How to do speech therapy at home

Rule one: five minutes a day beats an hour on Sunday

Speech sounds are motor habits. Habits are built by frequent short repetitions, not by long sessions. A daily five minutes gives you thirty-five minutes a week in the form that actually works, and it is short enough that you will still be doing it in a month.

Attach it to something that already happens every day — after teeth, before the bath, in the car on the school run. A practice slot that depends on remembering will not survive a fortnight.

Rule two: one sound at a time

Two sounds at once halves the practice each one gets and confuses a young child. Pick one and stay with it until it is solid in conversation.

If a speech-language pathologist named a sound, use that one — they chose it for a reason you may not see. If you are choosing yourself, pick by age rather than by how wrong it sounds. Working on R with a four-year-old is a fight you cannot win; R is not typically mastered until five to eight. Working on K with the same child, who says “tat” for “cat”, is very winnable.

• Every sound with the age it typically arrives — start here if you are choosing yourself
• K sound and G sound — the “tat for cat” pattern, usually fixable by four
• S sound — where lisps live
• R sound — the latest one, do not rush it

Rule three: work up the four levels

This is the structure every therapist uses, and it is the part parents most often skip. Each level only starts when the one below it is reliable — roughly eight correct out of ten.

1. 1The sound on its own. Just “sss” or “kuh”, twenty times, with a mirror. Boring, and it is where the motor pattern is actually learned.
2. 2Words. Start with the sound at the beginning of short words. When those are easy, move to longer words.
3. 3Phrases. Two to four words — “a sunny sock”, “my big cat”. This is where accuracy usually drops, which is normal.
4. 4Sentences, then conversation. Full sentences, then real talking. Most children can produce a perfect sound in a word list months before it appears in conversation, and that gap is the normal shape of progress, not a failure.

Rule four: model, do not correct

This is the single habit worth changing. “No, say it properly” teaches a child that talking to you is a test they keep failing. Some children respond by talking less, which is the opposite of what you want.

Instead, say the word back correctly, with a slight emphasis, and carry on. Child: “I want the wabbit.” You: “The rabbit! Here's the rabbit.” No instruction, no demand, just a clean model right after the attempt. Do that thirty times a day and you are doing real therapy.

Save direct correction for practice time, where your child knows they are practising and has agreed to it.

A week that actually works

Every sound page on this site has the word lists, phrases, sentences and three games ready to go, so you never have to invent material. Print one, or keep it open on your phone.

How long before something changes

Weeks for an easy sound in a young child, months for a late sound like R, and sometimes a year or more for a sound that has been established the wrong way for a long time. Progress is not linear — it often sits flat for a fortnight and then moves in a few days.

Track it rather than trusting your memory. Once a week, ask your child to say the same ten words and count how many are right. Ten seconds of counting tells you more than a month of impressions. If you use the app, it does this automatically and shows the trend by week and month.

Where this stops being enough

Home practice works well for a sound that is late but developing normally. Get a professional involved if: your child is well past the typical age for the sound and it has not budged after a couple of months of consistent practice; the error is a lateral lisp (a slushy S, where air escapes over the sides of the tongue); people outside the family regularly cannot understand your child; or your child is becoming frustrated, avoiding words, or avoiding talking.

Practice these sounds

Free word lists, mouth-position guides and games — no app needed.