By Pam Marshalla
Q: In your seminar on apraxia and dysarthria, you talked about how vowels (V) are more important to remediate than consonants (C) in children with very low language and severe motor speech disorders. Do you recommend the same thing for children who simply seem to be “late talkers”? Should I model the vowel instead of the consonant to obtain the words I am stimulating? With kids who just look like “late talkers”, I would model both the C and the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a fourth grade student who has trouble with the vowelized “L” sound. She can produce final “L” when paired with a high front vowel but not when paired with a low back vowel. Do you have any suggestions for helping her learn how to lower the back of her tongue in order to produce these sounds correctly? Your client can say /l/, but just does not know how to transition from every vowel position to the /l/…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My twin clients have been in therapy for a long time and now can produce all the consonants except /r/ and /s/ in clusters. However, vowels sounds are still inconsistent and their speech is choppy and “staccato-like.” Intelligibility is low. First, kids learn vowels best in isolation, not embedded in the middle of words. Second, choppy and staccato-like rhythm pattern usually is related to diphthongs that are not fully developed. Listen carefully to the diphthongs. You can use the…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am a speech-language pathologist at a children’s hospital. I have a boy that I see for therapy who is severely (whole body) apraxic. He has been coming to therapy for years at this hospital and has been through multiple therapists. He is intelligible and we are currently working on /l/ and /l/-blends. He substitutes n/l. I feel like he has reached a plateau. He also receives therapy in school. He has most sounds except vowels, diphthongs, some blends,…
