About this activity
Twelve words starting with /g/: go, goat, game, gum, gate, girl, garden, goose, gift, golf, goal, guitar. Initial position is where /g/ work usually begins, and the words are mostly single syllables — garden, guitar and goose are the exceptions, and they are worth leaving until the shorter ones are stable.
How to use it in a session
Start with go, which is the shortest and the most useful — a child who has go in isolation can use it immediately in play. /g/ is made at the back of the tongue and cannot be seen, so a mirror does not help here the way it does for /f/; a lying-back position or a gentle push under the chin gives the child a sense of where the contact is. Six minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Listen for fronting. A child who says doat for goat has moved the contact from the back of the tongue to the front, which is the classic pattern for /g/ and /k/ and is a phonological process rather than an individual sound error. Watch whether it is consistent across the twelve — a child who fronts every one has a pattern, and one who gets go and not goat may be affected by the following vowel.
Carrying it home
Go, game and gift are frequent enough to notice without arranging anything. Modelling the word rather than asking for a correction keeps the practice from becoming a battle, which matters a great deal at this age.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Preschool through second grade, when /g/ is typically an active target.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve cards play with no account.
- My child says 'doat' for 'goat'. What is that?
- Fronting — the tongue is making contact at the front instead of the back. It usually affects /k/ as well as /g/, so it is worth addressing as a pattern across both rather than one word at a time.