my starting place, working toward those that are more difficult for him/her. I also try to start with a small group of vowel sounds that are as different from each other as possible for obvious contrast, but still allow the child to learn vowel sounds in relation to others. When a child has a significant speech disorder, it can be easy to "miss" that vowel sounds are an issue. Especially if the majority of the sounds that they DO say are in fact vowel sounds. Children of all ages and abilities (regardless of their diagnosis or speech production history) can have vowel sound difficulties. As I noted above, vowel sounds are foundational and essential to intelligible speech, making them a great starting place. Finding materials that specifically focus on vowels can be tricky (especially in comparison to the plethora of materials to target consonant sounds).
The Lindamood Phon
Vowel Circle from LiPS program by Lindamood-Belleme Sequencing Program for Reading, Spelling, and Speech (a.k.a. LiPS; from Lindamood-Bell) uses a Vowel Circle to present all of the 15 vowel sounds. The program encourages comparing and contrasting to learn the vowel sounds in relation to each other, as well as in relation to where and how they are produced in the mouth. If you say the front vowel sounds from high to low in order, you can feel (and hear) just how subtle the differences are:
The difference between 'ee' and 'o' (bob) is distinct, however the difference between 'ee' and 'i' is a fine one. LiPS helps with speech, but also paves the way for learning to read and spell. I love the multi-sensory approach, use of manipulatives/visuals, and explicit learning/teaching through discovery and feedback. I have found it to be a very useful program for children who are able to handle the language and reflection involved. A good tool, but not the only tool in my SLP Toolbox.
props from Easy Does It - ApraxiaAnother resource I have been getting to know this past year is Easy Does It for Apraxia - Preschool. This program uses a turtle (Tyler) as a "talking buddy" to help us learn to talk. It is a program designed to address apraxia (Childhood Apraxia of Speech) or other motor speech deficits/significant speech impairments in preschoolers. As such, it focuses on developing sound and syllable sequences of increasing complexity. Of course, you cannot sequence sounds that you cannot produce individually, so step one is to establish vowel and consonant sounds in isolation and then quickly move mastered sounds into sound sequences. This program uses the 10 long and short vowel sounds. We begin with establishing the vowel sounds in isolation and then quickly move them into sequences with established consonant sounds to form syllables and words. I like that this program uses preschool-level language/vocabulary, materials, routines, and activities that are easily adaptable to the needs and abilities of the child. Like in LiPS, this program utilizes a multi-sensory approach, incorporating visuals and physical movement and cues. It also makes sending home materials/homework for practice outside of therapy with a family member simple, which I love! Overall, I am pleased to have added this to my SLP Toolbox.
A recent addition to my SLP Toolbox for vowel sound work is Vowel Practice Pictures by Pam Marshalla. She chose to focus on what she refers to as 11 basic vowel sounds. The book contains reproducible pages of pictures for each of the 11 vowel sounds (arranged from simple to complex with regards to both syllable shape and meaning of the word). There are many aspects I like about this book. I love that it is organized by vowel sound! I wish that there were not so many proper names used as targets. Admittedly, many of the names fit well into the various "categories". However, it makes it difficult for non-readers to become more independent (so far, my kids consistently need a verbal model to remind them of the names).
Finally, my reliable go-to tool in my SLP Toolbox is PROMPT. Using the tactile-kinesthetic cues from PROMPT can really help kids feel where and how their articulators need to move to produce sounds. While there are some easily visible lip cues for types of vowels (e.g. smile, open, round), the differences between many vowels is in jaw and tongue height, which is difficult/impossible to see. The physical cue helps the child feel what cannot be seen.
Regardless of how we do it, we must give adequate attention to vowel sounds. Have you found any great resources to help target speech production of vowel sounds? I'd love to hear about them!