By Pam Marshalla
Q: My preschool client has no fricatives or affricates. Do you have advice for getting them started? The fricatives and affricates emerge out of the pre-speech raspberries. I would start there. The raspberries are made both with and without voice and in many places of articulation–– bi-labial, lingua-labial, lingua-velar, and nasal snort. I have my clients makes them big and sloppy at first. Then I teach them to make the soft and gentle. When I move on to the fricated…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My four-year-old client substitutes E for final Er, as in teachee/teacher. Have you seen this before? Should I be extra worried about it? To me this is just another minor problem with R. Nothing special just not very common — kids screw up R in more ways than are imaginable! The kids I have seen like this correct their errors easily. Most of their families thought the error was very cute and were sad to see it go!
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client makes many vowel errors. Can you give me some advice about teaching them? Teaching the vowels is mostly about ear training during the production of prolonged single vowels. Don’t try to teach them within the context of words. That is way too hard. Recent research (1,2) suggests that the vowels are easier to learn relative to one another instead of one-at-a-time. Therefore work on all of them and not only the few your client needs to learn….
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Is epenthesis (adding a schwa to the end of words) a concern in a child who is close to 10 years old? It affects his social interaction. If so, how would you target this? I always see epenthesis as a normal developmental process, however ten is pretty old to still be using it and, since you said it is interfering with social communication, then it is worth targeting. If I want to get rid of it I literally spell…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have been working with a child for a year and a half and R has been very resistant to improvement. I just stumbled upon a good R in STRI-words like “strike”, “stripe”. Yet he has problems doing what you call “lerring” [sliding back-and-forth between L and R]. Why do you think this is? R can be a grand mystery and you never know what pattern will cause it to sound right. Just go with whatever works. It could…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I received a referral for a 15-month-old diagnosed by a private SLP with apraxia. The child has excellent receptive language and produces 10-15 words. I was told that the child was an “automatic qualifier” coming in with the diagnosis of apraxia. I have huge reservations with this and do not feel as if the diagnosis was made appropriately in just in one session and not over time. There are no indications of motor difficulties elsewhere. Am I out in…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My 10-year-old student with a profound hearing loss and a recent cochlear implant cannot produce any back sounds. We have tried all of the elicitation techniques (tongue depressors, lying on back, gargling) which usually result in her using a glottal plosive instead. Do you have any other suggestions? I am not sure what you mean by “all of the elicitation techniques.” You mention using a tongue depressor, but you do not say HOW you used it. It’s all about…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My male client is five years of age. He has developmental artic errors and slurred speech. He also add a schwa at the ends of words: “Baby” is “baby-uh” and “Sand” is “Sand-uh.” What would account for this and how would you address this kind of speech sound error? Developmental errors are normal in a five year old but slurred speech is not. Something is going on. This sounds like mild dysarthria. I see the addition of the schwa…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Do you have any tips for promoting good /r/ and /l/ in toddlers? Not to correct the phonemes directly, but to set the child up for future success by doing certain oral activities? Most would agree that we do not have to correct R and L in toddlers, but the idea that we can set them on the right development path is right on. This is what I do to set a child on the right developmental path for…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client cannot produce some of the short vowels and I am having a terrible time teaching them to him. He cannot get his tongue in the right positions. Any suggestions? The problem we have teaching the vowels is that most of us have been training to think that it is all about tongue position. Tongue position is important when adults differentiate their vowels. But when children are learning all the vowels in infancy, it is the jaw that…
