Preschooler with Medial Consonant Collapses to /h/

Nonsense Syllables with Medial Sounds

Have the student say nonsense syllables (two-syllable combinations) that contain different medial sounds. I would start with the same vowel on either sound and switch out the medial consonant, like “aba, ada, ana, aga, asa” etc.
Use letter tiles to help the child see the change in the medial sound

Find words that are minimal pairs with the only difference being the medial sound (like “icky” and “Izzy”). You don’t have to use the /h/ but if you can find pairs that represent many different medial sounds, you can help the child hear the difference between those medial sounds

Find words that the child is struggling with and break them apart. Put the medial consonant either at the end of the first syllable or the beginning of the second (whichever is easiest). For example, if the child is struggling with final consonants as well, break words like “apple” apart into “a” and “pple”. Have the child say the two syllables separately several times first and then add them together. For this example, I would have the child say “pple” many times first and then add the “a”.

If the child is struggling with approaches that try to cause change across all medial consonants (like above), try focusing on one medial consonant at a time. Choose medial consonants that are easiest for the child to say, like cognates of sounds he is already doing spontaneously or sounds that are close in placement/manner/voicing.