Speech Sound Challenges: A focus on /L/ and /Y/

ByLondon Speech and Feeding
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Have you ever thought about how difficult it can be to produce certain speech sounds? Some sounds are definitely trickier than others. This is especially true for children with speech sound disorders like Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS).

My student with CAS has been working hard on producing the /L/ sound especially when it was followed by an /O/ or /OO/ like, ‘log’ or ‘look’. We’ve practised lots and now that he’s got a good handle on /L/, he’s started replacing another difficult sound, /Y/, with it. So, ‘yes’ becomes ‘less’ and ‘yuck’ becomes ‘luck.’

This is a common pattern in speech development. Once a child masters a new sound, they may start using it in place of other sounds they find even more challenging.

Minimal Pair therapy

I use different evidence-based methods to help my students. And I often like to start out with phonemic awareness and then I move to contrasting the error sound with another sound to make completely different words. This approach is called ‘minimal pair’ therapy: both words are the same except for the initial/final sound which has the error sound, and this is contrasted with the correct sound.

Below is an example of this:

After we have worked on sound awareness, listening and becoming aware of small units of sound matter, then we can move to working on tongue placement and movement.

Tongue placement and movement to produce correct /L/ and /Y/ sounds

To produce these sounds correctly, the tongue needs to be in specific positions and make specific movements.

  • /L/ sound:
    • Tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge (the bony ridge behind your upper teeth)
    • Sides of the tongue are raised to the sides of the upper teeth
    • Airflow escapes through the sides of the tongue
  • /Y/ sound:
    • Tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge
    • Sides of the tongue are raised to the sides of the upper teeth
    • Airflow escapes through the centre of the mouth

I also use:

  • Auditory bombardment: Auditory bombardment is a technique that involves repeatedly listening to a target sound. This can help children to develop a better understanding of the sound and how to produce it.
  • Visual cues: Visual cues can be helpful for children who are having difficulty producing a particular sound. Here I use the image of a ‘standing tongue’ versus a ‘sitting tongue’.
  • Physical cues: I use my hands to show a ‘standing tongue’ for the /L/ versus a ‘sitting tongue’ for the /Y/. But what worked even better and sadly I don’t have the video clip for it:
  • Semantic cues: For example a picture of an ‘EAR’ to make the sound /Y/ so we shape the sound /EA/ to /Y/.
  • Parent involvement: Parents play an important role in their child’s speech sound development by providing opportunities for them to practise their speech sounds at home. This can be done through activities such as reading books, singing songs, and playing games.
  • Reinforcement: It is important to praise children for their efforts, even if they are not perfect. This will help them to feel motivated to keep practising. Important here for speech correction is concrete reinforcement: I feed back to my student what exactly they were doing correctly with their tongue or lips. Rather than saying ‘well done’, I mention what my student has just done with the tongue to change the sound: ‘I saw you lowered your tongue! That made a good /Y/’.

Another great way of reinforcing positively is to ask the student how they feel they have done? For the older ones I often ask them to self-rate their sound production out of 10. Then we can work towards the next incremental number upwards. This is very effective and gives the student control over their own work.

Please contact me if your child has speech sound difficulties.

Sonja McGeachie

Early Intervention Speech and Language Therapist

Feeding and Dysphagia (Swallowing) Specialist The London Speech and Feeding Practice

The London Speech and Feeding Practice

Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

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  • Cycles Approach speech therapy: Why syllables come first

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    and why it matters more than you might think!

    If your child’s speech is difficult to understand, it can feel tempting to focus straight away on individual sounds: those tricky /S/, /K/, or /SH/ sounds that just won’t come out clearly.

    But in therapy, we don’t always start there.

    When a child is very difficult to understand, and I have ruled out that the underlying cause is motor-based, I often opt for the Cycles Phonological Approach. This is helpful for those kids where we can feel like we don’t know where to start! The Cycles Approach helps to generate a broad overall increase in speech clarity by sequentially targeting a variety of speech patterns over the course of 8–10 weeks.

    So rather than working on one sound until it’s ‘fixed,’ we:

    • Work on patterns (not just individual sounds)
    • Target each pattern for a short period of time
    • Then cycle to the next one
    • And come back around again later

    This mirrors how speech development naturally happens: gradually, with increasing accuracy over time.

    Why don’t we start by fixing erroneous sounds straight away?

    To use a metaphor, if a child doesn’t have a strong syllable structure, working on individual sounds is like decorating a house that doesn’t have solid walls yet.

    Many children with speech sound difficulties:

    • Drop syllables (e.g. ‘banana’ → ‘nana’)
    • Simplify longer words
    • Struggle to maintain rhythm and stress patterns

    So, before we refine speech sounds, we need to build the framework of speech.

    Why syllables come first in every cycle

    In the Cycles Approach, we always begin with 2- and 3-syllable words, even if that’s not the main concern.

    Why?

    Because syllable awareness supports:

    • Speech clarity (intelligibility)
    • Word structure and sequencing
    • Prosody (rhythm and stress)
    • Motor planning for longer words

    Without this, even perfectly produced sounds can still be hard to understand in real speech.

    What do ‘2 and 3 beats’ mean?

    When we talk about ‘beats’ we mean syllables you can clap.

    Try it:

    • ‘Table’ → ta-ble (2 beats 👏👏)
    • ‘Banana’ → ba-na-na (3 beats 👏👏👏)

    In therapy, we help children:

    • Hear the beats
    • Feel the rhythm
    • Produce the full word (without dropping parts)

    What this looks like in therapy

    In my sessions, this part of the cycle is active, visual, and repetitive.

    You might see me using:

    • 👏 Clapping or tapping out syllables
    • 🧩 Using visual supports or blocks for each beat
    • 🎲 Play-based repetition of target words
    • 🎯 High-frequency practice (lots of turns!)

    I also keep the focus on success and flow, rather than correction.

    If you’re watching the video clip I’ve shared here, you’ll notice:

    • I’m not over-correcting every sound
    • I’m prioritising getting the whole word out
    • I’m building rhythm, confidence, and consistency

    Why this stage is so powerful

    It can look simple, but it’s doing a lot of heavy lifting.

    Working on syllables helps children:

    • Say longer words more clearly
    • Reduce ‘mumbling’ or collapsing of words
    • Improve overall intelligibility quickly
    • Prepare for more precise sound work later

    Often, parents notice early wins like:

    ✨ ‘They’re easier to understand already’

    ✨ ‘They’re saying longer words!’

    ✨ ‘They’re more confident speaking’

    And that’s before we’ve even fully targeted specific sounds.

    But will my child still learn their sounds?

    Yes. Absolutely.

    The Cycles Approach is structured so that after syllables, we move into:

    • Early developing sounds
    • Then more complex patterns (like fronting or clusters)

    And  importantly, we come back around again.

    Nothing is missed. It’s just sequenced in a way that supports success.

    A different way of thinking about progress

    One of the biggest mindset shifts with the Cycles Approach is this:

    👉 We’re not aiming for perfection straight away

    👉 We’re aiming for gradual system-wide change

    That means:

    • Your child doesn’t need to ‘master’ something before moving on
    • Progress builds across cycles
    • Speech becomes clearer over time, not overnight

    So, to sum up

    Starting with syllables might seem unexpected but it’s one of the most powerful foundations we can give a child whose speech is hard to understand.

    By building rhythm, structure, and confidence first, we make everything that comes next more effective.

    If your child is starting speech therapy and you notice we’re clapping words like ‘banana’ or ‘elephant’, there’s a very good reason for it.

    We’re not going backwards.

    We’re building from the ground up.

    We’re making later sound work more effective and more likely to generalise into everyday talking.

    Next steps:

    If you’re concerned about your child’s speech clarity or wondering whether they might benefit from a structured approach like this, feel free to get in touch. I offer individualised assessments and therapy plans tailored to each child’s speech profile whether that’s early sound development, phonology, or motor speech difficulties.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

    Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.

    Health Professions Council registered
    Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists Member
    Member of ASLTIP

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

    Parent FAQ section

    Why is my child practising words like ‘banana’ instead of sounds like /K/ or /S/?

    Because your child first needs to be able to hold and produce the full shape of a word. If they’re dropping syllables (e.g. ‘banana’ → ‘nana’), working on individual sounds won’t carry over into real speech. We build the structure first, then refine the sounds.

    What if my child can already say some long words?

    That’s great. But we’re looking for consistency and clarity across many words, not just a few familiar ones. This stage helps stabilise that skill so it becomes reliable in everyday talking.

    How long will we stay on syllables?

    Usually, this is a short but important phase within each cycle. We revisit it regularly, but we also move on to other patterns (like specific sounds or sound processes) within the same therapy block.

    Will this delay my child learning their sounds?

    No. In fact, it often speeds things up overall. Once the syllable structure is in place, children are much more able to use correct sounds in longer words and sentences.

    What can I do at home?

    Keep it simple and playful:

    • Clap out words together (e.g. ‘el-e-phant’)
    • Emphasise full words naturally in conversation
    • Repeat back what your child says with the full structure (without pressure)

    Consistency and exposure matter more than correction.

    My child gets frustrated. Will this help?

    Yes. Many children become frustrated when they’re not understood. Improving syllable structure often leads to quick wins in clarity, which can boost confidence and reduce that frustration.

    Building clearer speech: Why we practise syllables first

    What are syllables?

    Syllables are the ‘beats’ in words.

    • ‘Table’ = 2 beats (ta-ble)
    • ‘Banana’ = 3 beats (ba-na-na)

    Why is my child working on this?

    If your child:

    • Drops parts of words (‘banana’ → ‘nana’)
    • Mumbles longer words
    • Is hard to understand

    …then we need to build the structure of words first.

    This helps your child:

    ✔ Say longer words clearly

    ✔ Be easier to understand

    ✔ Feel more confident speaking

    What does this look like in therapy?

    We practise:

    • Clapping or tapping out beats 👏
    • Saying full words with rhythm
    • Repeating target words through play
    • Using visuals or actions to support learning

    How you can help at home

    Keep it light and playful, little and often!

    Try this:

    • Clap words together أثناء play (e.g. toys, food, animals)
    • Model full words naturally (‘Yes, ba-na-na!’)
    • Repeat and expand what your child says

    Example:

    Child: ‘nana’

    You: ‘Yes! Ba-na-na‘

    Important to know

    • This is a key first step in speech therapy
    • We will move on to sounds—but this helps them stick
    • Small changes here can make a big difference in clarity
    3
  • · ·

    Speech sounds practice at home

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    Speech therapists use a variety of tools to help children master specific sounds, and then the students are sent home with some practice sheets to use daily. Parents are able to observe what we do in the session, but I know that back at home three days later they can’t quite remember what it was all about and how to do the practice.

    Here I explain the importance of visual cues, finger shapes, pictures, and semantic prompts (fancy speech therapy term for word clues!). By understanding these tools, you can turn practice time into a fun and engaging experience for both of you.

    Why Visual Cues matter?

    Imagine learning a new language just by listening. It’s tough, right? Young children learning new speech sounds face a similar challenge. Visual cues act like flashcards for their minds, giving them a clear picture of how to position their mouth and tongue.

    • Mirrors: Encourage your child to watch your face (and theirs) in the mirror as you make the sound together. This helps them see the tongue placement and lip movements required.
    • Mouth pictures: Speech therapy sheets often have pictures of mouths making specific sounds. Point to the picture and explain how the tongue and lips look, then have your child try to imitate it.
    • Your face is the best cue! Don’t underestimate the power of your own face. Over-enunciate the sound and let your child observe your mouth movements. Watch this little video clip where I am teaching the /SH/ sound to my little student. You cannot see him but we are both sitting on the floor opposite one another so that he can see me easily.

    Finger fun: making sounds with our hands

    Finger shapes are another powerful tool in my speech therapy arsenal. Think of them as fun reminders of how to position the tongue.

    • ‘Open Wide’ fingers: For sounds like /AH/ and /OH/, hold your fingers wide apart, mimicking an open mouth.
    • ‘Tongue Up’ fingers: For sounds like /T/ and /D/, touch the tip of your thumb to your other fingers, creating a little ‘wall’ like the tongue tip touches the teeth ridge.
    • ‘Snake Tongue’ fingers: For the /S/ sound, wiggle your pinky finger to represent the snake-like tongue tip.
    • In this little video clip I am demonstrating the C-shape moving forward which I had taught my child, showing how the windy sound (/SH/) travels forward with lips open and slightly pursed.

    Bringing sounds to life with pictures

    Pictures serve as visual prompts to connect the sound with a familiar word.

    • Video clip: I am using the WINDY SOUND picture and the FLAT TYRE sound picture to represent /SH/ and /S/ respectively
    • Point and Say: Point to each picture and say the word clearly, emphasising the target sound. Encourage your child to repeat.

    Unlocking sounds with semantic prompts

    Semantic prompts are fancy words for clues that help your child guess the target sound. They can be simple questions or descriptive words.

    • ‘Can you feel the wind whooshing?’ (/SH/)
    • Think of tyre going flat, or a balloon losing air, or a train coming to a slow halt (/S/)

    Practice makes progress, but fun makes it funnier!

    Remember, the key is to keep practice sessions light and engaging. Here are some extra tips:

    • Short and sweet: Stick to short practice times (5-10 minutes) to avoid frustration.
    • Make it a routine: Integrate practice time into your daily routine, like after breakfast or before bedtime.
    • Positive reinforcement: Celebrate your child’s efforts with praise and high fives!
    • Make it multisensory: Incorporate sensory activities like blowing bubbles for /F/ or feeling the wind for /SH/.

    Parents you’re a vital part of your child’s speech development, and together we can make huge progress quickly.

    Please contact me if your child has speech sound difficulties.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Early Intervention Speech and Language Therapist

    Feeding and Dysphagia (Swallowing) Specialist The London Speech and Feeding Practice

    The London Speech and Feeding Practice

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

    1
  • ·

    Correcting a lisp

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding
    Correcting A Lisp

    This is a surprisingly common speech error and it can be corrected really well in my experience. I have helped lots of children of all ages learn how to control their tongue movements and produce clear, sharp /S/ sounds and good /SH/ sounds.

    Initial consideration

    There are some factors which need to be considered before we can dive into therapy proper and these are they, in a nutshell:

    1. The student is not currently displaying negative oral habits such as thumb sucking or excessive sucking on clothing. This is because thumb sucking exerts pressure on the teeth and therefore can, over time, push teeth out of their natural order/position.
    2. The student does not have a restricted lingual frenulum or tongue tie which can cause at times restricted movements of the tongue (pending on how tight the frenulum is attaching the tongue to the base of the oral cavity); equally a labial frenulum or lip-tie can restrict lip movement and therefore physically restrict good speech sound production.
    3. The student does not have enlarged tonsils as they can sometimes push a tongue forward and also cause open mouth posture and open mouth breathing.
    4. The student’s motivation to change their speech pattern is high. (this is an important factor though with younger students I can get round this with a lot of fun games and good parental involvement!)

    When I do an Oral Assessment of my student these are the first factors I want to look at and consider. Often I will refer to other agencies such as Orthodontists, dentists or ENT specialists to advise and help with some of these factors before we can get going. However, there are strategies that we can work on almost straight away.

    Most of my Lisp students present with an open mouth posture: that is where the student has their mouth always slightly open for breathing. Over time the tongue starts to fall forward and rests on the front teeth or the bottom lip instead of finding a comfortable resting place either at the alveolar ridge (the bumpy spot behind the upper front teeth) or, alternatively, resting at the bottom of the mouth behind the lower front teeth.

    Another common problem is that the tongue is not moving independently from the jaw and so is reluctant to pull back or lift up inside the mouth as the tongue is guided in movement by the jaw.

    Combine those two factors and your tongue is not pulling back, or lifting up or doing very much at all without the jaw moving as well. This makes for unclear speech sounds, especially all the sounds we make at the front with our tongue or with our lips: /B/ /P/ /L/ /N/ and of course /S/ and /SH/ are particularly hard to make. We often also struggle with the /Y/ sound so ‘LELLOW’ instead of ‘yellow’.

    Do not fear!

    But no fear, these problems can be treated over time for sure! We often start with lip, tongue, and jaw exercises that help to move the tongue independently from the Jaw, our student learns that the tongue is a muscle and can be trained to do amazing acrobatic things in the mouth! WOW! It can actually pull back, lift up, and come down again all on its own!

    We work on breathing, holding our breath for a bit then pushing it out and then holding it again.

    And when it comes to the actual /S/ sound I often try and go a NEW route bypassing the Snake-Sound route if that is what had previously been tried and failed so that we can create completely new sound patterns in our brain and think about our sounds in a completely new way.

    We then work on producing the sound /S/ on its own for a bit, at the end of words, then on either side of complimentary sounds, for instance : ‘EASY” – the sound patterns here are EEE-S–EE : the /EEE/ sound is complimentary to the /S/ sound as the tongue is at the right hight for the /S/ already once you have it in place for /EEE/ -……see?! EASY!

    And gradually we work towards saying the /S/ sound clearly at the front of short words, then phrases and then sentences.

    The process takes some time and it depends on how ready the student is. This varies of course hugely so I can never promise the exact number of sessions we will take to get that Lisp fixed. A lot depends on home practice in between sessions, and this is of course crucial to all therapy! Every day 15-20 mins practice is a good average time to aim for and when this is done it shortens the therapy block drastically.

    I always give plenty of home work so there is never a chance of it getting boring or there being “nothing to do”!

    Do contact me. I really enjoy working with this type of student and get a great kick out of FIXING THAT LISP!

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

  • · · ·

    Why open cup drinking and good sitting matter for your toddler

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    When your baby reaches around 12 months, there is a lot going on developmentally. They are learning to walk, communicate, feed themselves and become increasingly independent. One small but important milestone that can sometimes get overlooked is learning to drink from an open cup.

    Many toddlers continue to have milk from a bottle well beyond their first birthday, and parents are often understandably reluctant to take it away. The bottle may be familiar, comforting and convenient, particularly at bedtime.

    But moving towards an open cup is not simply about changing the way your child drinks. It is part of their development of oral-motor skills, feeding independence and mealtime development.

    And there is another piece of the puzzle that is often overlooked: how your toddler is sitting while they eat and drink.

    The way the body is supported can make a real difference to what the mouth is able to do.

    Why introduce an open cup from around 12 months?

    Babies can begin learning to drink from an open cup much earlier than many parents realise. By around 12 months, most children should be given regular opportunities to practise drinking from an open cup alongside other suitable drinking vessels.

    An open cup encourages your toddler to learn a different pattern of drinking from the sucking pattern they have used with a bottle.

    With an open cup, your child needs to:

    • lean towards the cup and control its position
    • grade how much liquid enters the mouth
    • use their lips to help control the liquid
    • coordinate breathing and swallowing
    • develop increasingly mature tongue and jaw movements
    • learn to take a drink without relying on a teat or nipple.

    These are useful skills for developing efficient eating and drinking.

    This doesn’t mean that a toddler who still has a bottle at 14 or 18 months has somehow ‘missed their chance’. Children develop at different rates, and there is always an opportunity to work towards new skills.

    However, if a bottle remains the main or only way a child drinks for a long time, there can be fewer opportunities to practise these more mature drinking skills.

    What are the pitfalls of staying with a bottle for too long?

    The occasional bottle is not the issue. The concern is when a toddler continues to rely heavily on a bottle and therefore has little reason or opportunity to develop other drinking skills.

    A bottle encourages a sucking pattern which is appropriate for infancy. As children mature, we want to see increasing use of their lips, tongue, jaw and facial muscles in more sophisticated ways.

    Long-term bottle use can also make the transition to an open cup more difficult simply because the child has become very accustomed to the bottle.

    There can also be practical considerations around dental health, particularly when milk is offered frequently throughout the day or overnight.

    For many toddlers, the bottle has also become associated with comfort, sleep or emotional regulation. This can make giving it up feel like a very big change for the whole family.

    So rather than thinking, ‘The bottle has to disappear tomorrow’, think:

    ‘How can I gradually increase opportunities for open-cup drinking?’

    Offer the open cup regularly at meals. Let your toddler experiment. Expect spills. Keep the amount of liquid small initially and provide plenty of encouragement.

    Learning to drink is a skill. And skills need practice.

    But what has sitting got to do with drinking?

    Quite a lot!

    When we think about feeding, we naturally tend to focus on the mouth. We watch what the tongue is doing, whether a child chews, whether they cough or gag and what foods they accept.

    But feeding is a whole-body activity.

    Your child needs a stable body position before they can use their mouth efficiently.

    Think about trying to drink from a cup while sitting on a wobbly stool with your feet dangling in the air. You would probably find it much easier if your body was well supported.

    The same principle applies to toddlers.

    Tripp Trapp® Chair

    A well-designed highchair such as a Tripp Trapp chair can provide a stable base when it is correctly adjusted for the individual child. Ideally, your toddler should have:

    • hips well supported
    • knees comfortably bent
    • feet resting firmly on a footplate
    • a stable pelvis and trunk
    • the table or tray at an appropriate height

    This gives your child a solid foundation from which to move.

    And that matters because stability in the body supports movement and control in the mouth.

    Feet supported = better feeding?

    I sometimes hear parents say, ‘He doesn’t need the footrest don’t worry about it (as I crouch down with my Allenn key to adjust the Tripp Trapp chair) but I always explain it is very important to have his feet supported. Dangling legs can make it much harder to maintain a stable sitting position.

    When the feet are supported, your toddler can push gently through their feet and stabilise their pelvis and trunk. This can help them maintain a more organised position while eating and drinking.

    They can then devote more attention to the job in front of them:

    looking, reaching, grasping, chewing, swallowing and drinking.

    This is particularly important for toddlers who are developing their chewing skills or who find mealtimes physically demanding.

    A stable body supports a busy mouth

    Eating involves an extraordinary amount of coordination.

    Your toddler is managing food in their hands, bringing it to their mouth, biting, chewing, moving food around with their tongue, forming a bolus and swallowing,  often while simultaneously looking around, communicating and interacting with you.

    Drinking from an open cup adds another layer of coordination.

    Good postural support doesn’t teach a child to drink from a cup, but it can give them a much better physical foundation from which to practise the skill.

    This is why, when I assess a toddler’s feeding, I don’t just look inside the mouth.

    I also look at how the child is positioned.

    Making open-cup drinking part of everyday life

    You don’t need a complicated programme.

    At meals, offer a small amount of water in an open cup. You can help your toddler hold the cup initially, tipping it gently towards their lips and allowing them to control the drinking as much as possible.

    Some mess is completely normal!

    You might also use a small, lightweight open cup that is easy for little hands to manage.

    And remember that the goal is not to make every drink perfect. The goal is to give your child regular, positive opportunities to practise.

    If your toddler is struggling with drinking, frequently coughing or choking, refusing cups, relying heavily on a bottle, or experiencing difficulties with chewing and eating, it is worth seeking professional advice from a Speech and Language Therapist with expertise in paediatric feeding.

    The bigger picture

    Open-cup drinking and good sitting are not two unrelated developmental skills.

    They are part of the same picture.

    A stable body provides a foundation for skilled movement. Skilled movement supports feeding. And feeding skills develop through practice and opportunity.

    So as your toddler approaches and moves beyond their first birthday, think beyond simply asking, ‘How much milk are they drinking?’

    Think about how they are drinking, how they are sitting, and what opportunities they have to develop the skills they will need as they grow.

    And if you have a little one sitting beautifully at the table in a well-supported Tripp Trapp chair, remember: you’re not just creating a comfortable seat.

    You’re creating a stable foundation for eating, drinking, learning and growing.

    Do get in touch with me. I would love to hear from you and help your little one develop good sitting and drinking habits.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Highly Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

    Owner of The London Speech and Feeding Practice.

    Health Professions Council registered
    Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists Member
    Member of ASLTIP

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

    3
  • · · ·

    The joy of container play: Exploring play development and understanding of how things work

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding
    The joy of container play
    Designed by Freepik

    Have you heard the term ‘Container play’? I use this very often with children in my sessions as it is so versatile and an enjoyable activity that can be done in parallel with a child or together. Container play is a powerful tool for fostering development in young children, especially those with developmental delays. This seemingly mundane activity provides a rich environment for sensory exploration, motor skill development, and cognitive growth.

    What is container play?

    Container play involves children interacting with various containers—boxes, buckets, bowls, cups, various bags, etc.—and filling, emptying, and transferring objects within and between them. Objects can include literally anything: small beads, bead chains, table tennis balls, wooden pegs, dinosaurs or any other little person toy, blocks of varying sizes, sand, water, or any other safe material. Larger containers obviously take larger items: socks, stuffed animals, bigger balls, bigger blocks etc really the choices are endless.

    Benefits for children with developmental delays:

    Sensory exploration:

    • Touch: Children explore different textures and temperatures of containers and objects.
    • Sight: They observe how objects look inside and outside the containers, how light reflects off them, and how colours change.
    • Sound: They listen to the sounds of objects clinking, rattling, and splashing.
    • Proprioception: Filling and emptying containers helps develop body awareness and spatial awareness.

    For neurodivergent children who might have sensory regulation difficulties, consider the following adaptions to accommodate your child’s sensory needs:

    • Over-stimulation: For children who are easily overstimulated, start with simple setups using a limited number of containers and objects. Gradually increase the complexity as they tolerate it.
    • Under-stimulation: For children who seek sensory input, provide a variety of textures and materials, such as sand, water, slime, or beans.
    • Temperature: Offer a variety of temperature options. Some children may enjoy warm water or cool sand.
    • Lighting: Adjust the lighting to create a calming or stimulating environment.
    • Focus on one sense at a time: Initially, focus on one sensory aspect, such as the feel of sand or the sound of water.
    • Weighted containers: Use heavy containers filled with rice or beans to provide deep pressure input.
    • Fidget toys: Incorporate fidget toys into the activity to provide sensory input and help with self-regulation.
    • Tactile exploration: Encourage exploration of different textures using objects with varying surfaces.

    Fine motor skill development:

    • Hand-eye coordination: Scooping, pouring, and transferring objects require precise hand-eye coordination.
    • Pincer grasp: Picking up small objects helps develop fine motor skills like the pincer grasp.
    • Strength and dexterity: Manipulating containers and objects strengthens hand muscles and improves dexterity. Opening and closing containers can be a huge area of interest; how does the top screw back on, or off?

    Cognitive development:

    • Cause and effect: Children learn that their actions (e.g., pouring water or sand) have consequences (e.g., the water spills).
    • Spatial awareness: They develop an understanding of concepts like inside, outside, full, empty, and over/under; also how big is the vessel and how much goes in before it’s full or spills over. How small is the vessel opening and what do I need to do to get the beads into the container.
    • Problem-solving: Children learn to solve problems, such as how to get an object out of a narrow container or how to transfer water without spilling.

    Social and emotional development:

    • Communication: Container play can encourage communication as children interact with others, sharing toys and commenting on their actions. Asking for help to open and close a container is often a great opportunity to practise ‘help me’ or ‘open it’
    • Turn-taking: Sharing containers and materials helps children learn to take turns and cooperate.
    • Sensory regulation: For children with sensory sensitivities, container play can be a calming and self-regulating activity.

    Tips for engaging children in container play:

    • Create a safe and inviting environment. A shower curtain on the floor makes things easier for tidy up afterwards. And it allows for spillages.
    • Provide a variety of containers: Use different sizes, shapes, and materials. Use containers that are visually interesting and pleasing, perhaps a festive biscuit tin, or a tin that looks like train engine. Use see-through containers at first which make the filling and emptying more obvious. This is important for children who have no previous experience with this type of play and need to ‘warm up’ to it. Once a child loves and is used to container play you can go wild with all types of containers.
    • Offer a variety of objects: Include balls, blocks, sand, water, and other age-appropriate materials.
    • Join in the fun! Start off the process, show your child what the joy of the activity is for yourself, how fun it is to fill and empty containers, provide enough containers for your child to start playing alongside you, and comment on their actions.
    • Follow your child’s lead: Allow them to explore and experiment at their own pace.
    • Adapt activities: Adjust the level of challenge based on your child’s abilities and interests.

    Container play is a simple yet powerful tool that can support the overall development of young children, especially those with developmental delays. By providing a rich and engaging sensory experience, container play can help children build essential skills in motor, cognitive, social, and emotional domains.

    If you have any questions or would like to have more in-depths demonstration of this or other play styles for your child please contact me.

    I look forward to hearing from you.

    Sonja McGeachie

    Early Intervention Speech and Language Therapist

    Feeding and Dysphagia (Swallowing) Specialist The London Speech and Feeding Practice

    The London Speech and Feeding Practice

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

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    Discover how Attention Autism can support your Autistic child’s communication

    ByLondon Speech and Feeding

    “I’ve got something in my bag, in my bag, in my bag,

    I’ve got something in my bag,

    what it is”

    You might be wondering why your Speech and Language Therapist is singing this song and then presenting items from a zipped-up bag. Let me take you through stage one of this evidence-based approach.

    There are many aims of ‘bucket or bag time’. During stage one, you are simply engaging your child’s attention (whilst also exposing them to language). It’s important to remember that you are not forcing your child to say or do anything. The idea is that the items in the bag or bucket ‘offers an irresistible invitation to learn’ (Gina Davies, 2020).

    You don’t need ‘special’ expensive toys. Use what you have at home. It might be that you have some bubbles, a wind-up toy. You might have some foil that you can roll up into a ball, or a balloon. Keep these items for ‘bucket time’. This means that your child is likely to be excited and motivated for the activity. The only stipulation is that these items must be highly motivating and must be the most exciting thing in the room. You’ll want to cover up any distractions.

    So, you have your items and your opaque zipped bag, next you’ll want to put the items into the bag ensuring the zip is closed. The zip is important as it increases suspense and excitement as your child cannot see inside. You can also comment when unzipping ‘open bag’ using the signs ‘open’ + ‘bag’ to support your child’s understanding. Your Speech and Language Therapist can help with any Makaton signs that are unknown. The idea of this activity is that the item isn’t touched by your child. This can seem a little odd or feel “mean” but there is a reason for this: we want our child to look at us as well as the object or toy. As soon as we allow our child to touch and play with that toy their attention will go to the toy alone and we won’t get JOINT attention or engagement. This is the reason why we SHOW interesting things for a brief moment and then put these items back into the bag or bucket and out comes the next item. If your child wants to grab the toy and gets upset, then they may not be quite ready for this approach.

    Next, we sing the song (as above) and unzip the bag taking out one of the items. The use of pausing is important. Pause after the song: does your child try to use gesture or sound? You can also use this opportunity to model short phrases, ideally one or two words such “it’s a spinner! Wow… so many colours”. After a couple of turns, repeat the process and pull out a different item. We tend not to sing the song each time for the next item. Just sing it at the beginning and then get on with producing the amazing, wonderful things in your bag. No hard and fast rules though, apart from “don’t let the child touch the toys”.

    The biggest factor here is that you and your child enjoy the activity together. Have lots of fun!!

    Keep up to date with our latest blogs to explore more stages of Attention Autism.

    If you need speech, language or communication support or advice, I am always here to help.

    Find a speech and language therapist for your child in London. Are you concerned about your child’s speech, feeding or communication skills and don’t know where to turn? Please contact me and we can discuss how I can help you or visit my services page.

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