Hi Karen,

I would advise that you work on the Bite Tube Set starting with the Red Bite Tube. This will work on your client's jaw strength and as you work through the bite tubes you can revisit the bite blocks. You would look to see if he is later able to achieve the "natural bite" and "bite hold" required with the bite blocks. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks,

Liz

Elizabeth Smithson, MSP, CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has over 10 years of professional experience working with infants, children, adolescents and adults. She earned her Master of Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. Liz is also a Level 5 TalkTools® Trained Therapist. She has received specialized training in Oral Placement Therapy, Speech, Feeding, Apraxia, Sensory Processing Disorders, and PROMPT©. Liz works with clients with a wide range of disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  She works through her own private practice Elizabeth Smithson Therapy, LLC in the home setting and in the TalkTools® office in Charleston, SC.

Hi TalkTools,

 

I am working with a 4 year old boy with Sensory Processing Disorder. When producing the /s/ phoneme he takes a quick inhalation of air. He is able to produce /z/ and /sh/ with appropriate outward flow of air. We have worked on discriminating correct vs. in correct airflow, horn blowing, air hockey with cotton ball or whiffle ball, and cheerio for tongue tip placement with adding the airflow as well. Despite max attempts he is unable to produce the sound in isolation. Any tips or advice you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you!!!

 

Randee

Hi Randee,

I would work on voice versus voiceless sounds. Having him feel your throat to see that with the "z" you are using your voice box and call "s" your quiet sound and work on the difference that way.  Another thing that I have tried to help with placement is a straw placed on the tongue down the middle out of the front of the mouth.  This helps kids to feel where the air needs to go. But it sounds like he has the placement piece since he is able to say the "z". Just something extra to try. There is also a complete list of oral placement activities to work on "s" and "z" on page 18 in Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson's book: Oral Placement Therapy for Speech Clarity and Feeding. This will give you a list of other activities to try. Let us know if we can do anything else to help.

Thanks,

Liz

Elizabeth Smithson, MSP, CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has over 10 years of professional experience working with infants, children, adolescents and adults. She earned her Master of Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. Liz is also a Level 5 TalkTools® Trained Therapist. She has received specialized training in Oral Placement Therapy, Speech, Feeding, Apraxia, Sensory Processing Disorders, and PROMPT©. Liz works with clients with a wide range of disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  She works through her own private practice Elizabeth Smithson Therapy, LLC in the home setting and in the TalkTools® office in Charleston, SC.

What tools and continuing education materials do you recommend for working with children on vocalic r?

 

Rose  

Hi Rose,

The first thing that I would recommend that you purchase would be Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson's book: Oral Placement Therapy for Speech Clarity and Feeding.  On page 20 in the book, she gives you a list of oral placement activities to use to work on vocalic "R".  The activities listed on that page are included in the book.  After you look up each activity the book will tell you exactly what you need to order and how to use it.

Hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any other questions. 

Thanks,

Liz

Elizabeth Smithson, MSP, CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has over 10 years of professional experience working with infants, children, adolescents and adults. She earned her Master of Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. Liz is also a Level 5 TalkTools® Trained Therapist. She has received specialized training in Oral Placement Therapy, Speech, Feeding, Apraxia, Sensory Processing Disorders, and PROMPT©. Liz works with clients with a wide range of disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  She works through her own private practice Elizabeth Smithson Therapy, LLC in the home setting and in the TalkTools® office in Charleston, SC.

Hello,

 

I work in an inner city school with significant deprivation.

 

Many of the children have speech and language difficulties and when I wander into snack and lunchtime, many have immature eating patterns. Many have immature jaw and tongue movements, quiet voices and poor breath control.

 

I cannot hope to work with all the children directly.

 

I have keen K/1 teachers who would like to help.

 

I am pulling together some activities for the teachers to do with the class - songs, movements, etc., taken from voice TalkTools® and other sources. I want to include activities for respiration, phonation, resonation and articulation.

 

Has anyone tried to do this already?

 

Any pitfalls you can anticipate for me and the teachers? Any pointers?

 

I do use TalkTools® already with some students and I am finding an increasing need.

 

I am planning on doing a short pre- and post-screening possibly based on the SMILE book.

 

Many thanks,

 

Sarah

 
Hi Sarah,

First of all I admire you attempt to help so many children in need.  It is so difficult to not have availability to work with everyone one-on-one.  I think if I had to pick on thing to work on, it would be jaw strength with bite tubes because it will help in all the areas you mentioned. Horns would also be a fun rewarding task which would focus on respiration.  The challenge that I see would be not being able to monitor where they are placing the tools in their mouths, which is what makes it therapeutic. I would try to work with a different child each time to make sure they could feel where the tool needed to be and how they needed to breath or chew. Placement and form is very important.  You could watch the group as they perform the task and give verbal feedback.

That being said, I encourage you to consult your school's Speech-Language Pathologist first for advice and mention the procedure above, and only then follow their recommendations. You could work with them as a facilitator but are not licensed to practice Speech-Language Pathology yourself, as a teacher. If there is no Speech-Language Pathologist on duty at your school, consult your state association for support.

Looking forward to hearing back.

Thanks,

Liz
 

Elizabeth Smithson, MSP, CCC-SLP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has over 10 years of professional experience working with infants, children, adolescents and adults. She earned her Master of Speech Pathology at the University of South Carolina. Liz is also a Level 5 TalkTools® Trained Therapist. She has received specialized training in Oral Placement Therapy, Speech, Feeding, Apraxia, Sensory Processing Disorders, and PROMPT©. Liz works with clients with a wide range of disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.  She works through her own private practice Elizabeth Smithson Therapy, LLC in the home setting and in the TalkTools® office in Charleston, SC.

Monica Purdy, MA, CCC-SLP has more than 14 years of professional experience specializing in helping children with special needs to communicate. Monica is PROMPT and SOS trained, familiar with sign language, and well-versed in the use of augmentative devices. She is the owner of Kids Abilities Pediatric Therapy Clinic in Indianapolis, IN. In addition to her private practice, Monica is a member of the TalkTools® speakers bureau and has been invited to speak at numerous conventions and seminars across the U.S. and internationally. She is a graduate of Ball State University.

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