Articulation Archives - Page 23 of 34 - Marshalla Speech & Language

Category: Articulation

Never Too Late For a Lingua Frenectomy

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Is there an age when surgically altering the lingua frenulum is too late? It is never too late to surgically alter a lingua frenum for improved speech function, except perhaps in the case of degenerative disease. The surgery simply frees the tip of the tongue. It allows the tongue a greater range of movement no matter the age. However, just because the tip is clipped does not mean there is an instant fix to speech. Some clients get very sloppy…

Exhaling Appropriately During Speech

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My inattentive three-year-old client suddenly has begun talking on both exhalation and inhalation. Do you have any suggestions to promote proper breathing for speech? The airflow toys can help teach young children all about the direction of airflow. These include horns, whistles, kazoos, harmonicas, sirens, and spirometers. A toy that works upon exhalation only (horn, whistle) can teach a child about moving air outward. Teach him “Blow out.” (These toys will not sound when inhaled.) A toy that works…

Minor Toddler Articulation Errors

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a client, 2.5 years, who substitutes “F” for “K,” “B,” “D,” “G,” and “T” in initial “R” and “L” clusters. “W” replaces the glides. I am not concerned about the glides. Is the child just over-learning the “F” sound? The replacement of a single phoneme for a cluster is called “Coalescence.” Hodson and Paden define this as the “replacement of two adjacent phonemes by a single new one which retains features from both of the original phones”…

When to Treat Later-Developing Sounds

By Pam Marshalla

Q: At what age should my school speech therapist begin working on my son’s “R” sound? Would you address it before “S,” “Z,” and “Th”? When do you address these errors? Do missing teeth affect the decision making in this process at all? Yours is a very simple yet complicated question. First, these are what we call “later-developing sounds.” When a child has errors on these sounds, most SLP’s in the public schools wait until the kids are 7, 8,…

Stimulating L

By Pam Marshalla

Q: How do you teach L for a client who cannot do it at all? These are the types of things I do in whatever order fits the needs of the client: Primitive Movement Teach a primitive L that is made with jaw movement. Have the client stick out his tongue-tip so that it sits between the teeth, and then have him move the jaw up-and-down. This is going to sound and look like the way a baby “lolls” –…

Facilitating Sh, Zh, Ch, and J

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have been using your cornerstone approach from Frontal Lisp, Lateral Lisp successfully with my students for /s/ and /z/. It has been very helpful! Thank you! However I have a couple of students who are left with a lateral Sh (“shoe”), Ch (“chop”), J (“jump”) and Zh (“beige”). I have been combing your book and working very hard doing oral motor for lateral margins and the bowl shape, but I am still having difficulty with sound production. Help!…

Elements of Carryover

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I still have many high school students that have not corrected articulation errors. How long you continue to try to get these teens to carryover productions into conversation after years of no progress? I would answer your question with a series of questions to ponder about your approach to therapy with these kids. These are the things I would think about: Are you working directly on carryover activities? Are you giving them speech assignments to do outside of therapy?…

Final “Ch” Clusters

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I finally have a boy saying his “Sh” and “Ch” sounds using your techniques. But he is having a hard time transitioning to words like “pinched” or “benched.” I would appreciate your suggestions as to how to help him. I would have him pause between the “Ch” and the “T” like this: Pinched = Pinch…(pause)…T! Benched = Bench…(pause)…T! Then shorten the pause between the Ch and the T until they sound like the cluster they are.

The Gopher’s Whistled S

By Pam Marshalla

Q: What does an SLP call a distorted /s/ phoneme that whistles, like the gopher in Winnie-the-Pooh? Is it considered a lisp? The term “lisp” has gone through many changes throughout the centuries, and it depends upon whom you read as to what it means. In the 1800’s, some writers used the term “lisp” to refer to any problems with the sibilants. Others used the term to mean any and all speech deficits, including all problems of voice, resonance, prosody,…

Frontal Lisp at Conversation Level

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a client in grade five who has a frontal lisp. She can make a good /s/, but her jaw slides forward when we do word and sentence drills, and when we engage in conversation. The speech work, especially conversation, seems too fast to allow for her to get her jaw in the right position to keep the tongue in. Suggestions? Your client already can do a correct /s/ with a good jaw position, but she is not…