By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a student with a lateral lisp whose does not have proper jaw alignment. The jaw at rest and during speech is moved over to the right. My thoughts are that the misalignment of the jaw is causing lateralization of the sibilants. Is this correct? What are your thoughts? You are right. The jaw has to be in a stable midline position to produce a correct midline sibilant. I divide lateral lisps into several categories according to whether…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a client with a unilateral lisp. I have noted symmetrical facial posture at rest and non-speech tasks. However he exhibits a unilateral retraction of his cheek that corresponds to his lateralization. I realize that lateralized productions reflect the tongue position more than the cheek position, but I am trying to determine what is happening inside the mouth during these times. How do I tell what he is doing with his tongue? As you have rightly surmised, cheek…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a three-year-old girl who does not make a /w/ and so far I’ve been unsuccessful at changing that! She can do bilabial sounds /m, b, p/ and can close her lips fine to “kiss” or make fish lips and smack her lips. I’ve been trying to approximate the /w/ by having her combine “oo” and “uh” but she stops the airflow in between so the /w/ is never heard! Are there any airflow tricks I can use…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a student I’ve worked with for a few years and she has several problems. I have tried everything I know, and nothing seems to help. She cannot say R, J, Sh, or Ch. She has difficulty with exhalation (i.e. she cannot blow out a candle) and therefore her speech is very quiet. She cannot even yell very loud. I’ve done some oral motor therapy (horn blowing hierarchy) and other things to address this, but it has not…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I work with a first grade student with multiple articulation errors. He inserts /t/ after /s/ and /sh/ words. For example he says “stay” for “say” and “shtirt” for “shirt.” We’ve slowed the production down to the point of an actual pause between the /s/ and the proceeding vowel and he is 100% accurate. But how do we speed up the motor movement while keeping the production accurate? I have found that the insertion of /t/ before or after…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I was at your Improving Intelligibility workshop this winter. On your handout, in regard to teaching voicelessness, you write: “Teach popping with p, t, k.” I did not write anything down and as I look back over the material I have no idea what “popping” is or how to teach it. Help! Ah yes, “Popping” is a term I made up. Let me explain… When children first learn [p], [t] and [k], they do so with productions that are…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have just picked up a young man of 14 years with a moderate degree of learning difficulties and a range of speech difficulties. He is in special school but has received very little direct therapy. He has a particularly hyponasal quality, and some hypernasality too. Would you view this as a priority? He is interested in singing and has been unmotivated by therapy, possibly due to its repetitive nature. He wondered if this might be a way to…
