Blends (Sound Buddies!)

SW- vs W-

/S/

Tongue tip UP on alveolar ridge (bumps behind upper front teeth)
Sides of tongue touch upper teeth (like when you're saying "EEEEE")
Air through small groove in center of tongue tip
"S" is quiet (voice off)

/W/

Round lips (“ooh”) then
Open lips (next vowel shapes sound, e.g. “aw”

There are 5 pairs of words below for you to practice.
Submit your homework here.
Only move to Step 4 if they are accurate with Step 3.
More ideas for Steps 3 & 4 at bottom of page.

Step 1: Remind them of the rule.

Ex: "Some words have sound buddies that go together. We can't forget their buddies!"

/SW/ swing

/W/ wing

Step 2: Teach/remind them what each word means
Ex: "This person is on a swing, going back and forth. This picture shows the wing of a bird. Swing and wing."

Step 3: Make sure they can hear the difference
Ex: "Point to the word I say. Swing. Wing. Swing. Swing. Wing." etc.

Step 4: Say the words
Ex: "You say swing or wing and I'll point to the one you say."

/SW/ sweat

/W/ wet

Step 2: Teach/remind them what each word means
Ex: "This picture shows sweat, sometimes when we work hard we get hot and sweat. This towel is wet, it is full of water so it's wet."

Step 3: Make sure they can hear the difference
Ex: "Point to the word I say. Sweat. Wet. Sweat. Sweat. Wet." etc.

Step 4: Say the words

Ex: "You say sweat or wet and I'll point to the one you say."

/SW/ sweep

/W/ weep

Step 2: Teach/remind them what each word means
Ex: "This person is sweeping, cleaning the floor with a broom. Sweep. Another word for cry is weep. Sweep and weep."

Step 3: Make sure they can hear the difference
Ex: "Point to the word I say. Sweep. Weep. Sweep. Sweep. Weep." etc.

Step 4: Say the words

Ex: "You say sweep or weep and I'll point to the one you say."

/SW/ switch

/W/ which

Step 2: Teach/remind them what each word means
Ex: "You can turn a light on with a switch. In this picture, the person is deciding which color to pick. Switch and which."

Step 3: Make sure they can hear the difference
Ex: "Point to the word I say. Switch. Which. Switch. Switch. Which." etc.

Step 4: Say the words
Ex: "You say switch or which and I'll point to the one you say."

/SW/ swipe

/W/ wipe

Step 2: Teach/remind them what each word means
Ex: "Sometimes, you swipe a card to pay (make a swiping motion). To clean his face, this person will wipe with a napkin. Swipe and wipe."

Step 3: Make sure they can hear the difference
Ex: "Point to the word I say. Swipe. Wipe. Swipe. Swipe. Wipe." etc.

Step 4: Say the words
Ex: "You say swipe or wipe and I'll point to the one you say."

Tips for Step 3 (discriminating between words)

If they can do Step 3 accurately, praise them, "Great! You heard my sound buddies in sweep. You could tell there was only one sound at the beginning of weep."
If they cannot do Step 4, praise their effort, and keep practicing Step 3 instead of going to Step 4. Ex: "Listen, I'm going to say ski with my sound buddies. See how I have two sounds? S-w-eep. Point to sweep. Great, now I'm going to say weep with only one sound: weep. Point here, to weep."

Ideas to make Step 4 (saying the words) more fun:

Draw one pair of words on 2 papers (one picture on each page). Put a tally point on each page as your child says each word. Tell your student they win the game if they get more points on the page that has their target (the word that has a blend). It's okay if there are NO points on the other page!
Make three playdough people or animals; put two of them together and one alone. Every time your child says the word containing a blend, point to the pair (the buddies). When they say a word with a singleton, point to the lone creation.
Write down the sound buddies from this page and point to each sound as it is said (e.g. point to "S" then point to "W"), or use the mouth pictures at the top of this page.
Tap your finger on the table or wall as you say each of the initial consonant(s) in the words (tap once for singletons like W-eep, twice for blends like S-W-eep).
Use gestures. When you/your child say a word with a blend, hold up two fingers touching each other. When you/your child say a word with one sound put your hands together.
Have your child draw a picture of each of the ten words above. Then, have them sort the pictures into a "sound buddy" pile and a "single sound" pile.
Use the sound buddy visual below to cue your child as they produce the words.

General Tips:

Remember to keep the words in pairs (instead of just going through swing, sweat, sweep, etc.). This therapy approach is meant to build your child's understanding that changing a sound can change the meaning of a word.
It's fine to have your child say the contrast word (on this page, the words containing one consonant sound at the beginning pace and pot), but you want to focus most time and effort on them saying the target pattern (on this page, the words containing /sp/).
Build up your child's tolerance/ability to do more and more productions over time. Can they do 10? 20? 60?

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