How to find facilitative contexts in speech therapy

If the term “facilitative contexts” in speech therapy is new to you, we simply like to think of it as carefully chosen words that can help get the articulators “in the right place” to encourage, or facilitate, our target sound.

For example, have you ever found that the word “choo choo” or “ouch” can help your students say the “ch” sound more clearly? That’s because we’re taking advantage of the lip rounding for the vowel sounds to influence the lip rounding needed for “ch” (if that is what the child needs to learn).

How do you "find" facilitative contexts?

In our speech therapy room, this takes as little as 5-10 minutes and involves using a screener or informal assessment probe using “contexts” (e.g., vowels, consonants, certain positions) that can help get the articulators in the right place.

Can you always find a facilitative context? No. But also know that you might find some words that approximate a clearer production and can be a starting place for therapy (this also means you’ll have to provide additional articulation cues).

Start screening facilitative contexts today

We love bridging the gap between research and clinical practice, which was why we made printable Facilitative Contexts packets for SLPs to use in their practice!

I can honestly say that it was one of the most powerful tools (screening for, and starting therapy with identified facilitative contexts) I implemented in my speech therapy room for 2024!