By Pam Marshalla
Q: How do you teach an R? I just don’t get it! Some kids get it right away and other cannot seem to bunch up the back of their tongues no matter what I do. It sounds like you are always teaching what I call a “Back R.” Teaching a Back R is much more than teaching the client to bunch up the back of the tongue. The “Back R” position is attained by spreading, elevating, and retracting the back…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can I work on R with my client who has a palatal expander? My experience has taught me the following: Typical braces, palatal expanders, and the like should not interfere much with the sound quality of R and we can go ahead and begin treatment. However… Oral appliances can interfere with our work on R and other phonemes if there is oral pain in association with them. Wait a few weeks until the pain subsides or is managed appropriately….
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Do you believe that early frequent use of sippy cups can contribute to, establish, or perpetuate a frontal lisp in children? I find it hard to believe that a sippy cup would cause a frontal lisp pattern in an otherwise normal child. I suspect it can happen, but we don’t have real evidence for this. These are the types of questions that I wish young doctoral students would begin to focus on in their research. We need answers to…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: It seems that every SLP has a different opinion on phoneme development and the age at which sounds should be treated. For example, some SLP’s work on R at age 6 while others wait until clients are age 7 or 8. What is your opinion on sound development? I have been re-studying the developmental articulation norms for the past two years in preparation for my next book, and I have to admit the data is all over the place….
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have heard that we should avoid the topic of tongue-thrust therapy (orofacial myofunctional therapy). I’d like to hear your thoughts on this. In my experience, problems in articulation, orofacial myology, feeding, dysphagia, and motor speech disorders are all the same thing manifested in somewhat different ways and to various degrees. All of these therapies are about facilitating new oral movements and/or fixing incorrect oral movements. I have spent my entire career (since 1975) studying the research, clinical practices,…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am using your “Long T Method” to establish an S sound. Now the student cannot get rid of it. For example, she pronounces “juice” as “juits.” Please help! The Long T Method from Frontal Lisp, Lateral Lisp is a process of using T to establish correct tongue position for S. One uses T, and then “blows more air” to make an aspirated T, or Long T, as a substitute for S at the ends of words. Words like…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My colleagues and I are wondering how you go about stimulating elevation of the back of the tongue for [+Back] phonemes? The very best way to facilitate upward elevation of any part of the tongue, including the back, is to apply a bit of pressure downward at the spot you want to elevate, and to ask the client to push up against your pressure. Use a finger, tongue depressor, Nuk massager, or any other appropriate tool. This is the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: What do you think of Speech Buddies? I have a set of Speech Buddies here that the creators sent to me for comment. They are a beautiful set of articulation tools. Speech Buddies are part of our return to the “phonetic placement technique” as described by Van Riper. He wrote the following: “For centuries, speech correctionists have used diagrams, applicators, and instruments to ensure appropriate tongue, jaw, and lip placement. [These] phonetic placement methods are indispensable tools in the speech…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have an R-student who is just about ready for dismissal. He can do almost all postvocalic R sounds, but not ER all by itself. Thus, he can say, “deer,” “door,” “dare,” and “dart.” But he cannot say “dirt.” Help! Your client is almost there! He only needs to learn how separate the ER-part from the preceding vowels he has it attached to. In other words, he needs to learn to isolate ER from the VOWEL+ER’s he is doing….
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a client with prevocalic voicing. He substitutes b/p, d/t, and g/k in initial position. Do you see this much? What suggestions do you have? Prevocalic voicing is probably one of the most common phonological error patterns in young children, especially those with motor speech disorders. There are many ways to address this: 1. We can use minimal pairs to help the client hear the differences between the phonemes and to emphasize the way the meaning changes with…
