Kinesthetic cues are prompts that involve physical movement or actions by the learner to guide or reinforce a skill. Unlike a verbal cue (spoken prompt) or a purely tactile cue (touch provided by another person), a kinesthetic cue requires the person to perform a movement themselves as a way of internalizing a concept—for example, a child tracing their finger down their arm to elongate the “s” sound or tapping out syllables on a finger board to pace speech. These cues engage the person’s proprioceptive and motor systems, helping to “feel” the target action or pattern. In speech-language pathology, SLPs often use kinesthetic cues in therapy to help clients with speech sound production or fluency (such as having a client use hand taps to slow their speech or gestural cues for tongue placement), thereby improving motor learning and self-monitoring of speech.
Ableson, Miranda. “Critical Review: Effectiveness of PROMPT When Used to Treat Speech Impairment.” University of Western Ontario, 2010. Link
Dodd, Barbara, and Clare Bradford. “A Comparison of Three Therapy Methods for Children with Different Types of Developmental Phonological Disorder.” International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders 35, no. 2 (2000): 189–209. Link
