By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 3-year-old son drools a lot. He had his tonsils and adenoids taken out recently. How can I get him to stop drooling? Kids drool a lot during the birth-to-three time frame. It’s very hard to say if this is a problem or not at this point, unless he has other significant developmental delays. Kids who drool too much do not swallow often enough. They also don’t keep their mouth closed when they shouldn’t have it open. Your child…
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: How often should a young child (2-4 years of age) with apraxia or dysarthria receive speech-language therapy services? I have a baseline that all my clients with motor speech disorders have to meet. They must attend once per week for one hour at a minimum. Twice per week is very nice. Three times per week is a complete luxury. More than that is unnecessary because these children do not change very fast. Children with motor speech disorders take a…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Our son is three and was non-verbal. Our SLP seems really good at helping him learn to talk. But he is very hard to understand. What can we do? The essence of speech therapy for little children is to learn about words and sounds. We need to focus on both when working with young children. Many of today’s younger therapists put all their focus on building vocabulary, and they spend very little time focused on the actual production of…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am working with a 2 year old who is exhibiting labial, alveolar and velar assimilation. For example, gog for dog, pup for cup, pomb for comb, and bum for gum. He produces all of the phonemes correctly in isolation and in syllables. Receptive language skills are age appropriate. Where do I start to correct this? I’ve been with him for 6 weeks. I am discovering through my reading that assimilation usually resolves around 3 years of age. His…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 3-year-old client with cerebral palsy continues to have so much saliva when he speaks. I am seeking information about how to address all the saliva and bubbles that he produces during speech. The key is to help your client: Suction and swallow more often during everyday activities Suction and swallow with greater efficiency Maintain lip closure during oral rest The real help is found by doing oral-motor and feeding work. Medications or surgery sometimes are necessary in severe cases….
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My preschool client with apparent childhood apraxia is not willing to participate and often walks away from or gets annoyed with therapy plans and procedures. What should I do? He sounds like most of the kids on my caseload. Childhood apraxia comes with its pure stubbornness at times. But I don’t think that “behavior” itself is always the issue. There is a reason for the stubborn behavior. What I usually see with preschool kids like this is that they…
