Have you been thinking about making a purchase from Super Star Speech?

I am offering free shipping on any Super Star Speech sale from now until Dec. 16. In addition, if you use Google Checkout, you will receive an additional $5.00 off any order of $30 or more.

All of the Super Star Speech books are also available from Currclick in e-book form for about 30% off.

Most people are somewhat familiar with speech therapy in the areas of articulation, stuttering, and language, and have at least a vague idea of what happens in speech therapy in these areas. Voice therapy, however, is an area of which many people are unaware.

A voice disorder is an “abnormal pitch, loudness, and/or vocal quality resulting from disordered laryngeal, respiratory and/or vocal tract functioning.” (Ramig & Verdolini, 1998)  This definition can cover a variety of abnormal qualities of the voice, but the most common voice disorder seen in children is hoarseness caused by vocal abuse, or misuse of the voice. Misuse of the voice, such as excessive yelling or hard vocal onset can cause swelling of the vocal cords or vocal nodules, resulting in a chronically  breathy, harsh,  or hoarse voice. In adults, vocal cord swelling and nodules are often seen in singers who overuse or abuse their voices. Many of us probably know someone with a continually hoarse or breathy voice, but may not have considered this as a voice disorder.

Any child with a suspected vocal disorder should be seen by an ENT because often medical/surgical treatment may be needed. However, speech (voice) therapy is often prescribed either instead of or in addition to medical treatment. In voice therapy, the child will learn how to use his voice in a healthy manner. This will help to reduce the occurrence of medically managed disorders  and can even allow damaged vocal cords to heal without surgery.

Voice therapy is likely to include:

1. Education about the speech mechanism and how it works–lungs, breath control, the role of the larynx and vocal cords in sound production.

2. Education about the correct ways to use the speech mechanism, including practice and experimentation with both positive and negative behaviors. The child’s specific habits will be discussed.

3. Practice in using the voice and breath in a relaxed manner. The child will often be taught to use a quieter and more breathy voice and an easy onset of speech utterances. These practices reduce trauma to the vocal cords and allow them to heal.

4. Environmental influences will be addressed, such as changes that might be made in the home or school to minimize the need for shouting or other vocal abuse.

More information about voice disorders and treatment, as well as referrals to certified speech-language-pathologists can be found at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) website.

A child with an articulation disorder may have six or eight or even more different sound errors. When a speech pathologist is making a treatment plan, where does he or she begin?

First, an articulation test is given to the child. This test will assess every sound in every word position. Then the speech pathologist will determine whether the sound is stimulable–whether the child can imitate the sound. Then the sound errors will be compared to normative data to determine whether each sound should even be mastered by the child’s age. For example, if a 3 year old cannot pronounce /r/, that is not a concern, because 3 year olds are not expected to produce this difficult sound. This articulation sounds chart will give you some guidelines on the ages at which various sounds should be mastered.

Traditionally, treatment begins with 1-4 sounds that are stimulable and early developing. When the initial sounds are mastered, treatment moves on to sounds that are later developing and/or not stimulable. There are many variables, however. For example, if a child produced a sound correctly 50% of the time, I would assume that it might be mastered eventually without assistance, so I would choose a sound with which the child had more difficulty. I might choose a sound that was in the child’s name or another sound important in the child’s life, even though it might not fit the usual criteria.

Current research in speech pathology is leading in another direction. Some speech pathologist are advocating teaching sounds that are the most difficult, that are not stimulable, and that are not similar to each other. Although this can be more frustrating for the child and initial progress may seem slow, evidence is showing that this method results in learning transfer to sounds that are never worked with in therapy, shortening the overall time needed in therapy.

Overall, I really think that the most important point is for a child who needs speech therapy to get it. Any child who is learning and practicing new sounds will make progress, while a child whose speech disorder is neglected may not improve on his own.

Some speech sounds are very similar.  Two different sounds may be produced with the exact same tongue movement. They may be explosive, short sounds, like t, k, and p. Or they may be stretched out “sibilant” sounds like s or f.  When a speech pathologist (SLP) evaluates a child’s articulation, not only does he or she listen to and evaluate every speech sound, but the SLP will analyze the errors for patterns of mispronunciation. This will often help him or her devise the best and most efficient therapy plan.

Sounds that differ from each other by only one feature are referred to by speech pathologists as “minimal pairs.”  The most common minimal pairs used in speech therapy are the voiced/unvoiced sound pairs. Speech sounds can be produced with the voice on (all vowels, /r/, /l/, /z/, etc.) or with the voice off (/s/, /t/, /k/, etc.).  There are many English sounds that are actually almost identical to another sound in their production. The only difference is whether the voice is “turned on” or “turned off.”

Say, “sssssss.”  You didn’t use your voice, did you? Now say, “ssssss” and turn on your voice. The /s/ just turned into a /z/!  The placement of the tongue and the manner of articulation is identical for the two sounds. Only the voicing is different. This is something that never occurred to me until I was taking courses in speech pathology, so I thought it might be new information for my reader, too!

These are the minimal pairs that differ only in voicing.

p, b

t, d

k, g

s,z,

ch, j

th (thin), th (that)

f, v

When a child is in speech therapy, the voiced/unvoiced pairs will usually be taught at the same time. It is very common, for example, for a child to work on  the /s/ and /z/ sounds together. Practicing one of these sounds will reinforce the other.  At other times, the speech pathologist will choose to focus on sounds that have a different common feature, such as voiced sounds or tongue-tip sounds. Alternatively, the SLP may choose several sounds that have no common features–this procedure has been shown to encourage the acquisition of many sounds that aren’t even addressed!

Navigating the middle school social scene is difficult for any child. This is an interesting article about a middle schooler with autism and her difficulties and successes with her peers.

Teen With Autism Advises Other “Different”  Kids

These are some questions typical of those that I receive in my email:

What ages is Super Star Speech appropriate for? Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple is designed for ages 3 and up. It can be used for serious drill work for older children or for very low key teaching for little ones. The sound teaching tips are certainly appropriate for even middle schoolers, but the included activities and games are most appropriate and fun for preschoolers and younger elementary ages. The other three books focus on specific sounds that are often not mastered until age 5 and up. Although some of the practice activities and games are appropriate for preschoolers, the books are generally geared for ages 5-12.

My three year old isn’t talking much. Can your books help him? Super Star Speech focuses only on articulation (speech sounds).  If your child isn’t speaking in sentences or has a very small vocabulary, language is your concern. Super Star Speech won’t be helpful. Please visit a speech-language pathologist to find out your best plan of action.

Which book should I buy? If you know that your child has only a few errors, and these errors are covered in Super Star R and L, Super Star S, Z, and Sh, or Super Star Ch, J, and Th, just buy that specific book. It will contain all you need. If your child has many errors, Super Star Speech: Speech Therapy Made Simple covers all sounds and is all you need. BUT you may want to consider the Complete Edition or one or more of the specialized books, which include many more practice activities, including some that are of more interest to older children.

My child is already in speech therapy. Would your book be useful? Certainly. The more speech practice time a child has, the faster he will progress. Hopefully, your SLP is sending home practice assignments. But if not, or if you want picture cards or more practice activities, or if you want your child to continue progressing during a summer break from therapy, you will find Super Star Speech helpful.

My child has a tongue thrust. Will your book help? Super Star Speech does not address tongue thrust at all. It can certainly be helpful to address some of the speech errors associated with a tongue thrust, but does not address the underlying issue. Find an SLP who is experienced in working with tongue thrust to help you. Some speech sounds can be very difficult to correct without first changing the swallowing pattern.

If you have any more questions, leave a comment or email me at debbie@superstarspeech.com. I’ll be glad to help or to direct you to someone who can!

All Super Star Speech e-books books and Super Star Games are on sale for 20% off at Currclick from August 10 until August 31. Now is a great time to stock up!

$10.36

$2.80

What can you expect if you take your child for  speech and language testing? Speech and language evaluations will vary depending on the speech-language pathologist and the child’s age and abilities. Typically, this is what will happen:

1. Hearing screening–Because hearing is so critical to speech and language abilities, a hearing screening will probably occur first. This is not likely to be a thorough hearing test (which is generally performed by an audiologist), but a quick check that the child can hear a 20 or 25dB tone at about 4 different frequencies. If the child fails the test, a more complete hearing test may be warranted.

2. Oral-peripheral exam– The speech-language pathologist (SLP) will look inside the child’s mouth for any physical differences that might contribute to speech difficulties, such as a tongue-tie, abnormally high palate, signs of a partial or sub-mucous cleft palate and an abnormal bite. Additionally, he or she may do some tests of tongue coordination or strength.

3. An articulation test–The child will name pictures that assess all speech sounds in all word positions. The SLP will also listen to the child in conversational speech to listen for additional errors and overall intelligibility.

4. Language tests–These can be quite lengthy and will assess vocabulary, syntax (sentence structure and grammar), comprehension, and appropriate use of language. Both receptive language (understanding) and expressive language (production) will be assessed.

5. Conversation samples will be taken and evaluated for articulation language abilities and possibly for voice disorders or stuttering, if these are a concern.

It can take quite a bit of time to score the tests and evaluate the language samples, so you will probably wait until another day to find out the results. If the only concern is articulation, voice, or stuttering, however, the SLP may be ready to discuss results and make recommendations right away.

Has your child had a speech or language evaluation? I’d love t0 hear about your experiences.

Not too long ago, the use of sign language was reserved for the deaf and hearing-impaired and the people who needed to communicate with them. Today, signing is much more prevalent. A few weeks ago, at our church’s vacation Bible school, nearly all the songs the kids learned were accompanied by some signing. Not only is it fun for the kids, but the motions help them learn the songs more quickly. And I can’t help but think that if, in the future, some of these kids are in a position to communicate with a hearing-impaired person that uses sign language, they will have  a head start.

Another use of sign language that is becoming more prevalent is the practice of teaching signs to babies, beginning when they are just a few months old, well before they are beginning to communicate through spoken language. And why would parents of normally developing children do this? Well, here are some reasons:

1. Simple signs are easier to produce than spoken words.

2. When babies and toddlers have the ability to communicate, their frustration levels go down.

3. Teaching sign language while speaking to your child does not slow down the acquisition of spoken language. In fact, it may actually accelerate language acquisition.

Teaching sign language to babies is turning into a big business. Several companies produce DVDs and books to teach Baby Sign, which tends to be a simplified version of the ASL (American Sign Language) signs. I taught my children some signs when they were babies. We just used a handful of words….eat, thank-you, milk, please, etc. They did pick them up quickly and use them appropriately before they were a year old. I didn’t stick with it, though. They were all early talkers who spoke in complete sentences between 18 and 24 months, so they didn’t need the additional communication tool. I do wish I had followed up with it more, though, so that they would have had some competence in sign language as older children. They learn so fast when they are little!

Signing can be a very useful tool for children who are language delayed or who have physical disabilities that affect their speech. Giving a child another means to communicate can greatly reduce the frustration and accompanying tantrums that result from the inability to speak. Simultaneously teaching sign and stimulating spoken language can actually positively affect the speech of spoken language as well.

Here is an interesting article from the Seattle Times about teaching sign language to babies: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2012434730_babysignlanguage26.html