Blog #2

My client R. is currently six years, six months old. He has been diagnosed as having delayed speech and language. R. has been in therapy since he was first referred in preschool screening. In the past the clinician has worked on answering “wh” questions correctly and articulation errors, while I am currently working on auditory processing skills and articulation errors with him.
I have been seeing R. since the first week of clinic and his articulation errors have improved greatly. He has gone from working on the correct production of the /f/ phoneme in words to conversation. And we are currently working in the /s/, /r/ and voiced /th/ sounds in sentences.
The /r/ phoneme has been by far the hardest phoneme for R. to master. However, I have found a few techniques that are very helpful. R. substitutes /w/ for /r/ in the initial position of words and I have found that using a mirror to call attention to the puckered lips can be very affective. You ask the client to smile in an exaggerated manner, or inhibit the movement by pushing the upper lip back against the upper teeth with your thumb and forefinger.
Another technique I have used for the /r/ phoneme is to have the client imitate a rooster, siren, or growl like a bear. Also by placing your hand on the top of the child’s head and say, “Try to touch my hand with your tongue as you make the /r/ sound” can be very affective. Obviously, this is impossible to do, but most children get the idea.
Overall, I feel these techniques have been of great help to me, and I have seen a lot of improvement since R. has moved from the /r/ phoneme in the initial position of words to the initial position of words in sentences.

Reference:
Pendergast, K. (1971) Building Good Speech.111,112