Super Star Speech

If you are looking for more information about speech and language development and disorders, you may want to visit speech-language-development.com.  I just spent a good bit of time this afternoon reading through the articles and think this is a resource that many parents will want to visit. Topics, many of which are in question-and-answer format,  include stuttering, articulation, language development, literacy, and more.

One of the best activities you can do with your children to encourage  language acquisition is reading together. I started reading to my children when they were two or three months old. The first books we read were bright and colorful board books with a single word or short sentence per page. We soon progressed to books of nursery rhymes and books that were illustrated songs. Although my babies didn’t understand the words at first, they enjoyed the bright pictures, the rhythm of the words, rhymes, and songs, and the cuddling with Mommy. Story time became a treasured part of the day for both of us.

Most parents know that reading to their children is very important. But did you know that reading straight through the book from beginning to end is not always the very best way to stimulate your child’s language skills? Studies have shown that when children are engaged more actively in reading, their vocabulary, comprehension, and language expression are greatly improved.  Here are some ideas for new ways to read a book:

1. Point to pictures and name them. Ask your child to name the pictures. Action words and adjectives can be labeled as well. You could ask, “Can you find an animal that is tall?” or “What is that girl doing?”

2. After you read a page, ask questions about the story. The simplest questions are factual ones…”Who said…?” “What happened…?”  More difficult are “why” questions.

3. Ask, “What do you think will happen next?”

4. Have your child retell the story after you finish reading it (narration).

5. Have your child tell you the story by looking at the pictures. Or the two of you alternate pages, making up a story to go with the pictures.

6. Interrupt your reading occasionally to comment on the story or setting or to explain a concept or define a word.

7. Read expressively!

8. Rhymes and songs are wonderful for language development–even if you can’t carry a tune!

Most importantly, keep reading fun! Use these suggestions to enhance your storytime, not to turn it into a lesson. Enjoy the time spent with your child. Snuggling up on the couch and reading together has always been one of my favorite ways to spend time with my children.

I am proud to announce that Super Star Speech was awarded the “Favorite Special Needs Product” of 2009/2010 by the The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew!  It was fun and rewarding to have my books reviewed by the “Crew.” Links to all the reviews are posted here.

This review was written by Bekah H. from the The Old Schoolhouse Crew:

A few years ago, when considering placement for my speech impaired son, I did a small Google search for giving your children speech therapy in the home.  I didn’t come up with anything helpful.  In retrospect, it’s a good thing I didn’t go this route with the child in question, because his speech issues turned out to be more than I could have handled myself.  Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I would be reviewing Super Star Speech, a set of speech therapy books created so that parents of children with minor speech articulation errors can help their children in the comfort (and low cost) of their homes.

Deborah Lott is the author of Super Star Speech.  She is also a licensed speech language pathologist and holds a Master’s degree in education/speech pathology.  Ms. Lott currently works part-time as a speech therapist and has homeschooled her 4 children for the past 16 years.

I love how Ms. Lott describes a need for speech therapy:

“Errors are a normal part of speech development and many children do not have perfect articulation until around 7 or 8 years of age.  However, there are milestones that children should be making in their progress toward “adult speech.” Children who do not meet these milestones are at high risk for not developing correct speech on their own and may also experience frustration with or embarrassment about their speech.“

- Taken from the Super Star Speech website

Our Family Experience
Before I tell you more about Super Star Speech, I want to share a bit about our own speech experience.  Our daughter began babbling and speaking at the normal estimated age for a baby/toddler, and she’s been speaking non-stop ever since.

Our next child, a boy (I’ll call him “C” here), also began speaking at a normal age.  But as he grew, C’s speech didn’t become any easier to understand.  In fact, his conversation was made more difficult to understand by the fact that his vocabulary was growing and his sentences were becoming longer.  C was analyzed by a speech pathologist at the age of 3 1/2 and therapy was recommended.  Getting him placed in the school district’s speech program took another several months, and he’s been in speech therapy since that time.  He’s nearly 6 now, and still has moderate to severe speech articulation errors.  C has seen 3 different speech pathologists (switches were made due to a move and different therapists being assigned to different aged children).  He’s made the most progress with his current pathologist, who offers private therapy out of her home.  Unfortunately, that therapist will soon be switching to a company employed job, and we’ll be looking for another therapist yet again.

Currently, C sees his speech therapist once a week for an hour-long session.  I also work at home with him for 15 to 20 minutes each day.  He’s made some great strides, but many days progress feels very slow.  C is still occasionally made fun of by other kids because of how he talks.  And I’ve found that teaching him to read holds some challenges.  He’s picked up on reading very rapidly, but because many of his sounds still sound so similar, I can’t always tell if he’s assigning the correct sound to a letter.  We trust that someday C will pronounce all his sounds correctly and continue to push ahead.  Super Star Speech was not designed for children like C, who have moderate or severe speech issues.  Ms. Lott recommends that these children be placed under the guidance of a licensed speech pathologist.

We have a third child, A, who’s 4.  A makes some common speech articulation errors, but these errors are not outside the “normal” range for his age.  Since it wouldn’t hurt to work on key sounds with him (and since he frequently asked why he can’t have a speech class like his big brother), I decided to try out Super Star Speech with A.  He was very excited to begin!

What I Got
Ms. Lott offers an array of books on her website.  These are the ones I chose to review:

• Super Star Speech: Therapy Made Simple – Ring-bound: $22.95; Spiral Bound: $18.95; e-book: $12.95

• Super Star R and L – Spiral Bound: $18.95; e-book: $12.95

• Super Star S, Z, and SH – Spiral Bound: $18.95; e-book: $12.95

• Super Star Ch, J, and Th – e-book only: $12.95

I personally feel that the e-book format is the best choice for these books.  After downloading my e-books, I printed everything and placed the pages in a large 3-ring binder with dividers separating each book.  Having the originals on the computer made it easy to reprint consumable worksheets and games.  I also printed certain word picture cards on colored card stock to use as memory game cards.

How We Used It
One of the most valuable components of this series (found in Super Star Speech: Therapy Made Simple) is the articulation test.  Giving this “test” is fun and easy.  The child is shown a series of pictures.  One at a time, the child is to name the object in the picture.  The correct label is written underneath each picture to ensure that your child says the appropriate word.  For example, when A saw a picture of a dog and said, “puppy” I asked him to say the word that we use for adult puppies.  At other times A wasn’t sure what word he was supposed to say (such as “thimble”).  If he didn’t recognize the picture, I simply told him the word and he repeated it back to me.  The left side of each picture card has a letter or letter grouping telling the teacher which sound to listen for.  The teacher has an articulation test response sheet to mark whether and how the student says each sound (Ms. Lott explains what to listen for and how to fill out the form).  Once the test is completed you’ll have a good idea of problem areas for your child.  The response sheet also states by what age a child has usually mastered each sound, so its easy to see whether your child’s articulation errors are age appropriate.  I learned that A’s trouble spots (“th” and “r” are the main ones) are still considered “normal” errors to have at age 4.  Still, A was excited to begin, and an early start sounded like a good thing for him.

After you know which articulation errors your child has, Ms. Lott suggests formulating a therapy plan.  She walks you through this process and answers common questions, such as how long a typical therapy session should last.  She also gives a sample lesson plan for a hypothetical student and provides blank lesson plan sheets that can be used for your own child.  I found it helpful to write a plan for each day, record how many times A said his sound correctly (and how many incorrectly) during lesson time, and make notes at the bottom.  These sheets have helped me to see A’s progress.  We start each lesson by A saying a list of words while I record his successes and mispronunciations.  Then we move onto a game of some sort (each Super Star book offers a variety) to help practice correct pronunciation while having fun.  Usually these lessons only take 15 or 20 minutes, and A enjoys the special 1-on-1 time with me.

My Thoughts
I think the Super Star Speech books are a great resource.  Obviously, you can’t beat the price for private speech therapy!  And it’s so nice to have an at-home option.  Ms. Lott does a great job of explaining everything and walking parents through the speech therapy process.  One of my favorite things about Super Star Speech is that it’s a family collaboration.  While Ms. Lott has written all the text, a daughter made the cute pen and ink illustrations, and another daughter designed the covers.  Ms. Lott’s younger two children sometimes help with book assembly.  I just love seeing families working together in a business!

I noticed that some of the therapy games in these books require simple reading and writing skills.  At first I found this odd, but as I thought about it, it made perfect sense.  There are plenty of fun games for the younger set, but many of the children using this program will be 7, 8, or above.  Having games that utilize their age level skills will help ensure that they don’t feel lessons are babyish.

I would strongly encourage anyone looking to help their child with a mild speech articulation issue to consider the Super Star Speech books.

Does your child have trouble producing the K and G sounds? The K and G sounds should be mastered by age 3 1/2.  Typically, a child who has trouble with /k/ and /g/ will substitute the /t/ and /d/ sounds, respectively. He is attempting to product the sounds with the tongue tip instead of the back of the tongue. These are fairly common speech sound errors, but a child who has these sound substitutions can be very difficult to understand.

Here are some suggestions to help you teach these sounds to your child.

To produce /k/ and /g/,  the back part of the tongue is raised and pressed against the roof of the mouth (soft palate), stopping all airflow. The  tongue tip is lowered. The tongue then drops, allowing the air that has been held behind the tongue to escape suddenly. The /k/ is voiceless, produced by airflow. The /g/ is produced with the voice “on.”

Tips:
1. Demonstrate the sound in front of a mirror. Use a spoon or popsicle stick to touch the back of the tongue and the soft palate or roof of the mouth to help the child feel how the sound is made. (Be cautious about triggering the gag reflex as you do this.) Have the child put his hand, paper, or a feather close to the lips to feel or see the puffs of air.
2. Help the child identify the part of the tongue to be raised by pressing downward on the back of the tongue with a spoon  while the child tries to push upward against the spoon.
3. Have the child attempt to say /t/ while you hold the tongue tip down.
4. Play listening games to help the child practice discriminating between /t/ and /k/ or between /d/ and /g/. (“Is this a dog?” “Is this a gog?”)
5. Exaggerate the target sound when modeling it.

Have your child practice making /k/ and /g/ in isolation until he can easily produce the sounds. Then practice words that begin with these sounds. When this is easy for the child, have him practice words with /k/ and /g/ in the middle and at the ends of words. Only when the child can produce the error sounds correctly in words, should you require him to correctly produce the sounds in sentences.

The /k/ and /g/ sounds can be difficult for children to master. If your child continues to have difficulty, it is advisable to consult with a speech pathologist for additional help.

Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple includes more tips and instructions, word lists, picture cards and practice activities to help parents teach /k/ and /g/, as well as most other speech sounds to their children.

Laura, from Outnumbered Mom, interviewed me on her blog, asking about my background, my books, and speech and language disorders. Visit her blog to read the interview and to find lots of encouragement for moms through her other posts.

Thanks, Laura!

Babies don’t talk. You don’t have to worry about speech for the first year or two, right? WRONG!

No, babies aren’t born with any language skills and it will be about a year before the baby actually says his first word, but the language learning process begins at birth. The foundations in speech and language you give your child from his or her first weeks will affect his development for years to come. Babies are constantly listening, watching and learning to interact with others. At three to six months, they begin to experiment with sounds and back-and-forth interaction with their caretakers in preparation for the real language that will be emerging at around a year.

Here are a few things a parent can do to encourage speech and language development:

-Interact with your baby a lot. Talk, coo, and babble at him. Make happy or silly faces at him and watch how he reacts.

-When your baby starts to coo or babble, imitate him. See if you can get a “conversation” going by taking turns making sounds.

-Any talking to your baby or toddler is great, but the best way to encourage language growth is to make your sentences just a little more complicated than his are. If baby points and says, “ball,” you might say, “Yes, big ball,”  That will give him a speech model to grow towards. When you speak in very long, adult sentences, it is just too much for him to take in.

When your child wants something, model the appropriate words to him. “Juice, please.” “Want up?”  If he is able, require him to say the words. Don’t respond to grunts and pointing if your child is capable of more.

Read,  read, read to him! Reading the book as it is written is great, but some of the time, you might just talk about the pictures, or name the pictures and see if he can imitate you.  As he grows older, talk about the story and pictures with him.

Recite nursery rhymes and sing with your child.  You can even make up little rhymes and songs about your daily activities—buckling up in the car, changing a diaper, and so on. The rhyming and repetition is great language stimulation and fun for the child as well.

Play pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo games with your child. Again—rhymes, language, and playing all in one!

My children always enjoyed listening to music during naptime or in the car–lullabies, nursery rhymes, and other child-appropriate listening fare.

Most of all, enjoy your child! Spend time with him or her, using language whenever appropriate and your child is likely to reach his full potential!

Mary Grace at Books and Bairns has had experience with many types of therapy with several of her children.  She posted the following thoughts on her blog:

What you do at home is far more valuable than what goes on in a therapy setting.

No, it’s true. Let me repeat it, because you’re probably not believing it yet:

What you do at home is far more valuable than what goes on in a therapy setting.

In other words, the therapist that you employ–be it for VT, ST, OT, PT, whatever–is simply a trainer. And in reality, the person he or she should be most interested in training is you, the parent. Why? Because you have far more time to invest in making sure that goals are met, that exercises are completed, and that skills are being utilized.

Now please don’t think I’m saying that professional therapists are useless. They are not. They are a vital part of the team; the one with the most experience in the field who can put the information and the skill set into your hands, while having a warm, loving relationship with your child. We’ve had a couple of those therapists–the ones who become part of your family–and wow! When therapy goes well, it is a total blessing! But there’s another, vital component to that team I mentioned. It’s you. You are the one who bears the burden of really making sure that the therapy gets off the ground. That it’s more than a 60 minute play time. That it works.

I agree wholeheartedly. Speech pathologists, physical therapists, and other professionals are valuable resources. But the parent is equally as important. What the parent does at home with the child during the many many hours the child is not in therapy will have a greater impact on his progress than anything else!  To read the rest of Mary Grace’s thoughts on this subject (and a Super Star Speech review), visit her Books and Bairns blog.

Ask any speech pathologist this question and you will probably get the same answer–/r/, /s/, and /z/!  These sounds are tough for many children and are often not mastered until 5, 6, or 7 years old. There are many other common errors as well. Children tend to make the same types of errors on each of these sounds.  Here is a list of common speech sound errors:

/k/ and /g/…………These sounds are usually mastered by age 4, but some children substitute /t/ for /k/ and /d/ for /g/.

/th/…………………./f/ and /d/ are commonly substituted for the /th/ sound.

/s/ and /z/ ………./th/  is typically substituted for these sounds. Other children distort /s/ and /z/ by allowing the airflow to come around the sides of the tongue instead of channeling it over the top of the tongue, resulting in a slushy-sounding /s/ or /z/.

/r/…………………../w/ is most commonly substituted for the /r/ sound. Sometimes /r/ is omitted, especially at the ends of words.

/ch/………………../t/ or /sh/ may be substituted for /ch/ or the /ch/ may be distorted.

/j/…………………. /d/ may be substituted for /j/ or the /j/ may be distorted.

/sh/………………../t/ or /s/ may be substituted for /sh/ or the /sh/ may be distorted.

-F and V…………../b/ is often substituted for /v/.  /p/ may be substituted for /f/.

-/l/…………………./w/ and /y/ are the sounds typically substituted for /l/.  /l/ is usually omitted at the end of the word.

The more errors a child has, the more difficult he will be to understand. Likewise, the more severe the child’s errors are, the more his intelligibility will be affected. For example, omitting consonants is a more severe problem than simply distorting the correct sound.

I have two four year olds that just happen to be in ‘Speech Therapy’ this year.  The big joke at our house is when they are able to say ‘Speech Therapy’ they will no longer need to take the class. So you can imagine how excited I was to receive these books by Deborah Lott.

I cannot tell you how helpful these books are to me and how much my two little guys have advanced.

Maybe some of you know exactly how to explain to your little people how to pronounce a letter, I didn’t. You would think by the time I was on children number 11 & 12, I might have a clue, NOT, they are my first to have difficulties with speech. These books have shown me how to evaluate them, then exactly how to teach them the correct way. It also has given me an idea of what they should be able to handle at their age and what is yet to come….

To read the rest of this review, please visit the Burkherts Brigade blog.  Thanks, Terri!