Model the correct production of the sound. If you hear your child produce a sound incorrectly (i.e., “tat” for “cat” or “wabbit” for “rabbit”), you can say the word back to your child without drawing attention to his/her mistake (i.e., “I also see the cat.”). Emphasize the “k” sound, so the child hears it. Do not say ca ca cat as your child may start to learn a ‘cat’ is a ‘ca ca cat’. You do not want to say, “No you said that wrong it is “cat” not “tat.” Try again.” You want to encourage your child to talk and if your child gets negative feedback, he/she may not want to talk as much. By you modeling the correct way to use the word, your child will hear it produced correctly without feeling negative about the way he/she talks.
Emphasis the correct production of the sound. When you repeat a word that your child produced in error, say the sound with either vocal emphasis (This is when you produce the sound with increased intensity and increased length) and/or sound amplification (This is when you increase the volume of the sound).
Ask your child to guess the sound you are producing. Tell your child that you are going to play a game. You are going to say a sound and your child has to guess what sound you said. If your child does not produce the /k/ sound correctly, you can have your child guess if you said the /k/ sound in the back of your mouth or the /t/ sound in the front of your mouth. You can have two cards (one with the letter /t/ and one with the letter /k/). Your child should point to the sound you produced.
Read books that have the sound your child produces in error. Reading books that contain certain sounds is another way that you can model the correct production of the sound produced in error. If the sound produced in error is in the title of the book or in one of the character’s names, the book will most likely have multiple opportunities for you to model the sound. You want to pick a book that has the sound in it multiple times.
Have your child imitate you. Ask your child to imitate the sound in isolation. Say, “Let me hear you say the sound /k/.” If your child is able to imitate the sound correctly, practice the sound with vowels (i.e., ka, kae, ki, ko, ku). If your child is not able to imitate the sound correctly, it is recommended that you see a speech language pathologist to teach your child how to correctly produce the sound. Do not keep trying to get your child to imitate the sound correctly if he/she is not able to imitate you in isolation as this may frustrate your child and cause him/her to not desire to try to imitate.
* Please note that some sounds are later developing sounds which are developmentally appropriate for your child to be producing in error. Please refer to the list of sounds your child should be producing by certain ages under articulation skills to know what sounds your child should be producing correctly.