This advice-column-style blog for SLPs was authored by Pam Marshalla from 2006 to 2015, the archives of which can be explored here. Use the extensive keywords list found in the right-hand column (on mobile: at the bottom of the page) to browse specific topics, or use the search feature to locate specific words or phrases throughout the entire blog.
Robotic Speech
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 7-year-old male client has a robotic speech presentation that interferes with intelligibility. He has low tone in the trunk and poor breath support. Do you have suggestions?
Usually a robotic voice makes an unintelligible child more intelligible. So maybe your client is using the robotic presentation to help him be more intelligible. In other words, maybe he knows (unconsciously) that when he speaks with equal stress on each syllable more people can understand him more often. He may be using the robotic presentation as a strategy to boost his intelligibility.
If so, I would not want to take the robotic presentation away from him. Instead I would teach him to use slightly more variety of intonation on the monotone. Maybe this should this be considered a fluency case?
I observed a Kindergarten student today that has robotic speech. He also has strange inflection (goes up on last word) and then down at the end of the word and adds a syllable to the end of the last word in the sentence. He uses the same pattern on most every sentence. He did not demonstrate articulation errors and sentence structure and semantics appear to be intact. He communicates with peer/adults, but does not transition with new adults. He is above grade level in letter naming, counting, has good fine motor skills, but gross motor skills are slightly affected. Do you interventions that I can work on this that I can give the teacher to address this.