By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 19-month-old cannot produce O. She is smart and has no other speech or developmental problems, but it interferes with intelligibility. My guess is that your daughter will learn to round her lips within a few weeks or months all on her own without any help. She is only one year old and has lots of time to gain this simple skill. If you were to come to my office about this, and this was the only problem, I…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have an elementary age male client that was attaining an adequate R, but then we had scheduling problems and he lost it. I cannot get it anywhere now. Help! When I have a client like this, I start from scratch. I assume they can do nothing that I worked on with them, and I re-visit all we have done before. Slow way down. Do not assume any generalization. Review, review, review what he could already do and solidify…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Recently I came across an SLP who was using oral-motor tools but not following sanitary procedures. Ahhhhhh! What resources can I share with her? SLPs must follow sanitary procedures at all times when touching a client in, on, or around the mouth with the hands or other objects. The following notes are from my upcoming book, The Marshalla Guide. Sanitizing the Hands Wash the hands with a sanitizing soap. Dry the hands with a paper towel and dispose of…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am serving a student with moderate acquired dysarthria impacting speech intelligibility due to impaired respiration, phonation, coordination, speech rate and articulatory precision. She is six-years old and her accident was 2 years ago. She can follow directions well and is aware that she sounds different than her peers. The most obvious speech quality is the slow rate, pausing, and unnatural phrasing. Her peers tend to ignore her when she is speaking because these qualities make her sound so…
