Guided Practice Script

Do you like candy? What about lollipops? When we say “lick a lollipop” we make the /l/ sound. When we say the /l/ sound our tongue licks our top teeth, just like a lollipop! We are going to pretend our top teeth are a lollipop that we’re licking. Repeat after me and watch how my tongue licks my teeth: “La, la, la.” Your turn! Now take a long lick and hold your tongue behind your teeth for a long /l/ sound. Great job!

Targeted Techniques and Considerations

Eliciting Techniques

• Phonetic Placement → tells where tongue should be when sound is produced
• Metaphor → compares the /l/ sound to licking a lollipop
• Facilitating Context → adds the “a” vowel to the /l/ sound for smoother production
• Modeling/Demonstration → clinician demonstrates the sound first for client to follow

Common Errors

• Substitution of /l/ sound with /w/ or /j/ sounds (gliding error)
• Cluster reduction (ex: “glue” becomes “gue”)

Dialectical Differences

• Some dialects like Cockney, Australian and New York English will drop a final /l/ sound and turn it into a vowel or semi-vowel sound (ex: “bottle” becomes “bott-oh”)