Month: November 2008

Jaw Lateralization and the Lateral Lisp

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a kindergarten student who slides her jaw side-to-side during conversational speech, resulting in a lateral lisp. I have used a bite block program but it has not helped. She has good jaw strength. She can hold large bite blocks in her teeth bilaterally and speak without dropping them. But her speech isn’t any better. What should I do? This is not a strength problem. I am sure her oral mechanism is strong enough to support speech. This is…

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Jargon and Intelligibility

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I am working with a 7-year-old in first grade. He has received services since 3-years of age privately and at school. He is making very slow progress in speech, and is having great difficulty comprehending and completing first grade work. His speech is characterized mostly by jargon with a few intelligible words, so some meaning may be derived. He is able to produce two-syllable words but falls apart with more complexity. He occasionally produces three-word intelligible utterances such as…

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Overlapping Stages of Vocal Development

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Your book, Apraxia Uncovered, describes seven stages of vocal development. If my son can only do 80% of Stage One, should I proceed with Stage Two? Or do I wait for him to be able to do 100% of Stage One before moving on to Stage Two, even though he is able to do some of the items already in Stage Two? The stages overlap. Many children learn a little bit of this and that from each stage without…

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Teaching Phonemes: Advice to Preschool Teachers

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I am a preschool teacher and am wondering how to teach the “K” sound to one of my students. Let’s broaden your question to: How does one teach a child to say a new phoneme? This is what I would tell a preschool teacher: Show her how to make the sound: Ask her to watch and listen to you say the sound. Pause slightly before you say it. Make the sound stand out by saying it a little louder, by…

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