Articulation Archives - Page 10 of 34 - Marshalla Speech & Language

Category: Articulation

Sibilants and Tongue Cribs

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Can I expect correct articulation on S, Z, Sh, ZH, CH, J, T, D, N, and L when my client has a tongue crib that fills the entire alveolar ridge? The orthodontist is recommending SL therapy for the phonemes and to fix the swallow. In my experience clients usually cannot produce any of their lingua-alveolar and/or sibilant sounds correctly as long as an appliance like that is in the mouth. The appliance distorts sound, especially stridency. I usually do…

Differentiating Oral Movements from Head Movements

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My preschool client with apraxia can only say “K” when he bobs his head around. Should I ignore this as part of the learning process? Some clients seem to need extraneous movement to initiate a phoneme’s movements, but they do not need them for long. I see them as gross movements that will become more refined with time. I usually let my clients do all this extra movement at first, and I even emphasize it by imitating it back…

Teaching Vowels

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client cannot produce some of the short vowels and I am having a terrible time teaching them to him. He cannot get his tongue in the right positions. Any suggestions? The problem we have teaching the vowels is that most of us have been training to think that it is all about tongue position. Tongue position is important when adults differentiate their vowels. But when children are learning all the vowels in infancy, it is the jaw that…

Teach Good Oral Resonance

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client had a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy but she still sounds stuffy and nasal. Mom says she has always sounded this way. Suggestions? Voice is a very difficult topic for those of us who do not specialize in it. Many clients do not change their voice and resonance patterns after surgery because the “old voice” is just what they are used to. It’s the way they always have sounded. It’s them. Therapy intends to change that vocal quality. Unfortunately…

Down Syndrome: Improving Intelligibility

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Do you know of any good books about remediating speech (not language) in children with Down syndrome? My client is 12 years old and I think it is time to concentrate more on intelligibility after years of language work. I answered this question through a personal exchange with the SLP, however I thought I would say a few things about the topic here on my blog. Always remember that with Down syndrome you always have dysarthria and that means that…

Unusual Acquisition of H

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client had a xyanotic episode at 4-days of age. She had no verbal language until about 24 months. She is now 33 months and is talking quite a bit with delay. But what is throwing me for a loop is that she has changed “mommy” from “Mee-mee” to “Mah-mee” and now to “Hah-mee.” She also substitutes H for other M words. I’ve never seen this. Can you explain it? I don’t have all the info I would need…

Adding Unnecessary Final Consonants

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Have you ever seen a child add final consonants to words that don’t need them? My 3-year-old male client adds T to the end of everything. I have seen this with a few kids who used a few different phonemes: T and S mostly. I usually consider it overgeneralization of their new knowledge about final consonants, and I don’t worry about it. I do not believe that I ever had to do anything about it, and I just let…

Damaged Tongue-Tip

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My elementary-age client injured her tongue-tip. It has been a few weeks post the accident and her speech is moderately distorted and she still complains of pain. Her doctor says she is just trying to get attention. Do you have experience with this? I have worked with a few patients who had injury to the tongue-tip. In my experience it can take up to a year to fully recover from it. If some of the nerves were damaged,…

Help for Adult with Articulation and Feeding Problems

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I am an SLP with a lisp and mild problems with chewing and swallowing. I receive SL services as a child, but I quit too early and have not completely remediated my errors. What would you recommend? I would recommend that you find an SLP who is trained in orofacial myology to oversee your work on speech, eating, swallowing, and probably oral rest. An orofacial myofunctional therapist who knows what s/he is doing would be of great help to…