Every exercise, in full
All 18 exercises, with the instruction, the caution and where the evidence stands. Nothing is hidden behind a button and you do not need to start a session to read it.
Last updated 16 September 2026 · Start practising · For clinicians
Before you start
Use comfortable effort throughout. Nothing here is a strength exercise and nothing should hurt. Stop if speaking hurts, if your voice becomes hoarse, or if you feel light-headed. Read Practising safely first, especially the signs that mean you should see a doctor rather than practise.
The routines are 5, 8, 12 minutes, or the full sequence at roughly 20 minutes. Shorter routines are a subset of the same exercises. Timings are estimates and every step is self-paced.
1. Settle your breath
Sit comfortably and let your shoulders settle. Take five easy breaths, then say each phrase on one comfortable breath out. Repeat twice.
- Hello, good morning.
- I have something to share.
Take care: Breathe normally between phrases. Never hold your breath or try to empty your lungs. Sit down for this step and stop if you feel light-headed.
Evidence: Breath support for speech, with speech material attached rather than isolated breathing drills.
2. Relax your face
Note: A settling step to begin with, not an articulation exercise. It relaxes you; it does not change how you sound.
With clean fingertips, gently massage the outside of your cheeks and jaw for about half a minute. Keep your teeth slightly apart.
Soften. Settle.
Take care: Touch only the outside of your cheeks, never inside your mouth. Skip this step over sore, injured or recently treated areas, and skip it if your jaw hurts, clicks painfully or has locked before. Stop if it is uncomfortable.
Evidence: A non-speech oral motor activity. Included as a settling ritual only. The ASHA evidence review found insufficient evidence that non-speech oral motor exercises improve speech, and this app makes no such claim.
3. Let your jaw move easily
Say each vowel row slowly five times, letting your jaw open and close comfortably. Rest between rows.
- ah · oh · ah
- ee · ah · oo
Take care: Keep the movements small and easy. Do not stretch your jaw wide or push on it with your hands. Skip this if your jaw hurts or locks.
Evidence: Jaw movement practised with vowels rather than as a non-speech exercise, on the task-specificity principle.
4. Warm up your voice
Note: A voice warm-up, the same kind singers use. It prepares your voice. It is not an articulation exercise and will not change how clearly you form sounds.
Keep your lips loose and blow out gently to make a “brrrr” sound. About fifteen seconds in total, taking a breath whenever you need one.
Brrrr…
Take care: Let your lips flutter without squeezing them. Fifteen seconds does not need to be one breath. Stop before you run out of air, and skip this if it feels difficult, dizzy, painful or strained, or if your voice is hoarse.
Evidence: A semi-occluded vocal tract exercise. SOVT exercises have evidence as a vocal warm-up. That evidence concerns voice, not articulation.
5. Shape sounds with your lips
Read each row slowly three times. Let your lips meet lightly for p, b and m, then round gently for w.
- pa · ba · ma
- we · woo · way
- Maybe we can begin.
Take care: Release your lips between repetitions. Keep your cheeks relaxed; do not squeeze or puff them against resistance.
Evidence: Bilabial and rounded targets practised in syllables, words and a sentence.
6. Practise tongue-tip sounds
Read each row aloud three times. Let the tip of your tongue make light contact behind your upper front teeth, then release.
- ta · da · na · la
- Tell Lily the news.
- A little time today.
Take care: Use your own accent. Aim for clear, easy contacts without pressing hard or pushing your tongue forward between your teeth.
Evidence: Alveolar targets practised in syllables, words and sentences.
7. Move from front to back sounds
Say each row slowly three times, moving between lip sounds, tongue-tip sounds and back-of-tongue sounds. Pause between rows.
- ka · ga · keep · go
- pa · ta · ka
- Pack the green bag.
Take care: This is coordination practice, not a speed test. Keep your throat comfortable and use a normal speaking volume.
Evidence: Velar targets and front-to-back sequencing. Coordination practice, not a diadochokinetic rate test.
8. Take a quiet break
Rest silently for about a minute. Let your jaw and shoulders relax, breathe normally, and take a sip of water if you like.
Pause. Reset.
Take care: This is a longer routine, not a harder one. Stop the session altogether if your voice feels tired, hoarse, painful or strained.
Evidence: A deliberate rest to keep the longer routine longer rather than harder.
9. Ease into your voice
Hum a gentle “mmm” at your usual pitch, then say each phrase. Repeat the sequence three times, breathing and resting between turns.
- Mmm · morning.
- Mmm · many thanks.
Take care: Keep the hum short and easy. Do not push for volume or vibration, squeeze your throat, or hold the sound until you run out of breath. Skip this if you are hoarse.
Evidence: Gentle onset humming into voiced phrases. A warm-up, not a voice therapy protocol.
10. Exaggerate every sound and word
Say the sounds on the left, then the words on the right, with big, comfortable mouth movements. Read each row twice.
| Sounds | Words |
|---|---|
| oo · ee | you · me |
| pa · ba | paper · bag |
| ta · da | today · day |
| ka · ga | keep · going |
Take care: Say every item aloud: oo, ee, you, me. Use comfortable effort without pushing or straining. Bigger movements, not a louder voice.
Evidence: Deliberate, over-articulated speech. Clear speech is a technique in wide clinical use; its evidence base concerns diagnosed speech disorders, not this sequence.
11. Finish every word
Read each line aloud twice, making the last sound of every word clear.
- cap · cat · cab
- back · bag · bat
- seat · seed · seem
Take care: Keep the ending clear without adding an extra vowel: say cat, not cat-uh. Use your own accent; this is not a speed test.
Evidence: Final consonant production. Practised within the speaker’s own accent.
12. Keep the sounds together
Read each line slowly twice, keeping the first two sounds together without adding a vowel between them.
- blue · bloom · blanket
- green · grow · great
- stay · step · stop
Take care: For blue, move smoothly from b to l without saying buh-loo. Go slowly; you do not need to get faster.
Evidence: Consonant clusters without epenthesis.
13. Exaggerate every sentence
Read every sentence aloud twice with exaggerated, comfortable mouth movements.
The sentences change daily. One day's set:
- A bright blue morning.
- Take a little time.
- Pack the paper bag.
- Keep the conversation going.
Take care: Make the movements bigger, not your voice louder. Read the list twice, with a brief pause between sentences.
Evidence: Deliberate articulation at sentence level.
14. Pause at the line
Read each line aloud twice in your normal voice, taking a short pause at each slash.
- Here is the update / we have a clear plan.
- The first step is ready / let’s check it together.
- Thank you for your time / I’ll send the details.
Take care: The slash marks a pause; do not say “slash”. Breathe whenever you need to.
Evidence: Rate control and phrasing on supplied scripts.
15. Make the marked word stand out
Read each line aloud twice, saying the marked word a little longer than the others.
The marked word moves down the list:
- We can start today.
- We can start today.
- We can start today.
Take care: Lengthen the marked word slightly without speaking louder. Notice how the same sentence draws attention to who, what, or when.
Evidence: Prosodic emphasis and contrastive stress.
16. Put it all together
Read the passage aloud twice in your normal voice, keeping words clear and pausing at each slash.
- Thanks for joining today / let’s look at our plan.
- The first task is finished / the next one starts tomorrow.
- We have time for questions / then we can agree on the next step.
Take care: Read the three lines as one short talk. Use the pauses to avoid rushing, and restart a line if you need to.
Evidence: Connected reading combining rate, pausing and clarity.
17. Bring it into conversation
Now speak in your own words for about a minute, with a pause between ideas. Here is a prompt if you would like one.
A prompt is offered, and changes with the occasion you pick:
- Tell me about your day so far, in a few sentences.
- Give a one-minute update on something you are working on.
- Introduce yourself and your topic in three sentences.
- Say your name and phone number clearly, as if leaving a voicemail.
- Explain something you know well, as if to someone new to it.
Take care: Let your lips and tongue move naturally; you do not need exaggerated movements in conversation. Nobody is listening and nothing is recorded.
Evidence: Carryover into unscripted speech, the part of home practice most often skipped.
18. Give it some personality
Say the line three times: first friendly, then excited, then confident.
Let’s give it a go! — Friendly, Excited, Confident
Take care: Use your usual volume. Change your tone and expression rather than how loudly you speak.
Evidence: Varied delivery and expression at a normal volume.
What this is not
None of the routines above have been clinically validated, as a whole or at any duration. They are not a treatment for stuttering, dysarthria, apraxia, aphasia, a voice disorder, or any other condition, and they are not a substitute for assessment by a qualified speech and language professional. Speech On is not a medical device. See Terms of Use and For clinicians.
The exercises are also available in several languages inside the app. Translations are machine-assisted and awaiting native-speaker review; this page is the English original.
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