/l/ Initial Phrases
Two-to-four word phrases with word-initial /l/, the step between words and sentences.
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
Take the two-target phrases first — a little lamb, a long ladder — before the ones with three, like listen to the leader. The point is holding the sound across a boundary between words, which is where single-word accuracy usually starts to slip. Say it, have the student repeat, then have them produce it looking at the picture rather than after your model. Five minutes covers the ten.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and let the student say the whole phrase on their own.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /l/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the phrase with the /l/ word slightly stressed; the student repeats it.Log as cued
- Placement cueTongue tip up on the bumpy ridge behind your top teeth, and keep it there while your voice flows out around the sides of your tongue.Log as cued
Adjust it
Go back to single words: the student says just the /l/ word from each card.
Move to sentences: the student puts the phrase into a sentence of their own.
Matching IEP goal
Given phrase cards, Student will produce /l/ in the word-initial position in phrases 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
Ten short phrases with /l/ at the start of more than one word: a little lamb, lick the lollipop, a long ladder, look at the lake, a loud lion, light the lamp, a lucky leaf, listen to the leader, a lazy lizard, load the laundry. Phrase level is the step between single words and sentences, and it is the one most often skipped.
What to listen for
Listen for the second target. Almost every student holds the sound on the first /l/ in a phrase and loses it on the second, and that pattern is the whole reason phrase level exists as a step. Watch lick the lollipop, which has three targets in three words and is the hardest here.
Carrying it home
A phrase is short enough to actually use at home. Asking a child to say a little lamb five times is a task a family can complete, unlike a page of sentences.
What's in this activity
- a little lamb
- lick the lollipop
- a long ladder
- look at the lake
- a loud lion
- light the lamp
- a lucky leaf
- listen to the leader
- a lazy lizard
- load the laundry
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Kindergarten through third, for students accurate on /l/ in single words.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all ten phrases play with no account.
- Why practise phrases rather than going straight to sentences?
- Because the drop from words to sentences is large. A phrase adds one boundary and one extra target, which is a step most students can take when a full sentence is still out of reach.
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.