/k/ in the initial position

Practice the /k/ sound with these words:

"candy,"...

"cake" or "counter" and...

"cookies."

 

To practice the /k/ sound at the phrase level, ask your child to label the cookies.  Targets may include, "chocolate chip cookies," "graham cracker cookies," and "oatmeal cookies."

To practice the /k/ sound at the sentence level, ask your child which cake looks the prettiest.  Targets may include, "The wedding cake looks the prettiest," or "I like the chocolate cake."  

To stimulate conversation, ask your child why she chose a particular cake as her favorite.  Targets may include, "The chocolate cake is my favorite because it is yummy.  I like mine with chocolate frosting.  I had chocolate cake with chocolate frosting at school.  It was delicious.  Kate likes vanilla..."

Cueing for the /k/ sound is similar to cueing for the /g/ sound as they are made in the same place in the mouth.  There are plenty of creative tips for making the /k/ sound from using a Q-tip to touch where the tongue should meet the soft palate to eating peanut butter to increase awareness of tongue movements.  These ideas may not be practical in a grocery store setting, though.  

One way to instruct for the /k/ sound is to talk to your child about the movement the tongue needs to make.  The tongue should move backwards in the mouth, and meet the back of the throat (the tongue is really making contact with the soft palate, or "velum," but the back of the throat is easier for a child to understand).  

Another way to instruct is using a touch cue.  Have your child feel your throat and jaw area when you make the /k/ sound to help conceptualize the movement.  Then, have her feel her own throat/jaw area while practicing the sound.  The difference between making the /g/ and /k/ sound is that when we make a /g/, the vocal cords vibrate whereas with /k/ the vocal folds don't vibrate.  Being attuned to the difference between /k/ and /g/ is one way to target phonological processes such as voicing and devoicing. These will be discussed in subsequent postings.

Tip: To stimulate conversation, it can be important that you don't ask all the questions, or else the activity can feel like a quiz.  You may take turns asking the questions, and this can also target the /k/ sound.  Your child may ask you what your favorite cake is, or what your wedding cake looked like.