Spend extra time with a child who may need early intervention speech activities. All children progress at different rates. If a child has more difficulty than seems usual, spending an extra 30 minutes a day with the child can result in more progress. Play with the child and provide names and pronunciations. While playing with alphabet blocks, you can say the letters and the names of the pictures on the block. Vary the activities with toy cars, dolls and animals. During mealtimes, talk about and name the different types of food, along with the tableware. Or find online children's sites with literacy activities. The goal is to provide the child with additional attention and information.
Engage the children with games that incorporate early intervention speech activities. Gather stuffed toy animals. On the wall or sheet of paper, write the beginning letters of the toys. Select one, such as a bunny. Say the word "bunny" for the child to repeat. Point to the B. Now ask the child to find another stuffed toy animal that begins with a B. Assist the child in finding stuffed toy bears or bees. Work with the sounds that cause the child difficulty or confusion. A variation on the game is to use a puppet to ask the children to find various items in the room. A feature of these games is the interweaving of saying the target sound, and pointing to the target letter.
Reading to the child offers many intervention speech activities. Ask the child to select a book for you to read. As you read, slightly stress the sound that the child has difficulty with. The letter R is challenging because the placement of the tongue on the back lower teeth and the sound at the back of the throat. When reading the book, emphasize the Rs without interrupting the story. You can also point to the letter R. Older children may be able to identify the letter themselves. Use this intervention, called auditory bombardment, in stories with predictable phrases and story lines. In this way, the child can understand the story and listen to the pronunciation.
Children can practice target sounds during songs. Create a musical atmosphere enjoyable for the child. With very young children, sing nursery songs such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." The song contains complex pronunciation blends. Listening to you sing the sounds, and having the child sing with you are ways to develop the child's speech range. Let older children select their favorite songs. Sing with the children, let them sing alone or provide recordings of the songs for them to listen to or sign along with. The songs can incorporate the predictable phrases and auditory bombardment to help the children learn to distinguish and reproduce the sound.