Learning to say the 'F' Sound
Most kids learn most sounds just by listening to you say them. We are our children's BEST teachers. Sometimes, for many reasons, children need an extra bit of help to hear and practice certain sounds. There are lots of things that YOU can do in your everyday play and routines to help your little one to hear a sound they find tricky.
YOU NEED TO SOUND ODD
Emphasis and repetition is key here. If I said to you "I like food" it wouldn't grab your attention, but if I said "I like ffffffffffood, fffood is yum, would you like some fffood?" you'd look at me strangely and think I was having a stroke. It's that kind of emphasis that draws our kids' attention and helps them to hear different sounds. So if you're working on a sound - make yourself sound odd.
DON'T EXPECT THEM TO COPY YOU
In days of old, speech therapy was all about sitting down to do activities and making kids repeat things over and over. We now know that practising words in everyday play and conversation makes a difference quicker, and it's not necessary for you to push your child to copy you. Simply do lots of modelling and praise them if you hear them trying to do the same.
DON'T POINT OUT THEIR ERRORS, JUST SAY IT BACK CORRECTLY 3 TIMES.
E.g.
Child: "bire engine"
Adult: "yes a ffffire engine. A red ffffire engine. I wonder where the ffffire is".
Learning a new sound takes a long time. If I told you tomorrow that you had to say all your /f/ sounds as /b/ instead could you remember to do it all day? "One two three bore bive?" No. Because it'd be a huge habit to change and you'd forget. And you're an adult. So don't expect your little one to change their speaking habits overnight. Just keep modelling!
Check out my 'milestones' highlight to learn about when we expect each sound to develop :)
