Super Star Speech

This is an interesting article about “vocal fry,” a voice disorder that seems to be popular to intentionally reproduce…

(CBS) Are young women’s voices sounding a bit more "creaky" these days? New research suggests lots of young women are taking a lead from pop stars Ke$ha and Britney Spears by rolling their voice into low, creaky, back-of-the-throat sounding vibrations.

It’s known as "vocal fry" among speech experts, and celebrities including Kim Kardashian are accused of fueling its presence in young women. The study’s authors say vocal fry is sometimes considered a speech impediment, but they and their colleagues are hearing it more than ever.

Read the rest at: CBS News.

I just published another Super Star Speech book at Currclick.

Super Star Speech Supplement contains 40 practice pages that are intended to supplement Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple, which includes many pages of information for the parent, instructions for teaching each sound, picture cards, and more. The practice pages and games in Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple are "generic" ones that are adaptable to any sound. This new volume provides additional sound-specific practice pages for p, b, t, d, k, g, ng, f, v, blends, and final consonants as well as a few additional activities that can be used to practice any sound.

I haven’t included practice pages for s, z, ch, sh, th, r, j, or l because these sounds are fully covered in Super Star R and L, Super Star Ch, J, and Th, and Super Star S, Z, and Sh.

The e-book format makes it easy to print just the pages that your child needs at any one time. My hope is that this supplement will make Super Star Speech an even better help to you while working to improve your child’s speech patterns!

Super Star Speech Supplement will be normally priced at $7.50, but I’ve set it at an introductory price of $4.00 until December 19.

It’s something every parent can’t wait to hear —their child’s first word. But for Brooke and Melisha Stafford, the wait would be longer than normal with their second son, Grant, 3, a bright-eyed, energetic boy whose older brother, Wil, 5, was an early talker.

“Grant would never talk,” Melisha said. “Wil talked so early for his age. Grant would never talk at all. He didn’t even babble. We just thought he was quiet.”

Read the rest of this very interesting article here.

My child is two and only says 10 words. What can I do?

My child was very slow to talk and seems behind other children of his age. Do you have any ideas for how to help him at home?

First, if your child has noticeable delays, please arrange to have a speech and language evaluation done. This can often be done free by your local school system or Child Find system. Private SLP’s are certainly another (possibly faster) option. If there is a local university that has a speech pathology program, they probably have an inexpensive clinic there. My posts on Reading to Your Child , Stimulating Your Baby’s Language Skills,  and Language Stimulation Ideas for Toddlers may give you  some more ideas. Any child, with or without language delays, can benefit from a stimulating environment. It is also important for a child to have language therapy if necessary because language deficits can last for years, affecting future academic performance and social skills.

My child had many ear infections as a toddler. Is this likely to affect his speech development?

Yes, it certainly may. While many children have frequent ear infections with no noticeable affect on their speech and language skills, other children are not so fortunate. When children (or adults) have fluid in the middle ear, it causes a mild hearing loss. Sounds are likely to sound muffled and words can be difficult to understand. If this continues for weeks or months, the child may not hear the differences between some speech sounds, impeding his ability to learn to produce them correctly. Or he or she may show vocabulary or syntax (grammar) deficits because  he wasn’t hearing high-quality speech at crucial learning times. The first three years of life are very important for language learning, so make sure your child is able to hear well. If your child has struggled with frequent ear infections, be alert to the possibility of delayed speech or language. It is important to both correct the hearing problem if possible and to help the child catch up in his language skills as early as possible!

Here are some more questions that I have been asked:

(See my first FAQ post here.)

My child has trouble with vowel sounds. Do your materials cover vowels?

No, but they do cover most of the consonant sounds. It is unusual for children to have trouble with vowel sounds and if they do, it is likely that the articulation disorder may be severe enough to beyond the scope of Super Star Speech. However, the principles in the book, and the practice activities are easily generalized and may be used with vowel sounds as well as consonants. Just be aware that no specific instructions or speech tips are offered for vowels in the books.

Should I buy physical books or e-books?

This is primarily a matter of personal preference. The e-books are more economical, although they may be less convenient. Either way, you will want to print  or copy many of the pages. The e-books are very convenient for printing out picture cards and practice games. You will probably want to copy the picture cards in the spiral-bound books onto card stock, but they could be removed and used as is.

Does my child need to be able to read to use Super Star Speech?

No, your children will not need to read to use the materials. I use the same activities with non-readers all the time when I do therapy. Super Star Speech has only a few reading activities. Since you will be helping your children practice and playing the games with them, you will just read the word or sentence for them and have them repeat, or fill in the blank.  The sound specific books (Super Star R and L, etc) are geared for somewhat older children and have more reading activities, but again, nearly anything can be read aloud by the parent. Many of the activities are picture-based.

And, the most frequent question..”My child has only a few error sounds. Which books do I need?”

If your child only has a few problem sounds and these sounds are covered by specific books (r,l,s,z,sh,ch,j,th), then you ONLY need the specific book(s) that cover those sounds. For example, if your child can’t say /r/, then don’t buy Super Star Speech. Just buy Super Star R and L. It has everything you need. If your child has trouble with /r/, /s/, and /z/, I would suggest buying both Super Star R and L and Super Star S, Z, and Sh. You would be fine with only Super Star Speech, since it covers all sounds, but I really think you would be happy with the many additional games and practice activities provided in the sound-specific books.

All of the Super Star e-products–both speech therapy books and learning games are currently on sale for 20% off at Currclick.

Additionally, I’m offering free shipping on printed books at www.superstarspeech.com. Both of these sales will be in effect until August 20.  And, just because you’re a reader of this blog—if you use the code “speech10,” you will get an additional 10% off printed books!

Would you like a chance to win a free Super Star Speech e-book? Just leave a comment on the Super Star Speech Facebook page, telling me which of the four books you would choose. These speech therapy materials are described in detail on the “speech books” page. Contest ends on April 8.

It can be frustrating when your child makes repeated articulation errors. In some cases, you KNOW that the child can produce the sound if you ask him to. But, should you stop your child frequently to make corrections? Will that help to improve his speech, or will it just frustrate him?

Mastery of speech sounds follows an order of progression. First the child learns to imitate the sound by itself. Then he learns to produce it in single words. At this point, it still takes some focus and concentration to produce it correctly. In conversation, however, the child is thinking about his ideas and has little awareness of what his mouth is doing to produce his sounds and words as he speaks. For sounds to be produced correctly in connected speech, the habits of correct tongue placement have to be automatic.

So….stopping your child while he or she is speaking will likely result in little or no improvement in his speech. He is simply unable to monitor every speech sound and effectively communicate his message at the same time. What correction of conversational speech is likely to do is  to make your child self-conscious of his speech and less willing to talk. It may also make him feel that you are uninterested in his ideas and stories. Remember that the transfer of ideas and back and forth interaction is the ultimate goal of communication. Any attempts to improve your child’s articulation should not interfere with that.

If you want to point out some sound errors to your child, or to encourage better speech, try choosing a time when you are not busy or hurried. Model one of his difficult sounds and have him try to imitate you. If he is able to imitate the sound, have him repeat some words beginning with that sound. If he has trouble repeating the sound, have him watch your mouth carefully. Think about what your mouth and tongue are doing, so that you can explain it to him. For many children, this simple activity will encourage him to master the sound and eventually carry it over into conversation, although this is unlikely to happen immediately. The Super Star Speech book includes a separate page of instructions for teaching your child almost every speech sound as well as picture cards and other activities for practicing sounds.

Be patient with your child’s progress, work with his speech sounds in a low-pressure way, and  seek professional help if needed. But above all, make communication a positive experience for your child!

Whether your child is in formal speech therapy, or whether you are working with him or her on your own, consistent practice is very important. What are some ways you can incorporate speech practice into your day?

1. If you homeschool, add speech practice into your daily schedule. Consider that 10-15 minutes to be as important as math or science. If your child is in traditional school, add a few minutes of speech practice to homework time each night.

2. Have your child repeat 10 of his practice words as you sit down to each meal.

3. Play a board game. Have your child say one of his words 3 times before he takes each turn.

4. Read an alphabet book. Emphasize the sounds your child has trouble with and encourage him to repeat.

5. Keep a practice page in the car to work on while driving around town. Use those otherwise wasted minutes!

6. Hop across the room, saying a word or sound on each hop.

7. Read a list of your child’s target words, mispronouncing some of them. See if he can identify your mistakes.

8. Praise your child’s progress! Be encouraging, and stop before he gets frustrated.

9. If you are using the Super Star Speech materials, follow a drill session with a game.

Keep sessions frequent, but brief. Think of ways to make practice fun. You will be pleased at the progress your child will make!

If you’d like a “jumping off place” for more reading about speech therapy, autism, and hearing disorders, take a look at this article referencing the 20 Best Speech Therapy Blogs. I’m familiar with some of these blogs, but not all, and plan to spend some time browsing through them. They contain a wealth of information!