/s/ Blend Flashcards (sp, st, sk) — Drag Drop
Articulation · Grades 1–4 · 2 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
Ask for the cluster on its own and then the word before each move, which doubles the productions on a board with few items. The second round is two words and works as a warm-down. Because the set samples three clusters with only a few words each, use it to check whether a pattern is holding rather than to build one — the flashcard deck is where the repetitions are.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentThe student says the word on their turn before moving. Wait 3 seconds.Log as correct
- Visual cuePoint to your mouth, or show the mouth picture for /s/ blends, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueHold a steady /s/, then go straight into the next sound with no vowel between: 'sss-top', not 'suh-top'.Log as cued
Adjust it
Split the cluster with a short pause ('s… top'), then close the gap until it is one sound.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /s/ in it.
Matching IEP goal
Given picture cards, Student will produce /s/ blends 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
A drag-and-drop version of the /s/ blend deck, in two short rounds — spoon, spider, star, stick and skunk in the first; school and desk in the second. Derived from the sixteen-word flashcard board, and deliberately short: five items placed and named is a couple of minutes, which makes it a warm-up or a check rather than the main practice.
What to listen for
Watch the sound while the hands are busy. A cluster that is accurate on a flashcard and reduces during a drag is not yet automatic, and divided attention is closer to conversation than a clean repetition. Notice desk in the second round, where the cluster is final rather than initial and is often produced correctly by a student who reduces initial clusters.
Carrying it home
Sorting a few objects by their opening sound works with anything. Saying the cluster aloud before moving each one is the part that matters — spoon and star are in most kitchens, and naming the two sounds before the word is the whole exercise.
What's in this activity
- spoon
- spider
- star
- stick
- skunk
- school
- desk
Questions
- How does this differ from the flashcards?
- Fewer words, with something to move. It suits students who attend better while their hands are busy; the flashcards give more repetitions per minute.
- Do I need an account?
- No, both rounds play free in the browser.
- Which should I use first?
- The flashcard deck, which covers all three clusters with several examples each. Use this afterwards as a check under divided attention.
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.