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Are you a parent or speech therapist looking for l words to practice with your child or student? Then this blog is just what you need! It has hundreds of words for working on the l sounds in different positions.
L Words Speech Therapy
Speech-language pathologists who need l words to practice their students’ speech sounds are in the right place!
Correct Tongue Placement
When working on the l sound, correct tongue placement is very important.
First place the tip of your tongue on the small bump, called the alveolar ridge, right behind your front teeth.
Secondly, relax your tongue and allow the air to pass along the sides of the tongue while making their sound “loudly” to turn on their voice box.
You can tell when your voice box is turned on by touching your neck and feeling the vibration.
A great place to find a visual cue for the placement of your tongue is to use the Play with Dough Tongue Placement Sheets created by Peachie Speechie. Simply grab some play dough using this visual cue page!
Another great visual cue picture is the Articulation Elicitation Visuals (placement/manner) created by Chatter Fox Speech.
If your child or student is still having a hard time producing the l sound the next best place to start would be to use a tactile cue.
A tactile cue would be when you place a tongue depressor or even a small amount of peanut butter on the ridge behind the child’s top teeth.
You can then instruct the child to place the tip of the tongue where the tongue depressor is located or if you place peanut butter on the ridge you could instruct the child to take a lick of peanut butter while they let air pass on the sides of their tongue using their “loud” voice to turn on their voice box.
Parent Guide
If you’re a parent working on your child’s speech here is a great road map for working on your child’s individual sound. The resource was created by A Happy Learner titled, “Working on the “L” Sound at Home: A Guide for Parents”
Speech Development
Around 3 years of age your child will begin to use the l sound and should have the l sound mastered in conversation around the age of 5 to 6 years old.
According to the Standardized Sample from the GFTA-2 85% of children are able to produce the l sound at the beginning of the word, middle of the word, and at the end of the word around 5 years old.
Word Position: L Words Speech Therapy
Beginning of Words
The initial position of the l sound comes at the beginning of a word. For example, “lizard” or “low”.
Medial Position of Words
The medial position of a word would be “balloon”, “ruler”, and “jello”.
Final Position
The final position of l words examples are, “pole” or “candle”.
Target Words
Here is an example list of l words to increase your child or student’s speech productions.
- Beginning of Words Example: lettuce, like, listen, lice, love, lock, live, lame, lost, lake, lazer, lace, late, liquid, laugh
See the full list of initial words, phrases, and sentences here.
- Medial Position of Words Example: pillow, follow, hula, chili, color, jellyfish, police, violin, stroller, wallet, elephant, helicopter, hello, envelope, igloo
See the full list of medial words, phrases, and sentences here.
- Final Position of Words Example: sale, pill, bill, pencil, sell, soul, pile, hill, tall, spell, bell, tale, drill, pickle, ball
See the full list of final words, phrases, and sentences here.
Be sure to grab my one page freebie of each initial, medial, and final l words. Simply click the links above for each position you need and then scroll to the bottom of that post and grab your free copy!
Speech Therapy Ideas: L Words Speech Therapy
Board Games
If you’re looking for fun ways to work on your child or students’ articulation skills of the l sound be sure to check out these board games.
My student’s love using board games as reinforcement when working on their individual articulation sounds.
Board games are also great if you have a group with other students working on a different sound; they can also play the same board game while they work on their individual sound.
Here are a few fan favorite board games to try are: Chutes and Ladders, Jenga, or Battleship.
Video Game
Do you have a child or student who would love to play a video game while they work on their l sound?
If you answered yes, then be sure to check out Pink Cat Games and look through the l words search here.
SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy
Consonant Blends
Need activities to work on consonant blends?
Here are a few great activities to work on consonant blends.
- Consonant Blends (L and R Blends) Word Sort by First Grade Magic – Melissa Mitchell – Use this word sort as a cut and paste activity, or use the version with write in words and a word bank.
- Consonant Beginning L Blends Worksheets: Bl Blend Kindergarten 1st Grade Phonics by Little Achievers -This product provides 4 different words searches. It focuses on the 11 blends: /bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl,pr/ The answer key is also provided!
- FREE Spring Articulation Dot Art: Consonant Cluster Reduction (/L/ Blends) by Ausome Speech- If you work with preschoolers, special education, students with apraxia, or students in speech therapy or occupational therapy, then this set of printable sheets that target /L/ blends in the initial position is for you! If you say each word 5 times, then 100 targets are reached on each page.
Boom Cards
Students love using Boom Cards to work on their articulation sounds.
I’ve gone ahead and listed a few L sound Boom Cards below:
- Initial Consonant Blends Phonics BOOM Cards- FREE Digital Phonics Activity by Spark LearningCo – This deck of boom cards will provide your students the practice needed to master initial consonant blends. Use the provided ‘L’ blends for some quick practice.
- Sound Loaded Articulation Scenes BOOM CARDS L Sound (Distance Learning) by PlayingSpeech – This product gives students 10+ items to manipulate in scenes that are loaded with the ‘L’ sound. There are 5 scenes in all: 2 initial L scenes, 1 medial scene, 1 final L scene and 1 mixed scene.
- FREE Old Lady Articulation L blends BOOM Cards™️ for Distance Learning Speech by Jenna Rayburn Kirk – These articulation cards pair wonderfully with the book, “The Old Lady who Swallowed” books! The cards focus on L blends.
- L Blends Boom Cards™ (Distance Learning) by The Conett Connection – 6 L blends: /BL, CL, FL, GL, PL, SL/ are loaded into this boom card deck.
SEE ALSO: Free Articulation Games for Speech Therapy
Language Skills
Do you have students who also have language goals?
Here are a few language activities that also work on the L sound:
- SNOWMAN KNOWS CARD GAME: A Speech & Language Multi-Skill Activity /l/ edition by Plan and Prep Simplified – This fun card game can be used with students working on articulation, language and fluency with the sound /l/. The target words include 4 initial /l/ words, 2 medial /l/ words, and 2 final /l/ words. In total, there are 48 response opportunities to practice the /l/ sound.
- FREE Autumn Theme Articulation Activity for Speech Therapy | L Sound by Dean Trout’s Little Shop of SLP – This is a fun sample of a hidden picture activity targeting the /l/ sound. This engaging fall themed activity can be printed or not.
- FREEBIE: Print and Go Pirate-Themed Speech Seek and Language Look Reinforcer by Jessica Finch – These engaging “Speech Seeks” sheets provide articulation reinforcement, and the “Language Looks” can provide vocabulary reinforcement. The target /L/ sound will be reinforced with additional language practice provided.
Enough Time
If you ever feel like you don’t have enough time in the day to work on your child or student’s l sound. Then try these activities that are simple 5 minute activities to work on the l sound.
Check out this list of 5 minute therapy ideas to work on the l sound.
- Articulation Bookmarks | Speech Sounds | FREEBIE by Sparklle SLP – These fun bookmarks will encourage reading and articulation practice! Give your students a bookmark with a target sound to place in their books.
- Beginning Initial Sound Clip Cards l Two Versions by Tracy Bender – These back to school themed clip cards can be used for practice or a quick assessment! In one set, students can find the picture that matches the sound. In the second set, students can find the letter that matches the beginning sound. This resource includes the whole alphabet, A-Z!
- Summer Articulation Practice Freebie L Sound by Ms. Toni’s Speech Tools – This fun engaging summer-themed resource included 3 print and go articulation worksheets. The worksheets focus on the L sound in initial, medial and final positions.
SEE ALSO: 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials
Therapy Room
If you’re a speech therapist on a hunt for l word activities to practice with your clients then be sure to check out these activities below.
- FREEBIE!! Connect Four – Speech Therapy for Artic – initial /l/ by Hyde and Go Speak – This engaging deck, which includes /l/ in the initial position, helps to build vocabulary (try talking about why the picture represents the word!) and also helps students practice articulation of the /l/ sound.
- SAMPLE /L/ Speech-O for Articulation Card Game by Functional Speech with Rachel – This fun game created to practice articulating the /l/ sound includes practice for initial, medial and final positions!
- Monster Speech Mats FREEBIE by Love Speech Therapy by Betsy – Engage students by using play-dog, bingo marks, or a dry erase to mark off words that they say! You can print this in color or black & white.
In Conclusion: L Words Speech Therapy
We hope this article was helpful for working on your child or student’s l sound.
Be sure to visit the following links to grab your l word lists!
<< Click here for your Initial L words lists! >>
<< Click here for your Medial L words lists! >>
<< Click here for your Final L words lists! >>
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