diff --git a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/run.sh b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/run.sh
index 8b1af972647..0b0d7b9401d 100755
--- a/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/run.sh
+++ b/egs/fisher_swbd/s5/run.sh
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 # It's best to run the commands in this one by one.
-
 . ./cmd.sh
 . ./path.sh
 mfccdir=mfcc
 set -e
 rescore=true
 
+# check for kaldi_lm
+which get_word_map.pl > /dev/null
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+  echo "This recipe requires installation of tools/kaldi_lm. Please run extras/kaldi_lm.sh in tools/" && exit 1;
+fi
+
 # prepare fisher data and put it under data/train_fisher
 local/fisher_data_prep.sh /export/corpora3/LDC/LDC2004T19 /export/corpora3/LDC/LDC2005T19 \
    /export/corpora3/LDC/LDC2004S13 /export/corpora3/LDC/LDC2005S13