As the school year kicks off, it’s the perfect time to introduce your students to the hierarchy of speech. I absolutely love articulation ladders, because they’re a great way to help students visualize the various levels of speech. The beginning of the school year is also the time when we’re busy learning about new students and an articulation ladder is such a great tool to help us quickly assess where a student is at on the hierarchy of speech. They’re the perfect back to school speech therapy activities!
The beginning of the school year is also the time for some fresh and engaging activities that set the tone for a fun year in speech therapy! I’m excited to share that I created a back to school articulation ladder craft! These can be found in my membership, The Speech is Sweet Club! My membership is designed for speech-language pathologists and will be a life-saver as you plan your back to school speech therapy sessions and lesson plans!
This simple yet effective craft will be highly motivating for your students. They’ll love climbing the rungs of this cute schoolhouse! This craft is also no prep, which is essential for the first week of school! We need all the time we can get! Students color their schoolhouses and then cut them out, which is also a great way for them to practice fine motor skills.
You can also find these articulation crafts in my TPT Store!
What is an Articulation Ladder?
An articulation ladder is a visual representation of the different levels of speech. It starts at the very bottom with the isolation level (just saying the sound all by itself), then moves to the syllable level where you add a vowel sound to the phoneme, then the word level, phrase level, and sentence level. An articulation ladder actually goes beyond the sentence level too, it also goes up to the reading, conversation, and generalization level! An articulation ladder is an easy way for students to actually see the hierarchy of speech plus it’s a fun visual!
Let’s climb the speech ladder together!
Isolation Level
The very bottom of the articulation ladder is the sound level. The sound level refers to the phoneme all by itself. For instance, the k sound says /k/ and the l sound says /l/. This comes with a visual cue to show students how to position their articulators to produce the sound.
Syllable Level
Next students slowly build upon the isolation level and add a vowel sound! This level has visual cues for five different vowel sounds. Students can work on one vowel at a time and when they master them all with the sound in the initial position, they can then go backwards and work on the sound in the final position!
No time for scissors?! These can also be used as a good ol’ fashioned coloring sheet! Whether you work with younger students or elementary students, this activity will make the first day of speech memorable and meaningful!
Word Level
The next rung of this back to school articulation ladder is the word level! At the word level, students put their target sound into a word! If a student can successfully say the sound in isolation and coupled with vowels at the syllable level, then they’re ready to tackle words! On this part of the ladder, I included five words that are school themed! I love incorporating relevant and themed vocabulary in articulation therapy as much as possible! Reviewing essential vocabulary is a great activity to kick off the back to school season!
Phrase Level
At this level, students are given 10 total two-word phrases featuring two different school themed vocabulary words! These often include a pronoun or adjective + the target word. These phrases help ease students into the next level of speech and will help them build confidence in their ability to produce their speech sounds!
Sentence Level
When students reach the top of the ladder, they get to say a silly sound-loaded sentence! None of the target words repeat throughout the ladder, which helps maximize exposure to a variety of vocabulary and speech opportunities.
Back to School Speech Therapy Activities
You can also turn this activity into an interactive notebook activity with ease! Just have students put glue under the top part of the schoolhouse and then they can glue them into their notebooks or one a loose-leaf sheet of paper. They can then write or draw under the school. They can come up with their own word targets, their own phrases, or even write sentences! Students who are not yet writing can draw word targets.
These are also great assessment tools! Throughout therapy, you can assess where students are on the articulation ladder and students can even assess themselves!
Back to School Speech Therapy Homework Ideas
I think these articulation ladder crafts are also perfect to send home for homework! The visual cue at the first rung of the ladder will be helpful for students and parents as they practice at home!
I hope your students enjoy this super simple craft! Articulation ladders are powerful tools and a great way to increase students’ awareness of where they fall in the hierarchy of speech!
Looking for more articulation ladder activities? Check out:
Sandcastle Articulation Ladders
