By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am working with an adult who wants to reduce his accent. Do you have any material on this? I am not an expert in working with accents, although I have always had a secret desire to specialize in it. My professors called this “Dialect Reduction” but modern therapists call it “Code Switching.” The continuing ed classes on dialect reduction I have taken in recent years and the old books on elocution that I have read both indicate that…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can a clipped frenulum grow back? I have a student with a hearted-shaped tongue and a restricted frenulum but his mom said it was clipped at 9 months of age. As far as I know, it won’t grow back — however a lot of scar tissue can develop, and some people might need to have the procedure done twice.
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a student with a frontal lisp and an anterior open bite. Can you suggest compensatory strategies to help him? If he is going to get his teeth fixed I might wait to do anything until after he teeth are fixed. If he is not going to get his teeth fixed, then the compensation simply involves getting him to produce the best sibilants he can given his dental structure. He needs to stabilize the tongue at the back-lateral…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I work in a school and I have an autistic student 4;0 with limited verbalizations. She also sees a private therapist who keeps telling the parents that my methodology isn’t right, and that is why the girl isn’t making progress. She says that apraxia therapy has to be done a certain way. The child actually is making progress but limited, and the parents are saying that the progress is due to the child’s own development and not because of…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client is 4;0 and has a combined frontal and lateral lisp. I have not taken any of your classes or read any of your books. Any suggestions as to how to proceed with treatment? I have written volumes on this topic and it is somewhat difficult to describe in a quick QA. But I will do my best. The short and sweet answer to this question as I see it is as follows (and if you have not…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client is 4;0 with a frontal lisp with a very small mandible (underbite) and chronic upper respiratory problems––congestion, nasal drip, mouth breathing, snoring, etc. He cannot breath through his nose. Do you think he is capable of learning to keep his tongue in for the sibilants given his underbite? Yours is a very common question for which we have no clear answers. In all likelihood both the under-bite and the upper respiratory problems are contributing to his speech…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a client who has what you call an “Omni Lisp” meaning that there is no central groove at all and the air comes out the entire front of the mouth from L to R. It sounds lateral because some of the sound is. I have tried your “Long T Method” with this client but it doesn’t seem to be as effective. Have you listened to his T through the straw? I will bet it sounds flat and…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client lowers the jaw too much when he speaks, and he has a frontal lisp. He tends to clench the jaw when I tell him to hold the jaw up. I may have taught him this when using a bite stick to position the jaw. Not sure what to do now. As you have discovered, making a strong crushing bite on a firm object is not what he needs. The term “jaw stability” does not mean “jaw rigidity.”…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am faced with cutting my caseload down considerably due to budget cuts. We will see the more severe kids a max of one time per week, and that’s fine. However, we are being asked to cut the mild kids more, and even eliminate them from our caseloads. Do you have any ideas? Many therapists are facing this today. Here is a brainstorm I had that may get you thinking outside the box. The idea is to use four…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can you recommend any good references for feeding therapy? The absolute must-read best resource on feeding therapy is–– Morris, S. E., & Klein, M. D. (2000, 1987). Pre-Feeding Skills: A Comprehensive Resource for Mealtime Development. Austin: Pro-Ed. Also, Talk Tools International puts on good feeding seminars.
