“Just tell me a few bottom-line things I need to know about ‘r’ so I can remediate my seven /r/ kids!” A fellow SLP earnestly asked me this during our 15-minute seminar break with 3-minutes left. Well, here ya go—this is the shortest version I can come up with and (hopefully) it still makes sense!
PROOF: “Results indicate that tongue bracing [lateral margin stabilization] is both pervasive and active in running speech and essential in understanding tongue movement control.”
Do parents understand what you do why you do it? They certainly won’t know until we tell them. The attitude and actions of parents strongly influence the child’s attitude, cooperation, and dedication to the therapy process.
Maybe you read this. Recently, on Facebook, an SLP wrote about an offhanded comment made by a parent during her teletherapy. The parent said to the SLP, “The real speech therapist is coming in a few minutes.” Huh???
There’s no reach-out-and-touch-someone in teletherapy so, accommodations must be made. Fortunately, there are several innovative techniques to compensate for sensory input differences during online therapy. I’ll share several over the following months. Here’s this weeks….
Looks like school service delivery across the country is either total telepractice or a hybrid blend of telepractice and in-person instruction through a mask and/or acrylic shield or, just in-person. Are you scrambling to adjust? I know I would be if I were still in the schools.
Most of us have uttered, “This child has no clue where they're tongue is—so what do I do?” We use mirrors, verbal descriptions, show the child our own mouth, but even that isn’t enough. That’s where, quite literally, intra-oral therapy tools come in.
My husband has golfed most of his life; I haven’t. Three years ago at the driving range when he told me to just put my head down and swing, I thought, WHY? My head? How far down? What do I do with the rest of my body? Am I holding the club right? Is there a wrong way? How do I swing this thing?
Making new year’s resolutions doesn’t work for me, personally or professionally. But here’s what does. On January 17, 2018, in the first Therapy Matters to you, I declared that “JOY” was my word-for-the-year. This was the first time I had done this with any level of determination and consistency.
Time is in limited supply around the holidays. So here’s an idea I think you, your therapy-kids as well as parents and caregivers will like. This meets the theme criteria, takes minimal time and effort to set-up, and appropriate for a variety of ages.
Lof and Watson wrote five specific references in their 2008 survey article (p. 393). They specifically listed THESE FIVE references as a base to their “NSOME” concerns and criticisms. So, I zeroed-in on those five documents and read them very carefully....
During the time when numerous anti-oral motor articles were being published and when Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) came into vogue, a comprehensive literature review of language intervention with children was done by Cirrin and Gillam in 2008. Although the article is almost 12 years old, I bet you’ve never heard of it--or the results.
There's little research about the tongue’s characteristics during correct speech productions. Typically, we use descriptors such as “place, manner, and voice,” or phonological processes. While excellent at describing oral error patterns, they provide little information about desirable speech production—which is our goal!
Right up there with the term “oral motor” anything that has to do with “SENSORY” therapy” is taboo according to some. Thing is, sensation is how we humans receive information--from reading a book, to touching a warm bowl of soup and tasting its contents, to automatic self-monitoring our tongue's intra-oral activity. Sensation is critical.
In therapy, have you ever had a child ask you if they could take home the boardgame you’re playing? For me, usually it was some game I’d purchased at Super Duper or somewhere. The kids were so disappointed when I said the game had to stay at school so other children could play, too.