By Pam Marshalla
Q: Could you advise where to find the best droppers for the dropper technique that you use for habituating the swallow and reducing drooling? I buy my droppers (pipettes) at Sally Beauty Supply, which I believe is a national chain, but you can really get them anywhere. The droppers look like the ones in the image to the right, but any plastic dropper would probably work. Your local pharmacy may carry them, or you can buy multi-packs on Amazon.com 🙂
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I see kids in a school setting. My 3-year-old client has a private SLP who is using kinesio tape on his mouth to help improve lip closure and resting posture. I had not yet heard of this technique but I am intrigued. I would love to know your opinion regarding this method. Some traditional SLPs placed tape on the side of the lips to signal the client that he was moving them instead of his tongue*. You see it…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a new referral for a 4-year-old client who has had several cleft repairs and prior therapy. Per his last report his only speech error is a lisp but I also saw in his mom’s referral info that he has some feeding problems and is sensitive to certain food temperatures and consistencies. Could his atypical sensory and chewing issues be factors in his interdental error pattern? Do you have suggestions for evaluating and treating this child? His mom…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: “Do you think feeding problems cause speech problems? My professor says no.” I believe you’re approaching the question from the wrong direction. My experience is that feeding problems do not cause speech problems, and speech problems do not cause feeding problems, because — My experience is that both feeding and speech problems are the result of mouth movement problems. This is easy to understand if you step away from our field and consider other movement skills.
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I recently started working with a student with a right side unilateral lisp caused by jaw and tongue instability. He also has a midline bulge. Right now we are working on maintaining a stable jaw. Do I focus on tongue position as well? It sounds like he is shifting both his jaw and his tongue to one side. If so, stabilize the jaw first and use a straw to analyze what is going on with the airstream with the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Would you work on a lateral lisp in a 3-year-old? How? Most therapists would not treat a lateral lisp in a 3-year-old, but one could, and some do. Use the “Long T Method” and make it playful. Hold one end of a straw in front of the central teeth and have the child make a T. The airstream should go into the straw and amplify. Now make it “longer” — aspirate it. It won’t sound like “S” but it…
By Pam Marshalla
For readers seeking more information about orofacial myology, there is a new blog which I highly recommend. Link here!
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My preschool client backed all lingua-alveolars until I taught him D. But not — it is distorted (his tongue looks funny) and the other sounds aren’t coming. Help! Most kids with a restricting lingua frenum use what the elocutionists used to call “thick speech” meaning that it was speech produced without the tongue bowled. The tongue was humping, bulging, or what the researchers today would call arching upward. This is probably what your client is now doing on D,…
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…
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…
