By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a graduate student and I am writing a paper on the efficacy of oral motor exercises in children with articulation difficulties. Having attended a seminar of yours, I am wondering if there are researchers you could point me to who have used EBP in their research. Please see the articles we have published on the Oral Motor Institute website. OMI home page List of published articles
By Pam Marshalla
Q: How do you teach a child to blow his nose? This has worked for me a few times- Teach them to pant in-and-out though the mouth. Then teach them how to sniff in and out through the nose. Once they can get the air moving in and out through the nose, teach them to push breathe more deeply with each sniff in and out. Gradually put more emphasis on the outgoing air. Gradually make the outward sniff a blow…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: When I try to use a tongue depressor or any other tool in my client’s mouth, he backs off right away and says, “It hurts.” He does this even before I use the tool to touch his mouth or do anything. I don’t think he’s hypersensitive. I think he’s refusing just to refuse. He is four-years-old and I am trying to elicit a K and a G. I think you are right. A little guy like that may use…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My teen client has low tone, mild articulation problems, problems with intelligibility, and imprecision of articulation (interdental lingua-alveolars, F/Th, and distorted R). He has a slack jaw and forward tongue posture at rest. His tongue appears flaccid. Cognitive skills are okay. I went to your class called 21st Century Articulation Therapy and am trying to figure out which methods to use to address low tone in speech. Also what should I do about the tongue thrust? In terms of…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I still cannot seem to explain to colleagues the difference between articulation, oral motor, and phonology. Can you help me one more time? This is the line of thinking I use. It may help you explain these ideas to others–– Movements are used to make phonemes. Phonemes are used to make syllables. Syllables are used to make words. Words are used to make phrases. Phrases are used to make sentences. Sentences are used to make paragraphs. Words, phrases, sentences,…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: At what age should a child be able to blow bubbles or a horn? My two-year-old client, who I suspect has apraxia, cannot blow and he is very hard to understand. We have no data on when children should be able to blow bubbles or a horn. However, I have been observing the blowing skills of young children for 40 years. I have observed scores of children trying to blow out their birthday candles and my experiences can be summarized…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: You said something in a class recently that I did not write down, and I wish I had. It was about the relationships between oral motor, phonemes, and phonology in therapy. Can you repeat it here? I think you are referring to this statement: Movements create the phonemes that are used in phonological patterns to express the language for use in conversation and literacy.
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I heard you say that Van Riper was your greatest hero of all time in the profession, but then you said you had others that you didn’t mention. Who else do you admire in the field? What an interesting question! Okay, here are the people that have been the most influential to me, presented in categories that are the most important to my work. Articulation The one-and-only Charles Van Riper wins this top place of honor because he is…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I still don’t get how to explain the difference between “articulation” and “phonology” and “oral motor.” Can you take a run at that again? I think my last answer to this was way too involved. Here is the short and sweet of it using phoneme M as an example in a very simplified way: Articulation ARTICULATION concerns the mechanics of sound production: The position assumed by the jaw, lips, tongue, and velum during production of a phoneme. For example, the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client backs every lingua-alveolar phoneme. He can do a rudimentary L once in a while, but he substitutes k/t, g/d, and ng/n all the time. What can I do? You probably are trying to get your client to elevate the tongue-tip to learn T, D, N, and L. This is to assume that the child can be taught to produce these sounds in the adult form. You have to revert back to teaching your client how to produce…
