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Recovering From an Angry Email
I received an unfriendly email message from a colleague. The message started nicely with kind words, but ended with criticism and complaints. I felt stung. The whole situation was a misunderstanding...
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What is Speech Worth?
Speech sound production and articulation are often treated casually in comparison to their fancy partner, language. The complexity of language and the mysterious relationship between language and...
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Hearing Two Phonemes
A child who is substituting /w/ for /r/ makes progress producing /r/. He is now using /r/ in initial position in words. Surprisingly, he is also now substituting /r/ for /w/. He is producing “right”...
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Politics of Mastery Charts
Do you have an emotional response to consonant mastery charts for age of acquisition for speech sounds? I do. Just the mere mention of late mastery of sounds makes me bristle. Do you use the Poole...
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Spelling /r/
How do you say, “Squirrel”? Does your pronunciation truly match the spelling of “squirrel”? A bright student and I were practicing the postvocalic /r/ sound in “first”. I re-spelled the word...
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Articulation: Social Belonging and Safety
How do you decide if a child needs articulation therapy? My colleague and I discussed different factors. Does it sound like the child has an accent? A mother shared with me that everyone thinks they’re...
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'Dear Tongue...'
“We need to write a letter to your tongue so that it will know what to do. What directions do we need to give your tongue?” The students generate directions and tips that we write on a card. A “Dear...
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What Did You Learn This Year?
Every school year we learn new things. I recently took a few minutes to ask each student the question, “What have you learned about your talking and your speaking this year?” Here are a few of the...
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Record It
Cell phones and tablets allow for immediate audio and video recording. Students typically begin by making silly recordings of greetings and funny sayings. Since most of us are initially surprised at...
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Rainbow Fairies
Fairies represent magic and wonder. The word “fairy” is a magic because it helps students transition from consonantal /r/ to vocalic /r/. The intervocalic /r/ in medial position allows us to produce...
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Find the Smile
Everyone enjoys something. It might take us a while to find out just what will make another person smile, but if we watch closely, we can find it. Some years ago I was working with a student who had...
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Starting in a New School
Are you new to a school building this year? There are, of course, the obvious tasks: • Make friends with the secretaries and custodial staff • Connect with administration and share how happy you are to...
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Observing the Complexity of Fun
We know that we make positive changes in the lives of our clients, but our work can also make a meaningful difference to the next generation of speech-language pathologists. Many years ago, when I was...
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Tip or Blade for Alveolar Sounds
Tip elevation: Does your tongue tip lift to the top of your mouth, right behind your front teeth, to the little speed bumps of your alveolar ridge? The tip elevates and the right and left surface...
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Articulation Therapy: Inner Voice Recordings
I've had orthodontia for most of my life and still wear a retainer at night. When I was in grade school, I had a palate expander to change the shape of my mouth. A strong wire was connected to the back...
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