Tagged "blowing skills"


Ask A Therapist: 24 Year-Old Male With Severe Stuttering

Posted by Deborah Grauzam on

I am a speech-language pathologist in private practice. One of my clients is a 24 year old male with severe stuttering. He also has a diagnosis of mild cerebral palsy. His most noticeable dysfluent behavior is the inability to initiate speech due to blocks at the vocal fold level. Do you think any of the Talk Tools would help? Thank you!

 

Jody

Hi Jody,

According ASHA, most treatment methods for stuttering are centered around behavior; however there are treatment protocols that focus on breathing. This is true of Dr. Martin Schwartz who wrote Stutter No More in 1991 about the "Passive Airflow Technique". For this method  stutterer is taught to 1. Release air 2. Slow down the first syllable and 3. Intent to rest between verbalizations.

Since the goal of Oral Placement Therapy is to provide tactile cues for speech sound production, we would consider OPT tasks that specifically target phonatory control and diaphragmatic breathing if the client was not using proper airflow to support speech. Phonatory tasks such as the horn kit, spirometer or bubble tube could be tools that would assist improved speech breathing; however we would also be certain that we were using more specific evidenced based therapy techniques for stuttering. These methods alone would not directly facilitate fluent speech but rather assist you in the pre-requisite skills needed to engage in airflow methods.

We would try blowing with horns or bubbles or encouraging airflow of any kind on his hand.  Once we felt like he was able to coordinate his breathing and blowing we would then move to humming or adding the "m" sound. We would work on this very gradually.  

Please keep us posted on how it goes and let us know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Robyn Merkel-Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP & Elizabeth Smithson, MSP, CCC-SLP
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Ask A Therapist: Client with Autism and Apraxia of Speech

Posted by Deborah Grauzam on

Hello TalkTools,

 

I am an SLP working with a four year old boy with autism and apraxia of speech. He has some significant drooling and is non-verbal. I completed the "Three-Part Treatment Plan for Oral Placement Therapy" on-demand course, but was hoping for some guidance from your Instructors.

 

He is the first child I've used Oral Placement Therapy (OPT) with, and we're working on the Drooling Remediation Program. He's progressing really well with the Chewy Tubes and the Straw Hierarchy but is not able to volitionally blow on Step 3 of the Bubble Blowing Hierarchy, nor is he able to blow for Horn #1 or hold a tongue depressor between his lips for any length of time.

 

He is able to produce the /m/ and /b/ sounds, but often not on command. He just recently began to show some lip rounding while producing a /w/ sound.

 

I did purchase the Pre-Hierarchy Horn and have been working on the ball/exhalation activities. Is there anything else I can/should be doing to help him with blowing?

 

Also, when he eats, he sometimes will chew the food, remove the bolus from his mouth, rest for a few seconds and then place the food back in his mouth and finish chewing/swallowing. Do you have suggestions on how to address this?

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Amber

 

Hi Amber,

I'm Robyn, a TalkTools® Instructor, and I will answer your questions the best I can without knowing the child.

I will start with the feeding issue first. This sounds like a self-stimulatory associated with the autism or an issue of bolus mobility. He certainly could have chewing fatigue, or perhaps cannot lateralize the bolus to where it needs to go to swallow it. You will need to assess this, and if needed, implement a pre-feeding program such as, Feeding Therapy: A Sensory-Motor Approach. If all is assessed and nothing is wrong from an oral motor perspective, I would work with the child's behaviorist on a regimented plan to keep his hands down and away from the mouth during feedings.

On to your OPT questions... Phonatory control and volitional blowing can be a very big problem with apraxia. The sounds the child is making can be reflexive in nature but not achievable on command. This is also a defining trait of apraxia. I would consult with OT/PT to start working on rib cage expansion, trunk stability, and core strength as prerequisites for blowing. For now, expose him to the Bubble Program staying on step 2 of the Bubble Hierarchy and practice placing Horn #1 in the mouth and taking it out for the lip closure motor plan. You may also model it for him with your own horn. I often sing, "If you are happy and you know it blow a horn toot toot" and place the horn in the lips when I say 'toot'. I also place children in a prone position on an OT wedge during this task. Immediately after drilling the horn, use the Apraxia Bilabial Shapes to practice the bilabials.

Good luck!

Sincerely,

Robyn Merkel Walsh, MA, CCC-SLP

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