1. Talk about it - don’t be afraid to talk about mumbling with your child, but bring it up in a easy and encouraging way. Point out to you child that they are mumbling. Talk about what mumbling is, give examples of what it sounds like to others, and discuss the effect it can have on a conversation. Try recording your child’s own speech and playing it back to them to show them what their listener is hearing. Your child may not understand what you mean when you say they are mumbling, so try your best to show them what you mean. It is hard to fix something if they don’t know what they are fixing!
2. Turtle speech - introduce “turtle speech” to help with rate control. A lot of kids who mumble tend to talk fast and therefore do not make clear, precise speech sounds. Talk to them about using slow “turtle speech.” Play with this concept by practicing a sentence with good “turtle” speech and then again with fast “cheetah” speech. Record the two samples and have the child talk about the differences. If you are introducing this concept with a younger child, use pictures of the animals to help make it more concrete. Also practice the concept of fast and slow in other ways. For example, make a car go fast and slow or run fast and walk slow.
3. Non-verbal clues - now that your kiddo knows what turtle speech is, introduce a nonverbal cue to remind them to use their turtle speech as needed. I love to use the American sign language sign for “turtle”, but any non verbal cue that works for you and your child does the trick! Using a non-verbal cue can be a quick and easy reminder, without drawing to much attention.