Speech Therapy ch Sound



Speech Therapy ch Sound: The /tʃ/ sound is an affricate. Affricates are speech sounds that begin as stops but finish as fricatives. The /tʃ/ phoneme is made by the tongue tip which is raised to contact the alveolar ridge. The sides of the tongue contact the back teeth, effectively blocking the air-stream.

The lips are slightly puckered as they are for the /ʃ/ phoneme. The tongue tip is quickly lowered creating an explosive release of air across a broad area of constriction, which creates a short but windy sound that has the same characteristics of a stop sound with some characteristics of a stream of air sound.

Speech Therapy ch Sound - Sound Errors

The most common speech sound error involving the /tʃ/ sound is when the /tʃ/ becomes the /s/ sound. The tongue pushes too far forward in the mouth and becomes the /s/ sound. This is known as fronting. In terms of speech production, fronting occurs when sounds that should be made at the back of the mouth are made at the front of the mouth. For instance, when children attempt the /tʃ/ sound their tongues thrust too far forward. The result is the /s/ sound. Chip becomes sip and chair becomes sair, etc

Speech Sound Structures - /tʃ/ Sound

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Speech Therapy ch Sound - How to Stimulate the ch Sound

Demonstrate the characteristics of correct /tʃ/ production to your child. 

  • For the /tʃ/ sound the blade of the tongue is at the rear of the oral cavity touching the upper back teeth.
  • The vocal folds do not vibrate and are silent.
  • The air-stream passes through the centre of the oral cavity over the shallow valley between the tongue and the roof of the mouth.
  • The lips stick out slightly.
  • The sound is mostly a stop and is short.

/tʃ/ Sound stimulation

  1. Work through the following procedures with your child. 
  2. Raise your tongue so that you can feel the upper teeth at the back of the mouth.
  3. Touch the tongue tip at the roof of the mouth then lower it so that it doesn’t touch any structure in the mouth. The tongue should feel like it is in the middle of the mouth. 
  4. Pucker your lips.
  5. Allow the air-stream to flow over the centre or the middle of the tongue.
  6. In contrast to the /ʃ/ sound, the /tʃ/ sound is short and explosive.

Speech Therapy ch Sound - Sculprting from other Speech Sounds



Many speech sounds can be sculpted using other speech sounds as a starting point.  This involves altering or adjusting speech sounds so that they approach the target sound in nature. This works by the clinician modeling a sound that the child is able to produce. The clinician then makes slight, progressive adjustments to the sound until the target sound is generated. 

Sound sculpting from the /n/ sound

  1. The /tʃ/ sound can be formed from the /n/ sound. We do this by first shaping our mouth for the /n/ sound. We do this by touching our tongue tip to the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge). We produce a sustained /n/ sound then lower the tongue a little while building up pressure with the tongue blocking the back of the mouth. 
  2. Next, pucker the lips slightly.
  3. Release the tongue. The sound should be a short, explosive sound, the /tʃ/ sound.

Sound sculpting from the /s/ sound

  1. The /tʃ/ sound can also be formed from the /s/ sound. We do this by first creating the /s/ sound. (Demonstrate the /s/ sound) 
  2. Prolong the /s/ sound and slowly retract the tongue so that it progresses gradually to the rear of the mouth. (This can be demonstrated with your hand representing the tongue and pulling the hand back a little to show the correct movement) 
  3. Note that for /tʃ/ production the rear of the tongue blocks of the back of the mouth and oral pressure builds up.
  4. Pucker the lips slightly. The sound should change from a hissing /s/ to a short, explosive but windy /tʃ/ sound. 



Updated 10/08/2020