The levels in Kokolingo begin simply and grow gradually more complex. As the user masters sound production in short syllables and nonsense words, the exercises become harder over time.

Let’s start with the basics. Where do we need to place our tongue, lips, teeth, and jaw when trying to make a specific sound come out? Is there a movement involved in producing this single sound and how should that movement look? These exercises will walk you through some user-friendly tips for correctly moving your mouth to produce the most basic target sounds like “puh” “kuh” or “tuh.” Pirate Lucky provides memorable auditory, visual, and tactile cues for practice and evaluation of success.

Many sounds in the English language are so similar (/s/ and /z/ for example) that it can be difficult to distinguish differences between them. Being able to listen carefully to similar sounds and tell them apart is a prerequisite for correct speech production. These exercises encourage your learners to listen carefully to words to identify and repeat the correct sound. They encourage them to listen carefully to the sounds of language. After all, if they can’t hear the difference, they can’t speak the difference.

These silly exercises use nonsense words to practice speech sound targets next to different vowels and in the beginning, middle, and end of words. Each of these variations makes the placement of tongue, jaws, teeth, and lips slightly different as our mouth prepares to move fluently into the next sound.

These games take speech practice to the next level as your learner has the chance to practice making target sounds in real words. The words are presented in increasing order of syllable complexity and in beginning, middle, and end positions of words. Your learner will be invited to search for words hidden behind objects, use flashcards, and play memory match to complete all the levels.

For a learner who is becoming more automatic in their sound production, the next step is to practice putting that sound into longer phrases or sentences. Games at this level will help your child expand their use and comfort level using target sounds in all contexts by building on their ability to sequence many sounds quickly next to one another.

This section presents target sounds in sentences within the broader context of a fun short story. Visual cues help your them understand the story as it unfolds, and the story will motivate your child to practice producing target sounds within a longer sequence of words. This is what putting it all together looks like! Now your learner is speaking clearly in sentences and telling stories.