About this activity
Eight listening tasks that come before any production work: the clinician says sports — clear or slushy; listen back to your own recording of Saturday; two models of assignment, which one is correct; two productions of science, which one sent air down the middle; record sixty-six twice and sort each attempt. A student who cannot hear a lateral /s/ has no way to know when they have changed it.
How to use it in a session
Do your own productions before theirs. Sorting your models is easier and less exposing, and it establishes the contrast before the student has to judge themselves. Recording is the part that does the most work — students routinely believe a production was clear until they hear it back, and that moment is usually the turning point. The tongue-tip-up card is the only production item and it belongs at the end.
What to listen for
Watch whether the student can sort their own recordings as accurately as yours. Judging someone else's speech is much easier than judging your own, and the gap between the two is a fair measure of how much self-monitoring is available. Notice which words are hardest to judge — sixty-six and science have two targets each, and a mixed production is harder to categorise than a consistent one.
Carrying it home
A phone is enough to record with. Asking a student to record one sentence a day and sort it themselves is a home programme that takes a minute and builds the only skill that matters at this stage.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Sixth through twelfth grade, where a lateral lisp is often long-standing and the student is old enough to do perceptual work.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight tasks are free to use here.
- Why start with listening rather than production?
- Because a student who cannot hear the difference has no feedback. Production practice without perception produces a student who complies in the room and cannot self-correct anywhere else.