/g/ Initial — Spelling
Articulation · Grades PreK–2 · 12 cards
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
Say the word, segment it, then build. Go and gum are the easy ones and worth doing first to establish that /g/ is written with a g. Guitar is the one to explain rather than sound out — the u is a spelling convention and there is nothing to hear. Keep asking for the production, since the sound is still the target for a child who is here for speech rather than spelling.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentAfter building each word, the student says it aloud. Wait 3 seconds.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /g/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueTongue tip down behind your bottom teeth. Lift the back of your tongue to the back of the roof of your mouth, then release it with your voice on.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('gah' and 'go'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /g/ in it or mix in /g/ words from another position.
Matching IEP goal
Given word cards, Student will produce /g/ in the word-initial 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
The twelve initial /g/ words — go, goat, game, gum, gate, girl, garden, goose, gift, golf, goal, guitar — as a spelling task. Derived from the flashcard deck. The set is useful for spelling because it contains a real complication: guitar has a u after the g that does no work at all, and goose and goat use different vowel teams for similar-sounding vowels.
What to listen for
Watch for the /g/ being written as a different letter, which is rare in spelling even in children who front it in speech — that gap between what they write and what they say is worth pointing out to a child old enough to notice. Notice goat and goal, which share the oa spelling, and gate and game, which share the silent e.
Carrying it home
Ask for the first letter rather than the whole word: what letter starts goat. It takes a second and it makes the link between the sound and the letter that a young child is still building.
What's in this activity
- go
- goat
- game
- gum
- gate
- girl
- garden
- goose
- gift
- golf
- goal
- guitar
Questions
- Is this the same as the flashcards?
- Same twelve words, built from letters. It gives fewer productions per minute and adds early spelling practice.
- Do I need to sign up?
- No, it plays free with no account.
- Why is there a u in 'guitar'?
- It is a spelling convention rather than a sound, carried over from the word's origin. There is nothing to hear, so it is worth teaching as a whole word.
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.