By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client and I speak both Spanish and English. He devoices D to make T. I don’t know how to help him. Here are the things I usually do–– Teach him about “Voice-on” and “Voice-off” in a different context. I usually start with “Ah” and “H”. Have him hold his neck at the larynx to feel the vibration of voice on the vowel and the absence of voice on H. Repeat this with the fricative cognates: S and Z,…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have been working with a child for a year and a half and R has been very resistant to improvement. I just stumbled upon a good R in STRI-words like “strike”, “stripe”. Yet he has problems doing what you call “lerring” [sliding back-and-forth between L and R]. Why do you think this is? R can be a grand mystery and you never know what pattern will cause it to sound right. Just go with whatever works. It could…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I took your course on intelligibility and understand the importance of Long E in achieving the starting point for all vowels, but I cannot get my client to make a good E. It sounds flat. I would try this–– Have him say a big oral strong “Ah”. The tell him to “keep saying Ah” while he bites his back teeth together (or on a bitestick) Then tell him to “keep saying Ah” while he smiles broadly. Model this diphthong…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My son just turned 5. He has been having difficulties with his articulation for several years especially with D, T, TH, S, Z, N and H. also he has difficulties in putting letters together such as D-O-G. He is able say things correctly only when we go really slow and draw out each sound. He also sucks in when trying to make the S sound. How can my husband and I help him with this? The severity of what…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am working with an adult who wants to reduce his accent. Do you have any material on this? I am not an expert in working with accents, although I have always had a secret desire to specialize in it. My professors called this “Dialect Reduction” but modern therapists call it “Code Switching.” The continuing ed classes on dialect reduction I have taken in recent years and the old books on elocution that I have read both indicate that…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can a clipped frenulum grow back? I have a student with a hearted-shaped tongue and a restricted frenulum but his mom said it was clipped at 9 months of age. As far as I know, it won’t grow back — however a lot of scar tissue can develop, and some people might need to have the procedure done twice.
