My student says /p/ for /b/. What helps?

Work on voicing. Have the student feel their throat buzz on /b/ and not on /p/, and use the prevocalic voicing minimal pairs (“pear” or “bear”) to show that the two words are different.

How do I move /b/ from words to phrases?

Keep the target near the start of a short phrase, such as “big ball” or “a blue boat”, so the student can focus on it while saying more than one word. The phrase boards give you a ready set, and the sentence board is the step after.

Should I start with /b/ at the beginning or the end of words?

Start where the student already has some success. The beginning of a word is often the easier place, but a student who leaves off final consonants may need the final /b/ boards as a goal in their own right.

Free /b/ articulation activities and games

7 free activities · no sign-up

/b/ is made by pressing the lips together and releasing them with the voice on. Because the lips are easy to see, /b/ responds well to visual cues and a mirror. It pairs with /p/, which uses the same lip movement without the voice.

The boards move from initial and final words to phrases and sentences. The classroom scene hunt gives preschool and kindergarten students a reason to keep naming /b/ things, and the early-sounds set practices /p/, /b/ and /m/ together.

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Play freeFind the /b/ Things in the ClassroomOpen full activity →

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All 7 activities

Word level 3

Phrase level 2

Sentence level 1

/b/ Initial SentencesShort sentences loaded with word-initial /b/ for sentence-level practice.FlashcardsGrades K–28 cards

Games, stories and more 1

Find the /b/ Things in the ClassroomA classroom picture scene. Find and say the 5 word-initial /b/ pictures: bell, book, backpack, basketball, box.Scene huntGrades PreK–2

Questions

My student says /p/ for /b/. What helps?: Work on voicing. Have the student feel their throat buzz on /b/ and not on /p/, and use the prevocalic voicing minimal pairs (“pear” or “bear”) to show that the two words are different.
How do I move /b/ from words to phrases?: Keep the target near the start of a short phrase, such as “big ball” or “a blue boat”, so the student can focus on it while saying more than one word. The phrase boards give you a ready set, and the sentence board is the step after.
Should I start with /b/ at the beginning or the end of words?: Start where the student already has some success. The beginning of a word is often the easier place, but a student who leaves off final consonants may need the final /b/ boards as a goal in their own right.

Keep the data from every board

With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal. Assign any board as home practice through the parent portal.

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