Later sounds
CH Sound
CH is a /t/ and a SH glued together. Stop the air with the tongue tip up, then release it straight into a rounded shhh.
- Sound
- /tʃ/
- Typical age
- By age 4
- Voicing
- Voiceless
- Type
- Postalveolar affricate
- Words here
- 193
How to elicit CH Sound
Ways to help the child make the sound on its own, before practicing it in words.
Placement, step by step
Where the lips, tongue and teeth go.
- 1Start with the tongue tip up behind the teeth, as for /t/, and stop the air completely.
- 2Round the lips.
- 3Release the stopped air straight into a SH - not into a vowel.
Elicitation strategies
Tips to help a child say this sound. Most need more than one.
Auditory
- A sharp "ch" like a steam train starting — one burst, not a stream.
- Contrast with /sh/ (chip / ship) and with /t/ (chin / tin).
- Model it as a single event; repeating it fast turns it into /sh/.
Visual
- Rounded, pushed-forward lips are visible, as with /sh/.
- The stop that begins it is hidden, so the mirror only gets you half.
- Watch for lips that stay spread, which gives /ts/.
Gestural
- A forward chopping motion with a flat hand, once, like a train piston.
- One chop, one sound — never a series of chops for a single /ch/.
- For /j/, the same chop with your other hand on your throat.
- Hand the chop over and let them trigger their own production.
Tactile
- Hand in front of the mouth: a single burst, not a long stream.
- Say /t/ and /sh/ separately, then closer and closer until they fuse.
- Fingers on the lips for the forward push.
How to teach any soundThe practice ladder, shaping from a sound they have, and what to do when it stallsShowHide
The practice ladder
Speech practice climbs. Each step is harder than the one below it, and the jump that trips most people up is the one from single words to real talking. Work at the step where the child is right now - not the one you wish they were on.
- 1
Just the sound
“ch, ch, ch”The sound on its own, with no word attached. If the child cannot make it here yet, this is the whole job for now.
- 2
The sound in syllables
“cha, cho, chee”The sound glued to a vowel. Nonsense syllables are useful precisely because they carry no meaning - nothing to get in the way.
- 3
Words that start with it
“chair, cheese, chin”The easiest place in a word, because the child gets to set up their mouth before they begin.
- 4
Words with it anywhere
“chair, kitchen, beach”Middle and end are harder - the sound has to be produced while the rest of the word is already moving.
- 5
Short phrases
“a cheese sandwich”Two or three words together. This is the first step where the child has to think about something other than the sound.
- 6
Whole sentences
“The chicken sat on the wooden chair.”A full sentence of their own. Expect the sound to slip here even though it was perfect in single words - that is normal, not backwards.
- 7
Reading and telling
“a paragraph, a story about their day”Longer stretches of talking, with the sound coming up over and over. Reading aloud is useful because the words are already chosen.
- 8
All the time
“in the car, at dinner, with friends”Real conversation with nobody reminding them. This is the goal, and the only step that actually counts as finished.
Two rules. Do not skip a step because the child is bored - go back one instead. And if the sound falls apart when you move up, that is information, not failure: drop down a rung, get a few easy wins, and try again in a day or two.
Start with a sound they already know
- /sh/
- /t/
- /j/
Say /t/ and /sh/ one after the other, then closer and closer until they fuse into a single sound. From /j/, whisper it.
If it is not working
If a sound has not responded to several weeks of consistent work, stop and reconsider the target rather than drilling harder. There could be structural reasons a sound will not stabilize, and those need looking at before more practice will help.
Where this guidance comes from
- ASHA Practice Portal — Speech Sound Disorders: Articulation and Phonology — Treatment framework, cue taxonomy, and named treatment approaches.
- ASHA Practice Portal — Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders — Why a resting tongue posture or open bite may need addressing before sibilant therapy.
- Boyce (2015), Articulatory Phonetics for Residual Speech Sound Disorders: A Focus on /r/ — Bunched versus retroflex /r/, the obligatory pharyngeal constriction, and /r/ error patterns.
- Shriberg (1978), Utilization of the "Straw Technique" for Correction of the Lateral Lisp (LSHSS) — A straw at the midline as a tactile cue for lateral /s/.
Print it
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Initial CH
71 wordsThe sound is at the beginning of the word.
1 Syllable37 words
- chair
- cheese
- chin
- church
- chip
- chew
- child
- chalk
- cheek
- chest
- chase
- cheer
- chimp
- chunk
- chain
- chance
- change
- chant
- charge
- charm
- chart
- cheap
- check
- chess
- chick
- chief
- chill
- chime
- chirp
- chives
- choice
- choose
- chop
- chore
- chose
- chug
- chat
2 Syllables25 words
- chicken
- cherry
- chocolate
- cheetah
- chimney
- checkers
- chipmunk
- chalkboard
- challenge
- channel
- chapter
- charcoal
- chatter
- cheddar
- cheerful
- chestnut
- chili
- chisel
- chopstick
- chuckle
- church bell
- cello
- chin strap
- chip bag
- children
3 Syllables9 words
- champion
- cheeseburger
- cherry pie
- chihuahua
- chinchilla
- chocolate chip
- chestnut tree
- chicken coop
- chocolate bar
High-frequency initial CH words
Some of these also sit in the lists above, and none of them are picture-card words - which is exactly why most lists leave them out. They are the words the child already says hundreds of times a day — so they carry more carryover value than any noun on this page. Target them in conversation, not in drill.
- change
- children
- changed
- changes
- changing
- chasing
- chased
- chases
Medial CH
61 wordsThe sound is in the middle of the word.
2 Syllables56 words
- kitchen
- teacher
- catching
- matches
- pitcher
- nachos
- orchard
- watching
- ketchup
- teaching
- marching
- armchair
- lunchbox
- pitching
- scratching
- richer
- hatching
- achoo
- beachball
- benches
- branches
- catcher
- churches
- crunching
- drenching
- fetching
- hitching
- inches
- launching
- lunches
- matching
- mischief
- mixture
- munching
- nature
- patchwork
- peaches
- perching
- picture
- rancher
- reaching
- richest
- searching
- sketching
- snatching
- switching
- torches
- touching
- vulture
- watches
- witches
- matchbox
- beaches
- touchdown
- statue
- bleachers
3 Syllables5 words
- adventure
- birdwatcher
- pitcher plant
- artichoke
- kitchen sink
High-frequency medial CH words
Some of these also sit in the lists above, and none of them are picture-card words - which is exactly why most lists leave them out. They are the words the child already says hundreds of times a day — so they carry more carryover value than any noun on this page. Target them in conversation, not in drill.
- actually
- watching
- teacher
- touching
- watches
- touches
- catches
Final CH
61 wordsThe sound is at the end of the word.
1 Syllable59 words
- beach
- peach
- watch
- lunch
- bench
- catch
- teach
- couch
- match
- touch
- branch
- witch
- ranch
- coach
- each
- march
- torch
- crunch
- arch
- batch
- birch
- blotch
- bunch
- clutch
- ditch
- etch
- fetch
- grouch
- hatch
- hitch
- hutch
- inch
- latch
- much
- notch
- patch
- perch
- pinch
- pitch
- poach
- porch
- pouch
- reach
- rich
- roach
- scratch
- screech
- search
- sketch
- slouch
- speech
- stitch
- stretch
- such
- switch
- trench
- which
- wrench
- church
2 Syllables2 words
- sandwich
- ostrich
High-frequency final CH words
Some of these also sit in the lists above, and none of them are picture-card words - which is exactly why most lists leave them out. They are the words the child already says hundreds of times a day — so they carry more carryover value than any noun on this page. Target them in conversation, not in drill.
- which
- each
- watch
- catch
Phrases, sentences and reading
Using the sound in longer stretches of talking, once single words are easy.
Phrases 12
Most of these carry two targets, so each one is two chances to practice.
- a cheese sandwich
- catch the ball
- sit in the chair
- my chin
- chocolate chips
- watch the clock
- a cheerful chick
- choose a peach
- chew your lunch
- church bells
- itchy patches
- much better
Sentences 12
- 1.The chicken sat on the wooden chair.
- 2.Charlie chose a cheese sandwich for lunch.
- 3.Catch the ball and touch the bench.
- 4.Watch the chocolate chips melt.
- 5.My chin is itchy from the scratchy patch.
- 6.The teacher checked each child in the kitchen.
- 7.Chew each bite of your lunch.
- 8.The church bells chimed at twelve.
- 9.Which peach do you want?
- 10.The cheetah chased the chipmunk up the branch.
- 11.Rachel matched each chick to its picture.
- 12.That much chocolate is too much.
Reading passage
Lunch in the Kitchen
Charlie sat on a chair in the kitchen and watched his teacher make lunch. There were cheese sandwiches, a peach each, and chocolate chip cookies for after. Charlie chewed each bite and checked the clock on the kitchen wall. When the bell chimed, he grabbed his lunchbox and marched out to catch the bus, munching a cookie the whole way.
Phonological awareness
Hearing and playing with the sounds inside words — the listening skill that reading is built on.
Rhyming
Word families built on words from the list above. Say the family out loud, then ask for one more that fits.
rhymes with “chair”
chair, there, where, their, care, hair, wear, fair
rhymes with “cheese”
cheese, freeze, breeze
rhymes with “chin”
chin, been, win, thin, pin, bin, twin, tin
-rch family
church, birch, perch
-ip family
chip, trip, tip, rip, hip, flip, lip, dip
rhymes with “chew”
chew, you, two, new, knew, blue, clue, zoo
Syllable counting and blending
Clap or tap once per syllable. To blend, say the parts with a gap and let the child put the word back together.
- chair1
- chicken2
- champion3
- cheese1
- cherry2
- cheeseburger3
- chin1
- chocolate2
Sound blending
You say the separate sounds, the child says the word. Start with the two- and three-sound words.
- /ch/ /oo/chew
- /ee/ /ch/each
- /e/ /ch/etch
- /ch/ /e/ /r/chair
- /ch/ /ee/ /z/cheese
- /ch/ /i/ /n/chin
- /ch/ /er/ /ch/church
- /ch/ /i/ /p/chip
- /ch/ /ah/ /k/chalk
- /ch/ /ee/ /k/cheek
- /ch/ /ay/ /s/chase
- /ch/ /i/ /r/cheer
Sound segmenting
The reverse, and the harder one. You say the word, the child breaks it into its separate sounds.
- chew/ch/ /oo/
- each/ee/ /ch/
- etch/e/ /ch/
- chair/ch/ /e/ /r/
- cheese/ch/ /ee/ /z/
- chin/ch/ /i/ /n/
- church/ch/ /er/ /ch/
- chip/ch/ /i/ /p/
- chalk/ch/ /ah/ /k/
- cheek/ch/ /ee/ /k/
- chase/ch/ /ay/ /s/
- cheer/ch/ /i/ /r/
Generalization
Word lists get a sound into a child’s mouth. Generalization is what gets it into their life. These are activities where the target words come up on their own, so nobody has to be talked into practicing.
Play-based ideas for young children
Choo-choo train
Push a train around a track, stopping at stations. Load and unload cargo at each stop.
Words that come up
choo choo, train, chug, watch, catch, each, chair, cheese, munch, lunch, touch, much, chase, church
Chip and dip snack
Real or pretend snack time. Crunch loudly and comment on every bite.
Words that come up
chip, chew, chomp, crunch, cheese, cherry, lunch, munch, much, more, chocolate, peach, watch, catch
Chase and catch
A simple chasing game with a soft toy. Chase, catch, and start again.
Words that come up
chase, catch, chin, cheek, touch, watch, each, reach, much, gotcha, my turn, chair, chilly, chicken
Conversation and verbal games for older kids
Choose your own
Offer two options at every turn of a story. "Choose" and "choice" are the engine of the game.
Words that come up
choose, chose, chance, change, which, adventure, chapter, reach, watch, catch, each, much
Lunch menu
Design a lunch menu and defend the choices. Lunch, sandwich, cheese, chicken and chips are all targets.
Words that come up
lunch, sandwich, chicken, cheese, chips, chocolate, munch, crunch, choose, much, which, bunch
Change one thing
What would you change about school, your room, your week? "Change" and "chance" come every round.
Words that come up
change, chance, choose, which, each, much, watch, teacher, rich, switch, reach, match
Play it
- Patchy's Slides & LaddersRoll, count your way along, say the word. Ladders climb; land on Patchy and slide back down.Choose position and play
- Enchanted ForestBeat dragons, trolls and witches at rock, paper, scissors on the way to the finish.Choose position and play
- Crazy EightsMatch the color or the animal, say the word to play the card, go out first.Choose position and play
- Build a CreatureMix heads, bodies, tails, wings and extras into something silly. Two words per part.Choose position and play
- Color PatchyColor him in one piece at a time. Every area costs one word.Choose position and play
- Sticker ScenePick a place, then drag people, things and clothes onto it. Best game for phrases and sentences.Choose position and play
Each game opens with CH Sound selected. Choose a word position before playing. Score every production with Yes! or Not quite and a percentage appears at the bottom. Nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is saved beyond this browser.