Intelligibility Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Marshalla Speech & Language

Tag: Intelligibility

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…

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…

Sloppy Speech

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My preschool client can produce all the consonants and vowels, but his speech is somewhat unintelligible at times. I seem to be working on just general enunciation. Is this correct? Should I be doing more? Yes! You are on the right track. Teach him to enunciate. This is the essence of therapy at this level, and it applies to all clients of all ages and ability levels. This is part of what I call “Lessons from the Elocutionists”. Teach…

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…

Frontal Lisp, Tongue Thrust, Ankyloglossia, Low Tone, and Tactile Defensive Behavior

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I have a 5-year-old client who has a tongue thrust on all the sibilants. She also has ankyloglossia, and is low in tone around her mouth and lips. She has a tonic bite reflex and holds her cheeks very tightly when I brush her teeth. She has sensory issues and is very uncomfortable (although cooperative) during teeth brushing. She tends to have an open mouth position and her lips are oftentimes wet. None of this affects her speech intelligibility….

Prosody Goals

By Pam Marshalla

Q: I’m wondering what kind of goals you would write for targeting prosody. How do I make it measurable? Prosody entails projection, rate, rhythm, stress, pause, pitch, intonation, and cadence. I would write separate goals for each area impacted. In terms of measuring success before and after, I would take measures where possible. For example, I might count the number of words the client speaks per minute and compare that to the old norms. Where measures like that are not…

Cerebral Palsy and Intelligibility

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My 12-year-old grandson has cerebral palsy. He understands everything at age level but he is very hard to understand. He is getting very little speech help. How can we help him at home? Expressive speech is divided into Consonants, Vowels, Syllables, and Intonation Patterns. Most SLP’s focus on Consonants. I would suggest that you focus on Vowels, Syllables and Inflection instead. In other words, have your grandson practice important words, and instead of focusing on getting the consonants correct,…

Lateral Lisp and Dysarthria

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My client had a stroke when he was a baby, and he has both slurred speech and a lateral lisp. Do you think he can learn to develop a central groove for the sibilants? Only time will tell. In the meantime, focus your therapy less on individual phonemes and more on improving intelligibility by helping him learn to speak up, speak out, and over-exaggerate. Exaggeration is the method recommended most often for clients with dysarthria.

Preschool Plateaus

By Pam Marshalla

Q: My daughter is almost 4 and her speech is rarely understood by anyone outside of our family. While my daughter absolutely loves her therapist and has made some progress, she has been stuck at a plateau for a while. My daughter is very bright and has a high level of understanding and of vocabulary. However, she never says her word endings, many letters are omitted, she talks in a very rapid rate, S is always slurred, and she can’t…