An area of student need, based on his/her speech pronunciation.
• Use preferential seating, so that the student can see the teacher’s mouth when he/she is speaking.
• Reduce background noise in the classroom.
• Use preferential seating, so that the teacher can more privately model correct articulation to the student.
• Give additional time for the student to speak.
• Ignore articulation errors and focus on content for assessments.
• Provide advance notice and specific expectations for presentations in front of the class.
• Allow for use of written prompts when the student presents in front of the class.
• Allow the student to choose to do an oral presentation to a small group or just the teacher, instead of to the whole class.
• Provide access to a spell checker, and additional time.

Errors in speech pronunciation, such as sound substitutions, distortions (lisps), and/or omissions, which are not age appropriate. Students may speak softly or avoid speaking to avoid embarrassment/being misunderstood. Articulation difficulties can exist in isolation, but may or may not be associated with other issues, like speech production, language delays and intelligence.
Resources
An outline of symptoms, causes and treatments for speech problems. From The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).




