Easy Onset and Forward Focus for Voice
Reduce hard glottal attack on vowel-initial words in ordinary teen speech.
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 the /h/ as a bridge and then remove it. Adding a breathy /h/ before a vowel makes an easy onset almost automatic, and the skill is fading it until the gentle start remains without the /h/. The comparison card is the most important one — a student who cannot hear the difference between a hard attack and an easy onset on awesome cannot self-monitor, and that comes before anything else. The short ones are the best fading practice: 'Okay, I'm on my way' has a gentle start and then nothing else to think about. Fifteen minutes with real sentences.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student uses easy onset on their own. Listen without reminding.Log as correct
- Visual reminderPoint to the technique card, or breathe out gently as a cue.Log as cued
- Verbal reminderSay a short reminder, such as 'Gentle start.'Log as cued
- ModelSay it yourself using the technique; the student copies, then tries the card again.Log as cued
Voice work belongs after an ENT examination. If hoarseness lasts or gets worse, stop and refer back to the physician.
Adjust it
Go back to single words that begin with a vowel or /h/, like 'hello'.
Move to longer turns, then conversation, then a noisier room.
Matching IEP goal
Student will use easy onset in sentences in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than a visual reminder.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight tasks aimed at hard glottal attack on vowel-initial words: start with an /h/ — ha-Are you coming? — then drop the /h/; say Every afternoon with a gentle vowel start; sigh out first, then speak on the tail of the breath; compare a hard glottal attack and an easy onset on awesome. The sentences are ordinary teenage speech, because a technique that only works on isolated words does not survive the corridor.
What to listen for
Listen for the click. A hard glottal attack has an audible catch at the start of the vowel, and once a student can hear it in your voice they can usually hear it in their own. Watch the three-vowel sentence — I always eat after practice — where the first onset is often gentle and the later ones revert, which shows the technique is not yet automatic. Easy onset is a technique, not an explanation. A voice quality that has changed and stayed changed for about four weeks needs a laryngeal examination before technique work — sooner if there is stridor, a neck lump, or a recent intubation or neck surgery.
Carrying it home
Ask the family to listen for the start of sentences rather than the whole sentence. Vowel-initial words are where the strain happens, and noticing one a day is a realistic thing to ask.
What's in this activity
- Start with an /h/: 'ha-Are you coming?' then drop the /h/.
- 'Every afternoon' -- begin the vowel gently, no hard push.
- 'I always eat after practice.' -- three vowel-initial words, all gentle.
- Sigh out first, then speak on the tail of the breath.
- 'Okay, I'm on my way.' -- soft start.
- 'Anybody else hungry?' -- gentle onset on 'Anybody'.
- Compare a hard glottal attack and an easy onset on 'awesome'.
- Say a full sentence starting on a vowel with no throat click.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Ninth through twelfth grade, using sentences a teenager would actually say.
- Is it free?
- Yes, no account needed.
- What is a hard glottal attack?
- Starting a vowel by pressing the vocal folds together and releasing, which produces an audible catch and more effort than the sound needs. An easy onset starts the airflow first and lets the voice come in on it.
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.