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Tag: Dysarthria

The King’s Speech was Dysarthric, Too

By Pam Marshalla

This opinion paper was originally posted as a downloadable PDF on my website, authored on April 29th, 2011. Download the original PDF here. *** The King’s Speech was Dysarthric, Too An analysis of treatment procedures reveals that fluency was not the only issue Discussions of the Oscar winning movie, The King’s Speech, have focused on the problem of stuttering and its impact on communication. This certainly has been a boon to our profession and a help to public understanding of this…

Pencil Talking (for Connected Speech)

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a 9-year-old boy on my caseload who may have a mild dysarthria. He passes an articulation test but his connected speech is unintelligible. I’ve read all your posts that relate to this, and I understand the goals of elocution to target. Do you have a format that works best for teaching elocution? Should I start with lists of sentences, children’s poetry, or do you have another route or format to suggest? Great question! The absolute best way…

Reading Programs for Apraxia and Dysarthria

By Pam Marshalla

Q: What reading programs do you use with children who have apraxia or dysarthria? I do not teach reading. It is my opinion that the SLP has no business teaching kids to read. We are speech-language pathologists, not reading specialists. I’m sorry to disappoint. I do not go along with things just because they are popular points of view. In my opinion it is unethical for SLP’s to be teaching reading. Therefore I do not keep up with reading programs….

References and Advice for Apraxia and Dysarthria

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Do you have any advice on working on reading with a six-year-old child with severe apraxia and dysarthria? This child is having many difficulties with phonological and phonemic awareness and is struggling in all academic areas. Are there any reading programs that you know of that would help? I am already working on phonological awareness skills with her. First, if he is struggling in “all academic areas” there is more wrong than just apraxia and dysarthria. Apraxia and dysarthria…

Mumbling

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a 4th grade student who has trouble saying multi-syllable words in conversations. Do you have any suggestions for working with a student like him who doesn’t have any specific phoneme errors? Charles Van Riper called these clients “clumsy-mouthed individuals.” In my opinion, this is mild dysarthria. The key to treatment at this level is to teach the client to over-pronounce while he learns to self-monitor. Teach him how to do the following: Speak up Speak out Punch…

Goldenhar Syndrome and Reduced Tongue Movement

By Pam Marshalla

Q: Is oral-motor therapy beneficial in treating a child with Goldenhar syndrome with one-sided facial weakness? If you are asking for “proof” of this, no. But your question reveals perhaps a limited understanding about what the term “oral-motor therapy” means. Let me explain… Speech is movement, and whenever part of the speech movement mechanism is impaired, then therapy needs to address that movement impairment. The term “oral-motor techniques” simply refers to any of the myriad ways in which we facilitate…

Persistent Unintelligibility

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a 3rd grader I have worked with since the age of 3. He has worked on a wide variety of phonemes through the years. I am ready to dismiss because I have been unable to make a difference recently. I have used all tricks in the book, yet his tongue still moves very poorly. Without full mobility of the tongue, I am beside myself. He speaks fast and is a smart boy however he is persistently unintelligible…

Attaining and Maintaining Intelligibility with Dysarthria

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a ten-year-old client who is very hard to understand, although he has no specific phoneme errors. We’ve started doing a pacing board which is helpful. I know that oral-motor exercises are taboo these days, but I feel in some way I have to address motor weakness. The greatest and most effective technique for dysarthria is EXAGGERATION of speech. This is spoken of in virtually all books on traditional articulation therapy and more modern texts on motor speech…

Initial /h/

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a 1st grade student with moderate to severe apraxia who can make the /h/ sound in isolation but cannot co-articulate it. I’ve written the letter /h/ on an index card, and a vowel on another card. I have had him touch the H card and make /h/, and then touch the vowel card and make it. And we have increased the speed as we go but he ends up dropping the /h/ every time. Is there another…

Down Syndrome

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My son has Down syndrome and possible apraxia. Can you give me advice about this? Many therapists today are labeling children with Down syndrome as apraxia, but this is an incorrect diagnosis. The expressive speech and language problems of children with Down syndrome are the result of dysarthria and cognitive deficit. Dysarthria “A generic label for a group of motor speech disorders caused by weakness, paralysis, slowness, incoordination, or sensory loss in the muscle groups responsible for speech” Brookshire, R. H….