"milk," and...
"book."
Practice /k/ in phrases by asking your child what colors of milk she sees. Targets may include "white milk," "pink milk" and "brown milk."
Practice /k/ in sentences by asking your child what books she sees on display. Targets may include "I see a coloring book," "I see a Minnie Mouse book," and "I see a Dora book."
Practice /k/ in conversation by asking your child where we can find a book. Targets may include, "You can get a book at the library. You can get a book in school. You can get a book at the grocery store." To extend the conversation, ask your child to tell you about her favorite books.
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.
