Frontal versus Lateral /s/ Discrimination
Perceptual training: hear the difference before trying to change the production.
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
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.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentSay the word and let the student judge it on their own. Wait 3 seconds.Log as correct
- Repeat itSay it again, a little slower, and ask them to listen for the air.Log as cued
- ExaggerateSay a clear version and the slushy version back to back, exaggerated.Log as cued
- Show itLet the student watch your mouth in a mirror as you make each version of /s/.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer words and make the distorted version more obvious.
Record the student's own productions and have them judge those instead of yours.
Matching IEP goal
Given spoken words, Student will judge productions of /s/ as clear or distorted, agreeing with the clinician in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions.
Send it home through the parent portal →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.
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.
What's in this activity
- Clinician says 'sports' -- clear or slushy?
- Clinician says 'seniors' -- clear or slushy?
- Listen back to your own recording of 'stadium' -- clear or slushy?
- Listen back to your own recording of 'Saturday' -- clear or slushy?
- Two models of 'assignment': which one is correct?
- Two productions of 'science': which one sent air down the middle?
- Say 'sun' with a wide smile, then with the tongue tip up. Which is correct?
- Record 'sixty-six' twice. Sort each attempt: clear or lateral.
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.
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.