‘Th’owtham’s Story – Learning to say /k/, /g/ & /ng/

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Gowtham is 10yrs old and is a 5th grader. He loves music and dreams to be a singer one day. He was a below average student in the class activities but performed well in exams. He always preferred to stay aloof though he intently desired to play with other kids. Whenever the teacher asked questions, he wished to answer but preferred to keep shut. The problem with Gowtham was that he was not able to pronounce certain sounds correctly. For /kat/ Gowtham said /that/, he called himself /thoutham/ (for /gautham/ ) and this made him an object of ridicule by the whole class.

Gowtham’s parents had knowledge regarding the developmental stages of speech sounds and difficulties in producing all sounds. But as the child continued wrong pronunciations, they thought that he would modify his speech as he grows and mingles with other kids. Upon the advice of Gowtham’s class teacher, they took him to a speech therapy centre.
On observation, it was noticed that the problem with Gowtham was difficulty in producing /k/, /g/, and /ng/ sounds which is substituted by /th/ sound. He had this problem in the regional language as well as English language.
Speech therapy was focused onto eliminate production of /th/ sound, instead of /k/, /g/ & /ng/ and followed the below techniques systematically to improve Gowtham’s pronunciation skills.

speech-therapy-in-cochin

  • Initially awareness about correct placement of producing /k/, /g/, /ng/ sound was given with illustrations i.e. back portion of tongue, indicating that these sounds are not produced by upward movement of tongue as in /th/ sound.
  • Repeated production of /k/, /g/, /ng/ sound firstly with depressing front portion of tongue and then with fading of tongue participation was given.
  • Then combination of vowels with /k/, /g/, /ng/ sound was given for repeated production.
  • Then words which are accompanied by vowels, in initial, medial and final positions (of a word) were given for the child for practice, both in the regional language and English.
  • Finally, the same procedure was carried over into phrase and sentence levels, and to paragraph and conversation stage.

 

After a period of 1.5 months, Gowtham showed positive change in his production of /k/, /g/ & /ng/ sounds in all speaking situations.  This was made possible with the regular and systematic practice sessions at the centre along with home training activities. Parents happily reported about the child’s changes in his speaking manner and participation level at home and school.

As a parent, watch your child in his/her speech development and do not hesitate to seek earliest remedial measures if you notice any difficulties in your child’s speech and language skills.

 

By 
Jilsy K P., M.Sc. (Speech & Language Pathology)
 Speech & Language Pathologist, Prayatna

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