/f/ Medial Flashcards
Conventional medial /f/ targets at the single-word level.
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
Split the word at the sound to start: e-le-phant, muf-fin. Splitting turns a medial /f/ into a final one and then an initial one, both of which are usually easier, and then you rejoin them. Ask for the word, then a short phrase. Six minutes covers the twelve at word level, which is the right amount for a young child.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to say it.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /f/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueTop teeth rest lightly on your bottom lip. Blow air out between them with your voice off.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('fa' and 'fee'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /f/ in it or mix in /f/ words from another position.
Matching IEP goal
Given picture cards, Student will produce /f/ in the word-medial position in single words 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
Twelve words with /f/ in the middle: elephant, muffin, coffee, dolphin, waffle, sofa, office, laughing, safari, taffy, gopher, before. Several are spelled with ph or gh rather than f, which is a useful accident — elephant, dolphin, laughing and gopher all make the sound with different letters, and a child working on speech does not have to care while a child working on spelling does.
What to listen for
Listen for the sound weakening rather than being replaced. In the middle of a word, /f/ often gets produced with insufficient contact and comes out sounding closer to a vowel — muh-in rather than muffin. Watch the unstressed syllable in elephant and safari, where the /f/ carries less emphasis and is the first thing to go.
Carrying it home
Sofa, coffee, muffin and waffle are house words that come up without planning. Asking a child to say one of them, rather than listening to everything they say, is a home task a family can actually keep up.
What's in this activity
- elephant
- muffin
- coffee
- dolphin
- waffle
- sofa
- office
- laughing
- safari
- taffy
- gopher
- before
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Kindergarten through third, usually after initial /f/ is stable.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all twelve cards play free.
- Why are some of these spelled with ph?
- Because English writes the /f/ sound several ways. For a speech target the spelling does not matter, but for a student also working on reading, elephant and dolphin are worth pointing out as the same sound with different letters.
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.