While you are waiting for your child to be seen, you can begin to work on their sound awareness skills. Before a child is ready to work on their speech sounds, they must have good sound awareness. This means that they can hear the parts in words and are working towards hearing individual sounds.
How to help with speech delay
The following video has been made for parents to help them better understand their child’s speech and supporting them with the right sounds for their age. It contains some useful strategies to help with your child’s speech.
Why is this important?
Sound awareness gives a child the skills to know when and where certain sounds can be used. It supports children to hear the similarities and differences between sounds and letters, and how sounds can be put together to make words. Sound awareness skills also help children to monitor their own speech more accurately.
Sound awareness can impact on child’s literacy skills and spelling. If a child is able to isolate sounds in words, and realise that words are made up of sounds they will be better able to sound out unfamiliar words when reading or spelling.
Watch this video for ideas about ways to introduce sound awareness to younger children through singing, playing and reading.
Speak up – Salford Phonological Awareness
Sound awareness activities
You can support your child with some simple sound awareness activities while they are waiting to be seen.
Please download the activity ideas linked below.
The following videos further explain and show you how to do syllable level activities with your child:
Sounds Awareness Activities
Syllable sorting
Syllable clapping
If you would like some pictures for doing these types of activities, you can download and print the following.
The best way to work on sound awareness is to complete tasks for 5 – 10 minutes every day, or as regularly as possible.
This method of practising little and often will help keep your child’s interest and help them learn through regular reinforcement. It will also be easier to find time for several small sessions (which could be incorporated into bath time or dinner time) rather than one or two long sessions.
