By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have seen the Long T Method for teaching S on this blog and in your book “Frontal Lisp, Lateral Lisp” (Marshalla, 2007) as well as in the “Straight Up Speech” program by Jane Folk (Folk, 1992). I was wondering if you had to get permission from Jane for this, or if this method is in public domain? I made up that method just as I suspect Jane did. But it turns out that it is a very old…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have been told not to attend your seminars because you teach methods that have not been tested. I am new to the profession and am confused. Why do you feel it is appropriate to use and to teach methods that have never been tested? The simplest way I can answer this question (answered before here) is to quote another writing duo: “Clinicians’ imaginations conjure up exercises, techniques, procedures, and approaches, which are first tried on a few patients,…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Every week I encounter more statements by SLPs about never doing anything in therapy that has not been proven in research. These statements virtually always concern oral-motor techniques. How do you respond to this? I am so concerned about the limited thinking that has begun to dominate our profession that my heart is bleeding. I am not concerned only with OM. I am concerned about the profession at large. 🙁 Follow me here. Let’s talk about OM and then…
By Pam Marshalla
I was recently reminded of a client I worked with decades ago who taught me a very important lesson about therapy when I was a young therapist. I wanted to share his story. David David was 6;0 and non-verbal. He was a big clunky kid with fine and gross motor problems who was basically untestable, and everyone thought he had very low IQ. I was using Bliss Symbols with him (it was 1976) to develop a home-made communication board (before…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have heard you complain about research in the area of apraxia. Why do you think it is so poor? Think about this: APRAXIA occurs in the ABSENCE of neuromuscular disorder while DYSARTHRIA occurs in the PRESENCE of neuromuscular disorder. Now think about this: ALL the research in speech that has been done on apraxic kids since the beginning of time has been done without any assessment of their muscle tone. Researchers have just been assuming that tone is…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a graduate student and I am writing a paper on the efficacy of oral motor exercises in children with articulation difficulties. Having attended a seminar of yours, I am wondering if there are researchers you could point me to who have used EBP in their research. Please see the articles we have published on the Oral Motor Institute website. OMI home page List of published articles
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Why do you keep harping on about the evidence-based practice (EBP)? I keep “harping on” about the EBP for four main reasons: Because therapists from all over the world continue to submit questions to me about the EBP. Because therapists in my seminars continue to tell me about the problems they are having with the EBP––problems they are having with certain colleagues, administrators, or parents because of it. Because therapists in my seminars continue to tell me that they…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a SLP graduate student looking for some evidence-based practice to implement for a client diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech. I watched the YouTube videos of your hand cues for placement, and I think they would work great. I was wondering if you had any research to support these cues, or if you obtained research elsewhere to support them. A therapist doesn’t look for an evidence-based practice: A therapist creates one. The EBP is formed when a…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have been reading your book Becoming Verbal with Childhood Apraxia. The ideas sound great and very interesting, but I did not see a complete reference list. Are there specific research studies that support the techniques that you were describing in your book? The examples included were helpful. I need some more support because of the emphasis on the evidence-based practice. There is no reference list at the end of the book because these are all my original thoughts…
By Pam Marshalla
This opinion paper was originally posted as a downloadable PDF on my website, authored in mid- 2011. Download the original PDF here. *** What Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) Really Means Q: It is surprising to me that you find it reasonable to pass on non-evidence based ideas. I don’t think this meets a best practice standard at all. I’m curious to know how you demonstrate efficacy this way. The term “Evidence-Based Practice” has been bandied about and distorted. EBP does not mean that we only…
