Lisp Remediation: /s/ Word Level for Teens
Single-word /s/ targets drawn from secondary school and work vocabulary.
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
Work from the words the student uses most. Schedule, assignment and seniors turn up daily in a secondary timetable, and accuracy on those is worth more than accuracy on a list. Ask for the word, then in a phrase from their real life — my schedule, the assignment is due — because the phrase is where the sound has to survive. Ten minutes covers the eight with phrases.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentShow the card and wait 3 seconds for the student to say it.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /s/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueTeeth close together, tongue tip just behind your top teeth without touching them, sides of the tongue against your top side teeth. Send a thin stream of air down the middle.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('sa' and 'see'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /s/ in it.
Matching IEP goal
Given picture cards, Student will produce /s/ 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
Eight /s/ words drawn from a teenager's actual vocabulary: schedule, sophomore, sneakers, assignment, sports, cousin, December, seniors. Word lists for a residual lisp are usually built from picture-friendly nouns aimed at six-year-olds, which is a problem when the student is fifteen — these are words they say every week.
What to listen for
Listen for where the /s/ falls in the word. Sports and seniors have the sound at the start and the end; assignment and cousin have it in the middle; December has it in an unstressed syllable. A residual lisp is often position-dependent by this age, and the pattern is more informative than an overall count.
Carrying it home
These words are unavoidable in a school week. Asking a student to notice their own production of schedule once a day is realistic self-monitoring, and by this age noticing is the target rather than practice.
What's in this activity
- schedule
- sophomore
- sneakers
- assignment
- sports
- cousin
- December
- seniors
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Sixth through twelfth grade, for residual /s/ errors that have persisted past the usual window.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all eight cards play free.
- Why use school vocabulary rather than picture words?
- Because a fifteen-year-old will not engage with a deck built for a six-year-old, and because these are the words they actually say. Practice on vocabulary they use daily transfers immediately.
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.