This advice-column-style blog for SLPs was authored by Pam Marshalla from 2006 to 2015, the archives of which can be explored here. Use the extensive keywords list found in the right-hand column (on mobile: at the bottom of the page) to browse specific topics, or use the search feature to locate specific words or phrases throughout the entire blog.
Tracheal Stop: Learning the “Place of Articulation”
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My nearly 3-year-old client makes a substitution for /k/ which comes from the throat. The closest I have found online is to describe it as a uvular stop. Have you heard this substitution before and how would you describe it. Any thoughts on how to treat it?
Infants start out by making stops and fricatives all along the vocal track from anterior to posterior —
- Bi-labial
- Labial-dental
- Lingual-labial
- Lingual-dental
- Lingual-alveolar
- Lingual-velar
- Tracheal
- Glottal
Then they learn to restrict what whey need to use for English.
Your client is still simply using too making of them.
She is stopping and fricating airflow all along the vocal tract instead of just selecting those places we use in English. Certain places we use, others we don’t.
I have my clients practice ALL of them so they can learn PLACE of articulation.
Have him practice all of them so that he can learn the places by the tactile sensation, not just the auditory ones.
Compare and contrast them. E.g. produce “car” with a bi-labial stop, a lingua-dental stop, a velar stop, and a tracheal stop. Talk about which one is the one mommy uses.
Is this any different from a glotral stop that is a common substitution in children with cleft palates?
Always right on with your responses! Mahalo for sharing e Pam! ❤️
Looking for advice on initial /k, g, h,/ deletion/substitution. When attempting production in isolation they produce /uh/ and do not elevate the back of the tongue. It seems to be almost a glottal stop. They are able to produce /ng, e, y/. I have tried shaping from those sounds.
In the final position of words, they front k and g. I have tried all my elicitation techniques for K and G and have not been successful. Even with a tongue depressor, it hasn’t worked. I am wondering why the “ugh” sound is being used in place of those sounds. examples – o/go, ome/home, up/cup, ame/game.
I’d love to know what you ended up doing! I have a student who does this and I have no idea what to do.