/f/

In therapy we have been working on listening and saying the /f/ sound. When doing formal instruction, Brooke uses /f/ about 80%-90% of the time; but in casual conversation, she uses the /f/ sound about 50% of the time. For example, she will say the word "fish" correctly but when we end up at the pet store and she is excited about all the aquariums, it becomes "pish" or "bish". So we need some more practice.

Objective:
a. to produce the /f/ correctly 100% of the time
b. to have repeated exposure to the /f/
c. to practice recognizing the intial sound in rhyming words

Points to Remember:
1. Make sure the instruction is a fun as possible for your child
2. Use vocabulary your child knows but feal free to introduce a few new words
3. Remember not to make the /f/ louder when you speak, instead "drag out" the sound and whisper.....kids with hearing aids often can hear a whisper easier than loud speech.

Lesson:


1. We began by reviewing our letter Ff bag. We have used this before and Brooke is familiar with the objects. Inside we have a : fire, fox, fork, flamingo, french fries, flag, flashlight, flower, two fish and a frog.

2. Take one item out the bag at a time

3. I make a long /fffffffffffffff/ sound as Brooke reaches into the bag and then allow her to say the name of the object. Sometimes she will say another word for the object; such as call the frog a toad. I validate her answer and encourage her to think of another word for toad that begins with /f/.

4. I want to make sure she is hearing the /f/ sound in speech so we did a little rhyming activity with our /f/ objects

a. I started with only two objects and asked Brooke, without her seeing my mouth, "point to fish", then "point to dish". I didn't want Brooke to see the /f/ and /d/ sound on my lips so I covered my mouth from her view while being careful not to distrort the sound.
b.


We then worked with fox, box, rocks, blocks, and socks. I only put 3 objects out at a time. Brooke is capable of remembering 3 critical elements but using the rhyming objects was really, really hard for her. We really struggled with pointing to 2 objects. So....I would say one object at a time. Once she mastered pointing to one object at a time, I tried 2 objects. Often she would reverse the objects or just not realate them. For example, she would say "fox" while pointing to "socks". We finally got it in this video clip, but need lots more practice


We did some practice with tire, fire and wire from this set of rhyming objects


Here is a video that shows her frustration! Lessons are not always easy and I want you to see the good and the bad.



Here are a few other rhyming objects we used with /f/ objects


flashlight, kite, night, bite flag, bag and rag


Modifications
1. I began this lesson thinking Brooke could point and name 3 objects, then tried two and moved down to one object. It would have been much better for her frustration level to start with just one object and then move to 2 objects.
2. You can easily use any letter of the alphabet for this rhyming practive. Start with a letter sound, gather objects that start with the sound, then find things that rhyme.
3. Sing some funny songs to keep your child interested. For example,
"Have you ever seen a fish, a fish, a fish
Have you ever seen a fish eating from a dish."
or
"Have you ever seen a fox, a fox, a fox
Have you ever sen a fox wearing some socks."
Then let your child pick up the fish and make it eat from a dish or get the fox and put on the socks.
This helps to keep the lesson fun as you work on recognizind intital sounds with your child.