/v/ in the final position

Practice the /v/ sound with these words:

"glove," and...

"olive."

To practice phrases, ask your child what kinds of olives there are in the salad bar.  Targets may include, "a green olive," "a black olive" and "a brown olive."

To practice sentences, ask your child what foods hot foods would require a person to use a glove when handling.  Targets may include, "You need a glove when baking a cake," "You need a glove when touching a pot of soup," and "You need a glove to touch a hot cookie pan."

To practice conversation, ask your child if she would eat an olive (if she never has) and what she thinks it would taste like.  Targets may include, "I would eat an olive.  I think it would taste like a grape.  An olive looks like a grape," or "I wouldn't eat an olive.  They smell funny.  I don't like the orange thing in the middle of the olive."  If your child likes olives, ask he what she knows about them: Where do they grow?  How do they grow?  What do they taste like?  What do you eat them with?

Visual cues are helpful when making the /v/ sound.  Instruct your child to put her top teeth on her bottom lip, and blow.  Show her how to do it while you make the /v/ sound.  Touch cues are also helpful  You can gently push on her lower lip until it is under her top teeth.  Also, have her put her hand in front of her mouth when she makes the /v/ sound so that she can feel the air coming out.  A popular visual cue to remind your child how to make the sound is, "Bite and blow."

/v/ in the initial position

Practice /v/ with these words:

"vegetables,"

 

and "vinegar."

To practice /v/ in phrases, ask your child what colors of vegetables she sees.  Targets may include, "green vegetables," yellow vegetables" and "red vegetables."  To increase attention, see if you can find oddly colored vegetables, like purple (cabbage, broccoflower) or white (asparagus, cauliflower).

To practice /v/ in sentences, ask your child what vegetables she would and would not put in a salad.  Targets may include, "I would put in green vegetables" or "The vegetable I would not put in would be spinach!"

To practice /v/ in conversation, ask your child to compare and contrast vegetables and fruits.  You may hear some interesting answers!  Here is a link from the Mayo Clinic describing the difference between fruits and vegetables: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fruit-vegetable-difference/MY02201

Visual cues are helpful when making the /v/ sound.  Instruct your child to put her top teeth on her bottom lip, and blow.  Show her how to do it while you make the /v/ sound.  Touch cues are also helpful  You can gently push on her lower lip until it is under her top teeth.  Also, have her put her hand in front of her mouth when she makes the /v/ sound so that she can feel the air coming out.  A popular visual cue to remind your child how to make the sound is, "Bite and blow."

What other /v/ initial words can you think of at Giant Eagle?  Post below!  These were the only ones I had come up with as of press time.  I suppose others would include V8, veal and vanilla.  Of course, I'm not sure how many of these would be in a child's vocabulary!

/v/ is not just for Veronica

The /v/ sound can be difficult to practice because it is not as common as, for example, /r/.  But on just one walk through Bird Park, I found three /v/ targets:

ivy...

pavilion...

and vehicle.

A /v/ sound may be substituted by another sound.  In this case, I recommend that one models the /v/ sound in words while putting special emphasis on the "vuh;" have the child imitate.  A good cue is to remind children to put their front teeth on their lower lip when making the sound, then demonstrate the maneuver.