Pam Marshalla, Author at Marshalla Speech & Language

Author: Pam Marshalla

“Believing” in “Oral Motor” – Lighten up!

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My supervisor will not let me use oral-motor techniques. She says there is no research to support them. What are your thoughts? First I say, “Ho-hum!” Aren’t we tired of this argument yet? Isn’t it time to get past this ridiculous war of words? Let’s lighten up! To by-pass “the oral-motor war,” I have been using the term “mouth movement” lately, as in: If you don’t believe in “oral-motor techniques,” fine. That’s okay. It’s not a religion any way….

Targeting “Un-Stimulable” Phonemes

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Does a client have to be stimulable for a sound, or sound class, before therapy should be initiated? No. Sometimes we target a phoneme or class for which the client is stimulable. Other times we teach the client a new phoneme or a new sound class for which the client is not stimulable. For example, the client who cannot pronounce R needs to learn R. He is un-stimulable for R and must learn it. I have worked with hundreds…

Outgrowing a Lateral Lisp

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Do you think a child should be able to outgrow a lateral lisp? I believe that a FRONTAL LISP is on the normal developmental continuum, but that the LATERAL LISP is not. To me, the lateral lisp is a motor pattern that is moving in the wrong direction, therefore, no matter how much maturity the client has, he will never reach correct production. The lateral lisp is an incorrect motor pattern as opposed to an immature motor pattern. An…

Preschool Plateaus

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My daughter is almost 4 and her speech is rarely understood by anyone outside of our family. While my daughter absolutely loves her therapist and has made some progress, she has been stuck at a plateau for a while. My daughter is very bright and has a high level of understanding and of vocabulary. However, she never says her word endings, many letters are omitted, she talks in a very rapid rate, S is always slurred, and she can’t…

Habitual Open Mouth Rest Posture

By Pam Marshalla

Q: How do you teach young children to keep their mouths closed? I am working with a 28-month-old with an open mouth resting posture. He also sucks his thumb and uses a sippy cup. This question is a huge one that requires a lot of background. I will be writing a full chapter on this in my next book, called 21st Century Articulation Therapy to be published in 2012. Let me write a few main ideas here: Medical We always have…

Encouraging a “Real” Voice Instead of a Whisper

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My preschool client uses a whisper instead of a “real voice” when he talks. We are using PECS with him, and he can build sentences up to 5 words. Do you have suggestions for developing his voice? First, he needs to be seen by a physician – an ENT – to determine if there is a medical reason for his lack of voice: nodules, polyps, paralysis, malformation, etc.. You need this so you know what you are working with….

Mobious Syndrome

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a relative who does not have any movement of her top lip. She cannot blow a horn and has difficult with straw sucking. Her 4-year-old son also was born with this lack of movement with his upper lip. What could this be? It sounds like it could be Mobious Syndrome (Alternative spellings: Mobius, Moebius). Mobious Syndrome has many characteristics, including partial facial and lip paralysis. Speech can be bad if the paralysis is wide spread in the…

Stimulating the Butterfly Position

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I use your “butterfly position” on many school age kids and most of them are able to understand it and follow directions. However, many of the preschoolers have a hard time understanding “biting the sides of their tongues.” Do you have a different way of approaching preschoolers when you want to stabilize the back of their tongues? I also have found that many preschoolers have a hard time understanding how to make the butterfly position. And children with lower…

Nasality on /r/

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a preschool student who produces vocalic /r/ with more of a [ng] phoneme. If I address it, what can I do? There are always several ways to attack a question about articulation therapy. Let me offer two basic ideas to try: Normal Path of Development You could teach the client to substitute w/r instead if she can do a /w/ correctly without nasality. Teach her to say “Rabbit” as “Wabbit” and so forth. That puts her development…

Speech-Language Therapy Carryover Techniques

By Pam Marshalla

Q: What do you recommend to encourage carryover of articulation skills in an older child with a frontal lisp? Note: I am writing a book entitled Carryover Techniques in Articulation and Phonological Therapy which will elaborate on this answer in great detail. [EDIT: Book released 2010]. My book Frontal Lisp, Lateral Lisp has a full chapter on carryover techniques for the lisps including: Auditory Acceptance – The process a client goes through to accept the way his new sound sounds. Determination…