/z/ Final Flashcards
Conventional word-final /z/ targets at the single-word level — spelled with s or z, judged by sound.
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
Put a hand on the throat. /z/ and /s/ are made identically apart from the voicing, and feeling the buzz is far more reliable than hearing it. Hold the final sound in your model — buzzzz — since a word-final /z/ is quiet and easily devoiced. Six minutes covers the twelve.
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 /z/, before the student tries again.Log as cued
- Verbal modelSay the word; the student says it right after you.Log as cued
- Placement cueSame shape as /s/: teeth close, tongue tip just behind the top teeth, air down the middle. Now turn your voice on so it buzzes like a bee.Log as cued
Adjust it
Drop to syllables ('eez' and 'ahz'), or use fewer cards.
Put each word in a short carrier phrase with no /z/ in it or mix in /z/ words from another position.
Matching IEP goal
Given picture cards, Student will produce /z/ in the word-final 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
Twelve words ending in /z/: buzz, cheese, nose, rose, eyes, keys, bees, maze, size, hose, please, toes. Most of them are spelled with an s rather than a z, which is worth saying — the target is judged by sound and not by letter, and eyes, keys, bees and toes all end in /z/ with an s on the page.
What to listen for
Listen for devoicing, which is the standard error: the placement is right and the voice goes off, turning cheese into cheece. It is also a normal feature of connected speech in many accents at the end of an utterance, so context matters before calling it an error. Watch please and size, where the /z/ follows a long vowel and is at its quietest.
Carrying it home
Cheese, keys, nose and eyes are ordinary words. The throat cue works anywhere and children find it interesting, which makes /z/ one of the easier sounds to practise at home.
What's in this activity
- buzz
- cheese
- nose
- rose
- eyes
- keys
- bees
- maze
- size
- hose
- please
- toes
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through fourth grade.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve cards play with no account and no card.
- Why are most of these spelled with an s?
- Because English uses s for both /s/ and /z/ at the end of a word. The target here is the sound rather than the letter, which is why eyes and keys belong in a /z/ deck.
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.