"Meet Me Here": A Favorite Cue for Starting a Block

Full transcript

Hi, it's Nicole from the NYU Motor Speech Lab, coming in with your weekly quick tidbit. Today I want to share one of the favorite cues we use here in the Motor Speech Lab, one of my favorite cues when I'm starting a block, or multiple repetitions in a row, of a target word.

We know a cue is what we say to the child before they attempt production, and feedback is what we give the child after or as they're attempting production, to alter where their articulators are, the placement, the movement, so that we can try to get a better production. So the cue happens before.

One of my favorites is super simple: "Meet me here." Let's say the target word is "mom," and that initial articulatory configuration, the M, is challenging, or it's challenging in the context of a CVC. It's hard for the child to get there, and maybe their output is something like "mama" or "um."

So what we would say is, "Okay, we're going to say 'mom.' Meet me here." Then model: lips together, and have them hold it. As they're holding it, you want to say things like, "Do you feel how your lips feel when they come together like that? I want you to really think about how that feels." And then have them do the word with you: "mom."

Starting with a vowel can be tricky too. Say the target word is "up." Sometimes they're going to do something like "pa." You say, "Okay, meet me here. I want your mouth to be bigger. Do you feel how it feels to start here?"

And then our second favorite cue: "Move with me."

Hope that's helpful. Have a great day.