/d/ Initial Phrases
Two-to-four word phrases with word-initial /d/, the step between words and sentences.
Session summary (SOAP)
Stays on this screen. Nothing is saved or sent.
Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.
How to run it
Use this once /d/ is steady in single words. /d/ is made with the tongue tip on the ridge behind the top teeth and the voice on, so the cue is tip up, then let go. Start with the phrases that have one target — a big dog, buy a donut — and move to the ones with two or three: dig a deep hole, dinner is done, a dozen dots. Five minutes covers the ten, with room to repeat the harder ones.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and let the student say the whole phrase on their own.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /d/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the phrase with the /d/ word slightly stressed; the student repeats it.Log as cued
- Placement cueTongue tip up on the bumpy ridge behind your top teeth, then drop it with your voice on.Log as cued
Adjust it
Go back to single words: the student says just the /d/ word from each card.
Move to sentences: the student puts the phrase into a sentence of their own.
Matching IEP goal
Given phrase cards, Student will produce /d/ in the word-initial position in phrases in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Ten short phrases with word-initial /d/: a big dog, a baby duck, hug my dad, dig a deep hole, a dozen dots, a good day, buy a donut, a dump truck, dinner is done, up and down. Phrases are the step between single words and full sentences, and several of these put two /d/ words together so the child has to reset the tongue in the middle.
What to listen for
Listen for /g/ replacing /d/ — a big gog — which means the back of the tongue is doing the work instead of the tip. A /t/ in place of /d/ means the voice is coming in late. Notice whether the child gets the first /d/ in dig a deep hole and loses the second one; that is the normal pattern when a sound is new in phrases, and it tells you where to spend the extra repetitions.
Carrying it home
Dog, dad, dinner and down come up every day. Put one into a short phrase when you model it — dinner is ready, down the stairs — so the child hears the sound inside a phrase and not only on its own.
What's in this activity
- a big dog
- a baby duck
- hug my dad
- dig a deep hole
- a dozen dots
- a good day
- buy a donut
- a dump truck
- dinner is done
- up and down
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Pre-K through second grade.
- Is it free?
- Yes, the ten phrases play in the browser with no login.
- My child says 'gog' for 'dog'. What should I do?
- Show the tongue tip going up behind the top teeth in a mirror. If the back of the tongue keeps taking over, go back to single words before phrases.
Use this board with your caseload
With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.
Track progress freeFree for SLPs. No card, no trial clock.