How to Say F & Teaching Cues

F is usually mastered by 5 years of age. If your child is 5 and saying F incorrectly, you are in the right place. Let's Begin!

How To Say F

To learn how to make the F sound we must know what each articulator (lips, tongue, teeth, breath, and voice) does. 

Tongue: Nothing. It is relaxed in a neutral position.

Lips: Lips are slightly open.

Teeth: The top teeth rest lightly on the bottom lip.

Jaw: The jaw must be up and centered.

Breath: /F/ is a fricative sound which means breath is constant, no breaks or stops.

Voice: /F/ is a voiceless sound so the voice box is turned off. To know if your voice box is off, say /f/ while touching your throat. If you don't feel a "buzz," you are doing it right.

Say F in front of a mirror and look and feel what your muscles doing. Once you have a good handle on how to say F, you can teach your child!

Printable Sheet

Cues

How to use this section:

I will introduce all cues that I find helpful. Please read and become familiar with each one. You will not use all of them. Instead, when you are ready to start practicing, you will try a few and figure out which ones are most helpful for your child. Most likely, you will use a combination of a few. Please refer back to this section as needed!

Speech therapists use a variety of cues during therapy including tactile (touch), verbal (words), and visual (visual models/mirrors) to elicit a correct sound production. Below are the most useful cues for F.

Visual

  1. Point to your lip (to encourage your child to put teeth on lip)
  2. Point to your mouth as you model the correct production

Verbal

  1. Say "bite lip"
  2. Say “teeth on lips"
  3. Say "teeth"

Tactile

  1. Touch bottom lip to remind your child to bite lip
  2. Tell your child to touch lip and feel teeth

Printable Sheet

What's Next

Now that your know how to say F and what cues are helpful, head over to Teach F to start practicing with your child. 


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