Super Star Speech

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.

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!

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!

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!

When you think of a speech/language disorder, what comes to your mind? A child who stutters? One who says, “wabbit” for “rabbit?”  An autistic child who has only a few words in his spoken vocabulary?  Speech-language pathologists work with a wide range of issues. These issues fall into several main categories:

Articulation

Articulation disorders include any type of speech sound errors.

Language

A language disorder is a deficit in receptive language (comprehension), expressive language (speaking), or both.  The child may have deficits in vocabulary, have difficulty formulating complete sentences or difficulty answering questions. He may exhibit poor grammar or misuse pronouns. His speech may sound fairly normal, but he may not use it appropriately in social situations.

Stuttering

A child (or adult) who stutters has difficulty with the fluency of his speech. He or she may repeat sounds or syllables. He may stretch out sounds at the beginning of words or “get stuck” when speaking. He may avoid social situations that he fears will cause him to stutter.  Many children exhibit short periods of disfluency between the ages of two and four as their language skills are rapidly increasing. This can be perfectly normal. If the symptoms are severe, or if the patterns continue beyond four, it may be indicative of a stuttering problem that needs speech therapy.

Voice Disorders

The most common voice disorder in children is a hoarseness caused by vocal abuse. This is typically seen in little boys that scream a lot. It is also common in singers. This vocal abuse can cause physical damage that requires surgery. A speech pathologist can work with the child to help him or her learn speaking methods that will be gentle on the vocal folds, allowing the damage to heal.

Another common voice issue with children is hyponasality or hypernasality. These are generally affected by cleft palate (repaired or unrepaired) or hearing impairment.

Speech-language pathologists also work with some issues that are not directly related to speech, such as swallowing disorders.

If you suspect that your child may have a problem in any of these areas, a speech and language assessment may be advisable. A speech pathologist can help determine whether your child’s speech behaviors need remediation, should be watched and rechecked later, or are within normal limits for his age.

You may have heard of  “apraxia,” but are unsure exactly what it is. Perhaps you have wondered whether your child’s speech problem falls under this category.  The official term for apraxia, approved by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), is “childhood apraxia of speech.”  Adults can also be diagnosed with “apraxia of speech,” but this generally refers to an acquired disorder.

Most children with articulation disorders have errors that follow  a predictable developmental pattern. Certain sounds, like /p/, /b/, /m/, /n/, /w/ are mastered first and are consistently produced correctly. More difficult sounds, such as /th/, /r/, and /ch/ are usually mastered later. Most children with articulation delays have no trouble with vowels or the rhythm of speech.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a deficit in the motor planning and programming of speech.  It is a neurologically-based disorder. Children with CAS have severe speech problems that don’t follow developmental patterns. Some of the indicators of Childhood Apraxia of Speech are:

-Inconsistent errors–A child may produce a sound in one context, but not in another. The child may make different errors when repeating the same word or phrase several times.

-Pauses between the sounds and syllables of a word

-Abnormal rhythm of speech

-Difficulty producing vowels

-More errors in longer and more complex utterances

-Unusual errors

Treatment of apraxia requires different therapy techniques from standard articulation therapy. If you suspect that your child may have apraxia, it is important to seek assessment and treatment from a speech-language-pathologist with experience in this area.

F and V are fairly easy sounds to teach because they are produced at the front of the mouth, making it easy for the child to watch and imitate. Children who have trouble with these sounds commonly substitute P for F and B for V, although other errors may also be made.  The F  and V sounds should be mastered by age four.
F and V are produced by touching the upper teeth to the lower lip. F is produced by passing the breath between the teeth and lip. V is produced in the same way with the voice “turned on.”
Teaching Tips:
1. F and V are easy sounds to teach because the placement is so easy to see. Instruct the child to “bite his lip and blow” to produce F. After the F is produced, instruct him to “turn his voice on” to produce the V.  Use of a mirror may be helpful.
2. Work on auditory discrimination between the error sound and F or V. (“Is this a pig or a fig?”)
3. If V is not being vocalized, thereby sounding like an F, have the child feel the vibrations on his neck while saying the sound. Produce V before or after a vowel (“Va, Vee, uh-V”).

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

Super Star Speech (R&L is the program we used) is excellently titled. This gem of a program not only captivated Precious Jewel and kept a smile on her face, but I could see her slowly (and happily) correcting herself in every day situations once we started this program.

My little girl can enunciate most of her words very clearly. Two years ago at the public library (she was 5), she asked one of the librarians if there was a particular DVD available to borrow. The librarian told her it was out at the moment. Precious Jewel was truly looking forward to that DVD, and out of her mouth came, “This is a calamity!”clear as day. The librarian looked surprised and asked me if Precious Jewel had indeed just said that word and used it in context. I told her yes.

So, Precious Jewel can say most things correctly, but she has always had trouble with her R’s. B used to say when she was 1 1/2 years old that she needed speech therapy, but I knew that would do more damage than good and I prolonged it as long as possible, and finally sat down with him and told him when she was 3 that if he made her go it would not be advantageous for her or for us. I gave him information I found about appropriate ages for sounds, etc. Some people just need to see a professionally paid person to tell them how to do something correctly.

Thankfully, Deborah Lott, creator of Super Star R&L, whom has a Master’s degree in education and speech pathology, understands that a parent can teach their own child from the comfort of home, assisting parents to encourage their children. She has designed the lessons and games in such an appealing, family-friendly way. She also wants to take it nice and easy with teaching a child to correctly enunciate their words.

The best thing about this program for me was that it did not make feel compelled to squish it into our weekly schedule. I want to pull it out, and each time has been a lot of fun for both Precious Jewel and I. She still needs some assistance, but this is doing a lot of good for her.

Super Star Speech: R&L costs $18.95, and is worthy every penny. If you have a child you suspect has speech delays or impediments, this is a worth-while investment!

Want to learn more about this program from other homeschooling families? Check out a plethora of reviews at The Crew’s blog!

I received this product for free in exchange for a written account of my personal opinions. No financial compensation was given, and I am allowed to keep this awesome book!

This review was written by “God’s Dancing Child” at D.A.I.L.Y.

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.

This review of Super Star R and L was written by Denise at Got Chai?.

I never even considered the idea of speech therapy until I had my son, Ethan.

Ethan (11) was a late-talker. He didn’t say any words outside of “mama” and “dada” until he was 2 years old. Instead he would make this odd “glug-glug” sound in the back of his throat. Kind of like a scene in a movie where the hero is trying to talk with a gag in his mouth. Hard to explain, sorry.

Fast forward to age 2. He’s finally stringing 2-3 word sentences together. Age 3, he’s got the sentences down but he doesn’t articulate his words well—at all. Instead of saying “Let me see!” it would come out, “Lemme heeee!” The word please would come out “pwease”, Sierra would come out “Wawa”. This continued long past the age of 6 when Ethan then developed a severe stutter. (Poor guy inherited a double-whammy. Dean had the same articulation issues as a kid, and I stuttered. In fact, at times I still do. So does my father.)

When he was about 6 years old, we enrolled him in speech therapy. Those lessons helped quite a bit with the stutter and boosted his confidence. But eventually the money ran out and the clinic itself closed. They didn’t get a chance to address his R/L issues.

Enter our latest review product, Super Star Speech: Super Star R and L, by Deborah Lott.

This was a product I had looked at once before, but dismissed it thinking that an E-book wouldn’t be all that effective. (Boy, was I wrong!)

Each of this book’s 61 pages is filled to the brim with drills, activities, games and teaching tips designed specifically to help parents correct their child’s articulation issues at home.

Although the author does stress that her program is not to be used as a substitute for proper speech therapy (especially for things like stuttering), her program does make an excellent starting point and/or therapy supplement. The E-book may also be used as a supplement to Deborah Lott’s Super Star Speech–Speech Therapy Made Simple program.

Our Impressions

Super Star R and L made it very clear to see where I had gone wrong in my attempts to help my son. Most of the time, I’d say things like, “Try it like this: Rrrr!”, which of course he would do with little to no success. I was frustrated because I couldn’t understand why he couldn’t “do as I do”, and he was frustrated trying to master something that seemed impossible.

But then in the book, Deborah explains how the sounds are actually made by curling or flattening the tongue. (Duh! I didn’t even think about that!) There are several exercises that both parent and child can do together. Later when I had Ethan perform the exercises in front of the mirror, it made such a huge difference!  Now he was seeing what I was saying, and I was finally able to help him make that brain/tongue connection. Click!

I also love how everything is written without the use of fancy make-you-wanna-scratch-your-head-and-say-huh? jargon. Everything is simple to understand, easy to use, and fun to work with. (And effective. Can’t forget effective.)

Ethan still has trouble if he’s not actively thinking about what he’s saying. But I’m confident that this product will help him overcome at least some of his speech challenges in the months to come.

Super Star R and L is available for $18.95 spiral bound or for $12.95 for the E-book through the author’s website Super Star Speech.com.

I absolutely recommend this program as a gentle, effective introduction to speech therapy. The author’s tone is one of caring and concern, and the lessons are fun for a variety of ages. Two thumbs up!

To read what my fellow Crew members had to say about this product, please click here.

*As a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew, I received a copy of this product for free in exchange for an honest review. No additional compensation was provided and the thoughts expressed in this post are my own.*