By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have an elementary client who figured out how to say R all by herself, but she shifts her jaw to one side to accomplish it. I have tried to get her to stop lateralizing the jaw, but then she can’t produce R. Should I worry about this? I would not try to take her away from what she has achieved on her own. She is proud of it! Instead, let her keep producing the R with the jaw…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have an adult Chinese student with /r/ and /l/ problems. She produces these phonemes with additional sounds I cannot describe in words. Can you give me any tips in correcting them? I think your best method for correcting this would be to have her say the sounds enough times that you will be able to imitate them exactly. Then model for her what she is doing and help her hear what she is doing wrong. And then help…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My adult daughter needs help with her R. Is this something you can do with her by way of this Blog? Therapy to remediate an incorrect R is like voice training: It cannot be done on paper or in a QA format like this. Your daughter needs to find a live therapist with whom she can work, either together in an office or via live on-line video chatting. Either should work okay if the therapist knows what he/she is…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My student can do R in all words and in all positions, but he prolongs it. Do I need to teach him NOT to do this? I would teach it to him if it did not go away by itself within a reasonable period of time. I am not sure what that reasonable period of time is, but I would be willing to give him 6 months to a year to straighten this out. I probably would give him…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My student can do R in all words and in all positions, but he prolongs it. Do I need to teach him NOT to do this? I would teach it to him if it did not go away by itself within a reasonable period of time. I am not sure what that reasonable period of time is, but I would be willing to give him 6 months to a year to straighten this out. I probably would give him…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client can say “Er” in words like “flower” when we split the syllables apart: “Flow—er.” But he cannot say it in words like “Bird” or “Shirt.” What can we do? You will notice that you have split “flower” in to syllables like this: “Flow—-Er.” This means that although your client can say “Er,” he cannot sequence from the C to “Er.” We don’t say, “Flow—er.” We say, “Flah—wer.” The /r/ occurs in a CVC, and this requires better…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client can produce R in all kinds of words, but he still sounds funny on words like “Player” and “Hour.” Can you help with this? I have not heard your client, of course, but the word examples you gave make me think that he may be having trouble with R after diphthongs. Phoneticians tell us that the presence of a diphthong actually causes a glide to be inserted, and your client may not be doing that. This is…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a college student and am doing a group report. We would like to discuss your “L-to-R Slide” technique. In order to do that we need an article that discusses it. Can you guide me to one? Before I answer your question, let me pose a philosophical question to you and to my broader reading audience: Why are individual articles that summarize one single study always considered superior to the writings of master clinicians who write practical manuals…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I struggle with kids who are able to get initial but who cannot do final R. Is there some magic I can do here? There is no magic; but I know three solid ways to go about this. We can: (1) Use the syllable, (2) Pair words together, and (3) Abstract R out of a correct word. I find the first method to be the easiest, and I shall explain it here. Get the Syllable If your child can…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Can you give me ideas about how to help a boy who is making R out his nose? He has no other velopharyngeal problems. This is what I do: Use a tube that stretches from the child’s mouth to his ear. Teach him to listen to the oral sound of several vowels. Then stretch the tube from his nose to his ear. Teach him to hear the nasal sound that emerges when he says M, N, and Ng. Then…
