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As the “ah” transitions into the “ee” the tongue naturally glides creating the y sound between the two vowels ultimately producing our desired vowel diphthong or the word “I” or “eye.”
Finish with the Short Vowels
You can use hand cues to teach the short vowels as well (“i” as in kiss, “e” as in pet, “a” as in bat, “oo” as in book, and “ah” as in caught).
You can use the ASL alphabet signs for these but you can make up any signs you’d like. For example use the sign language sign for “i” as a cue for the short i, the sign for “e” as a cue for the short e, the sign for “a” as a cue for the short a, the sign for “u” as a cue for the “oo” as in book, and finally the sign for “c” as a cue for the “ah” vowel.
From High Vowels to Low Vowels
Another way to teach the vowels is to shape them from the “ee” and the “oo” if the kids have already mastered these. When the “ee” is said the tongue is at its highest position as you lower the tongue just slightly it is now in the correct position for saying the short “i” sound. When you lower it a little more it is in position for the long “a” sound, a little lower and you can say the short “e” sound and even lower you can say the short “a” sound.
If you start with the “oo” vowel and then lower the tongue just slightly you can say the “oo” (as in book), a little lower you can say the long “o” sound (as in boat), even lower you can say the “ah” vowel.
Teaching Vowels With Visual Feedback
If you watch closely you can see the jaw drop just slightly each time a lower vowel is said. Sometimes this is enough and if it works with the child, perfect, you can move on.
If you need more visual feedback and you want to get a clear visual representation of high and low vowels and the relationship between the vowels
Vowel Viz, an app by Complete Speech is an innovative speech mapping tool that displays vowel production in real-time and is available for the iPhone and iPad. It is an amazing tool for teaching vowels and shaping vowels and diphthongs from other vowels.
Creating Words From Vowels
Meaningful communication should
be our goal with these kids that have
few, if any words or are highly
unintelligible. So I want to share with you these word
strips I created for 8 words you can teach from vowel sounds alone that you can download and practice with your child.
If you’re like me, every new word your child says is cause for a celebration, especially when we as parents have to wait an exceptionally long time for those words to come!
If you are still waiting for those first words, and the vowels have been difficult in coming, work with your SLP together and try some of these techniques, including the 8 words from the word strips included above.
Best of luck working on these super fun vowel sounds and remember to be patient and always make it fun. You can do it!
Heidi Hanks, M.S.CCC-SLP has
been a practicing Speech-Language Pathologist since 2000. She graduated from Utah State University where she completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.
She began her career in early intervention and eventually started her own private practice where she has worked primarily with pre-K through school age kids. She is the founder of Little Bee Speech, and is currently developing apps for speech and language. Heidi lives in Utah with her husband and 4 children.
www.LittleBeeSpeech.com