I’m sure we’re all ready for the weekend and ready to just turn our brains off, if only for a moment. Why? Because the wording is hard!
We’ve all probably heard that learning to speak is hard. And if we are experiencing that now, you can only imagine what it’s like to be learning to speak as a child. Something that is often experienced by children learning to speak is final consonant deletion.
Final consonant deletion is omitting the final sound in a word and is a typical pattern for kids as they are learning to speak. In most cases, children will naturally correct this by age 3. Even though it is typically resolved naturally, there are some ways you can help with this as well.
- Slightly exaggerate the final sound in a word.
- The “tail sound” metaphor. Referring to the ending sound as a “tail sound” can be a helpful tool since our children are already familiar with the word “tail”. You can compare the endings of words to animals having tails. How silly would they look without tails? That’s how our words sound without endings!
- Tapping the air while producing the final sound.
Try some of these small tips and see if you are able to hear a difference. Those consonances should become more audible. And remember practice makes perfect!