Yesterday I shared with you a TON of tips on how to elicit the K & G sounds. Today, I am sharing with you materials and products you can use to treat the K & G sounds in therapy! From books/programs to children’s books to TpT products to apps, there are a lot of fun ways to target these sounds! (This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.)

Visual Aides

As I went over yesterday I use the  Jumbo Mighty Mouth Hand Puppet from SuperDuperInc and I also have used play doh to make a tongue and mold it into the shape it needs to be in for a given sound (you see this on my Tips to Teach the /r/ Post) I like to use the Mini Play-Doh jars, and then give each child their own so they can make their own tongues.

Proprioceptive Elicitation Tools

Yesterday I went over these items. Here are the links for these items again for your convenience.

• Dum Dum Pops  or Tootsie Pop Mini  can be used to touch/rub areas of the mouth to teach placement and awareness and can be used to hold the tongue tip down in the front to prevent the /t/ and /d/ that are typically substituted for the /k/ and /g/.
• Flavored Tongue Depressors can also be used in the same way as DumDums (but I find kids prefer the candy! Way more motivating!)

Books and Programs

• Webber® Jumbo Artic Drill Book on CD-ROM from Super Duper Inc. I have this CD-ROM and use it all the time! Definitely one of the top products I recommend to new SLPs to get you started.
• Easy Does It for Articulation: A Phonological Approach from LinguiSystems. If the child you are working with is fronting his/her velars and is phonological, this is a great program/set of books.
• Say & Glue® Phonology & Artic Fun Sheets from SuperDuper. I like to use these for homework when I am in the schools. I print out enough for my preschoolers based on my monthly themes (like Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Valentines Day, etc) and then I write their target words on the sheets and have the children practice at home.

Children’s Books

Here are some books that can be used in therapy or at home to target the /k/ sound.

• My “K” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
• Little Blue Truck Leads the Way by Alice Schertle
• The Cow That Went OINK by Bernard Most
• Kiss the Cow! by Phylis Root
• Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff
• One Duck Stuck by Phylis Root

And here are some for the /g/ sound:

• My “G” Sound Box by Jane Belk Moncure
• Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker
• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
• Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
• We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen
• Gooey Gummy Geese by Angela Holzer
• The Three Billy Goats Gruff by various authors (linked book by Paul Galdone)

Looking for more book ideas to target speech sounds? Check out Jessica’s book lists at Constantly Speaking.

Cards

Word cards are great to have around. You can grab them and easily incorporate them into a regular kids board game or use them for a game of go fish. I personally have sets for most sounds

• Artic Photos Fun Decks for Articulation from Super Duper Inc. You can get cards for both the /k/ and the /g/.
• Webber® Photo Phonology Minimal Pair Cards – Fronting from Super Duper Inc. These are great minimal pair cards for those fronters on your caseload.

Games

You can use commercially available games to work on targeting the /k/ and /g/ as well. I usually pair some kind of articulation cards with the game as well as having them work on the /k,g/ sounds within the context of the game’s vocabulary. Here are some examples:

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed Game (/k/ medial)
• The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game (/k/ medial, /sk/ blend)
• Toy Story 3 Buckaroo (This game has many opportunities to practice /k/ and /g/)
• MagneTalk /k/ and MagneTalk /g/ magnetic games from Super Duper

Apps

• Articulate It by Smarty Ears This is a general Articulation App that retails for $38.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
• Articulation Station Pro This is another WELL recommended general articulation app that retails for $49.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.

TpT Products

Here are some AWESOME TpT products you can download, print and use today for little to no cost! Some of these I own and have used, others are on my wish list and others have been recommended to me or just looked cool! FREE (Yes FREE!!!) Products

• Caramel Covered K & G Words from SLP Gone Wild (Crazy Speech World) (I have this one…super cute. Would be great for Fall!)
• K Button Articulation and G Button Articulation from Ms. Joceyln
• K Articulation Cookie Game from Speechy Musings
• Articu-Burgers: G from Teach Speech 365
• Three Billy Goats Gruff Game Board from Courtney Gragg

Products for $6.00 and under

• Energizing Robots Articulation Game from The Dabbling Speechie
• Artic Dice 1 by The Buckeye Speech Path (Have this and LOVE it…great for homework or for in sessions)
• Articulation Bingo K & G by Jennifer Bell
• Dinosaur Early Articulation Card Game by Natalie Snyders
• K Workbook and G Workbook by Dean Trout (great for homework)
• Monster Truck Game from SLP Gone Wild (Crazy Speech World) (I have heard great things about this one…it’s on my wish list!)
• Roll It, Say It Keep It by Jennifer Shamberger (I have this too and like it a lot).
• Candyland Articulation Cards from Jenna (Speech Room News)
• K & G Articulation Card Deck from Speechy Musings
• Bubble Gum Articulation Game from Carissa Ten Hoeve (Home Sweet Speech Room)
• Mirror TIC- K & G by Teach Speech 365
• Articulation Phrase Cards by Dean Trout
• Intergalactic Articulation Game  by SLP Gone Wild (I LOVE this one. You can read my post about this game HERE)
• Whack a Sound K, G, F  by Jenna (I have this one, and the kids LOVE it! I have them say “Whack A …” to get in the extra /k/ practice as we play)
• K and G Articulation Homework Packet by Speechy Musings (I have used this one for homework and my clients have enjoyed it!)

So tell me now…what are YOUR favorite resources and products for the K & G sounds? Let me know so I can include them in the post! 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post How To Elicit (Teach) the K & G Sounds {Part Two: Materials and Products for K & G} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Welcome to the next installment of the Eliciting Sounds Series. You can check out the other posts in this series HERE. now, let’s get started on the /k/ and /g/ sounds! (There are affiliate links in this post for your convenience)

MY Tips for Eliciting the K & G Sounds

Here are MY tips for eliciting the /k/ and /g/ sound that I personally have found effective:

• Having the child lean his head back so the tongue slides back to the oral cavity. Sometimes having the child actually lay on his back is needed. 
• For tricky kids who are fronting, I have found that using a Dum Dum or Mini Tootsie Pop to told the tongue tip down and THEN tell the child to make the sound, will allow for the back of the tongue to move up and make the /k/ or /g/ or a close approximation. I learned this trick in grad school and have used it many many times!
• I always use gestural cues to cue children on which sounds we are working on. For the /k/ and /g/ I point to the throat. I will also lean my head back for an additional visual cue to get the tongue back and up.

Visual Aides

Just like for the /r/ sound, a fantastic 3 dimensional visual aide I like to use when teaching sounds is the Jumbo Mighty Mouth Hand Puppet from SuperDuperInc. I also have used play doh to make a tongue and mold it into the shape it needs to be in for a given sound (you see this on my Tips to Teach the /r/ Post)

Proprioceptive Elicitation Tools

You can use some different items to assist in providing a child with some tactile/proprioceptive feedback when teaching the /k/ and /g/. Here are a few examples!

• Dum Dum Pops  or Tootsie Pop Mini  can be used to touch/rub areas of the mouth to teach placement and awareness and can be used to hold the tongue tip down in the front to prevent the /t/ and /d/ that are typically substituted for the /k/ and /g/.
• Flavored Tongue Depressors can also be used in the same way as DumDums (but I find kids prefer the candy! Way more motivating!)

Books That Go Over Elicitation Techniques

• Eliciting Sounds: Techniques and Strategies for Clinicians: I own the original OLD SCHOOL first addition of this book (ok, so I actually copied the book while in graduate school because I was broke but thought it was awesome…). I have heard great things about this book in general and it is on my “wish list.”

Your Fellow SLPs Weigh In: Their Tips

• Lay down on your back. Gravity helps pull the tongue back. ~Jocelyn, New York
• For most students I use a tongue depressor to guide placement of the tongue for /k/, explaining to the student that they need to keep their tongue tip down. For some I have even combined the instruction to put their head back or to make the “throat clearing” sound. Once I am able to elicit a good glottal I teach the student how to use the tongue depressor to elicit the sound independently. We then work on practicing with and without the tongue depressor until the student is able to produce a “good /k/”. For some students this takes quite a while as they need a lot of practice to shape their glottal production into an intelligible production of /k/, working on making sure that the sides of their tongue are on the bottoms of there top teeth. ~Christina, Michigan
• Most effective tip – Use tongue blade to hold down tongue tip; others – have child put head back so that tongue naturally falls back, have child pretend to gargle or growl like a bear ~Paula, West Virginia
• One method – talk about making a “surprise face” (mouth wide open, tongue tip down) and say “aahhhh”.  Then tell the child to keep tongue tip “right where it is” on the bottom teeth, and make the “cough sound” right here, (tapping my throat as a visual). ~Michele, Pennsalvania
• I use a pediatric spoon or tongue depressor (or, in a pinch, cue the student to use his/her own finger) to hold down the front of the tongue while producing /g/ or /k/.  This gets their tongue in appropriate position — back up, front down.  We practice that a few times, then move to producing words while using the prop, so the child can get a feel for how the word should be produced.  This has been successful with my students with hearing impairment, as well! ~Anonymous
• For both /k/ and /g/, I like to use a dum dum sucker. I will put the sucker right on the top of the tongue tip and then push the tongue all the way back so that the back of the tongue is touching the throat. I will have the student say k and g in isolation 5-10 times before I release. Then I will move to the word level and have him say the word a few times with the sucker in his mouth. The goal is to move away from the sucker and have him produce the k and g on his own in isolation before moving to words. ~Brea, Michigan
• Tactile cues, like feeling the throat. Two fingers in the mouth stacked one on top of the other, keeps your mouth open and makes creating an error sound /t/or/d/ difficult, also easy to fade back to one finger in the mouth, then on the lip, then independently. ~SLP, Minnesota
• For most of the young kiddos, I find it helpful to take away from too many “details” regarding phonemic awareness. For example, I work with the birth to three population and discussing “throat” “voice off” “coughing” all the good go-to’s for preschool and up is too complex for the really young ones. Therefore, I sneak it in via “Dino walk!” Walk like a Dino /k/, /k/, /k/…this is an exaggerated walk of course made partially stomping and “crashing” /k/ sound. The kids love it. You can also find an easy template for Dino feet and trace onto foam or simply laminate. Lay the “tracks” down and then let the kids /k/ /k/ /k/ along the way. As they move up to words, put pictures card along the path. ~Anonymous
• I use a dum dum lollipop to.hold the tongue down,push it back, etc. The kids get it and any parents that come in understand and can do the same at.home.   I teach preschoolers so this is usually the older ones ~Lisa, Pennsylvania
• I show them the tip of my tongue and ask them to touch the tip of their own tongues.  Then I tell them that we make /t/ and /d/ with the tips of our tongues. Then I show them the back of my tongue. I also use a mouth puppet called “Mighty Mouth” so they can see and touch the tip and back of the tongue. Then I show them how I can make the back of my tongue touch the top of my mouth and say, /k/ and /g/.  Then I let them try it out on “Mighty Mouth”.  After they do this a few times, I have them try it on their own tongues while looking in a hand held mirror. I’ve also had them fake cough and feel where their tongues touch when that happens and then try the sound at the same spot.  sometimes this works. Also, tipping their heads back while trying to get the back of the tongue up, to the roof of the mouth, works sometimes, too. ~Ann, Massachusetts
• Pretend like you are going to swallow your tongue! (But please don’t: we’ll need that tongue for more talking!) Then try saying the sound you make, way back in your throat. Here, watch me. ~Suz, North Carolina
• I find that targeting /g/ first can help elicit /k/ without direct instruction. ~Aby, Iowa
• Open up the mouth BIG, sometimes hold the chin, demonstrate the movement with my hand, tongue depressers to hold tongue tip down. ~Anonymous
• If a child is fronting their /k/ and /g/ sounds, I use a tongue depressor to hold the tongue tip down so that the back of the tongue moves up and makes contact with the soft palate (instead of the fronting moving up to make contact with the alveolar ridge).  I start at syllable level, then move on to CVC words (that do not contain: blends of the target sounds, the target sound in the position we are not practicing, and /t/ or /d/ sounds).  I slowly reduce the use of the tongue depressor, and try to let the child be as independent as possible using it.  Eventually, I just let the child hold the tongue depressor as a reminder.  This technique works well (at the word level) with kindergarten and first graders I’ve used it with.  It has been a little harder with the preschoolers I’ve worked with. Once the child becomes more proficient at /k/ or /g/ in initial and final positions, I move onto the medial position and multisyllabic words; then onto short phrases, sentences, etc. Some CVC words I like are: /k/ initial Cage, cup, comb, kiss, come; corn, king (although they have blends in other sounds, so it depends on the child); car (if the child has trouble with /r/ sounds I won’t use this word).  CV words I like are: key, cow /k/ final book, shake, bike, back, sick, knock, sock, hike; lick, look, rock, rake (if the child has trouble with /l/ or /r/ sounds I may leave these out). /g/ initial go (CV), gum, gas, game, ghost; goal (leave it out if the child has trouble with /l/) /g/ final egg (VC), hug, bag, mug, pig, big, bug, wig, jog; leg, log, rag, rug (leave out if child has hard time with /l/ or /r/ sounds). I use the cards available at mommyspeechtherapy.com as well as some I’ve made myself and I always try to reinforce with a game (like Chipper Chat by Super Duper) unless I’m doing a 5 minute artic in the hallway. ~Erica, Ohio
• Having the child cough, or lay on floor for gravity to move tongue back for K.  For G have the child pretend they are drinking water. ~Becky, Nebraska
• Coughing works for me. Cough out the word…cough + up = cup ~Anonymous
• 1)  Work on eliciting final /g/ first.  That sound implies the /g/ in all other positions as well as the /k/ sound.  2)  Tip of tongue stays down while back of tongue jumps up to make the /k/ or /g/. 3)  The water drinking sound (imitate gulping water /g/, /g/, /g/) ~Anonymous
• I have students lay down on the floor under a table on their backs.  We shine flashlights up at pictures that I have Velcroed (speling??) or taped underneath the table.  They are usually having so much fun they relax and forget about the sound at times and I have often gotten /k/ in a CV or VC syllable this way! I have had success shaping /k/ from /h/ as well.  The student says an extended /h/ and then coughs and at times an isolated /k/ will pop out. ~SLP, New Hampshire
• My youngest kids like to touch their throat and k k k cough ~Suzanne, Texas
• I use animals cut in half to demonstrate a visual concept of front and back.  Then we talk about front and back sounds we make, which has really been a great initial activity for the beginning of therapy.  I have also had success with having my students use their pointer finger as a ‘hook’ to hold their own tongue tip down while making the /k, g/ in isolation. ~Jenn, Florida
• One thing I stumbled on in desperation that has worked surprisingly well is to have kids produce the sound with their mouths open WIDE. It is more difficult to produce /t/ and /d/ without some degree of lip closure, and easy to produce velar sounds. Also, if fronting does occur, it is very visible in front of a mirror with your mouth wide open! I do this at the word level or at the syllable level, pairing with vowels like /a/ so the mouth can stay open wide for the entire word/syllable. Sounds strange, maybe, but it has worked really well for me for some tricky velar fronters! ~Anonymous
• 1.  Often K is more stimulable than G.  I don’t tell the child we are working on a speech sound; I just tell him we are making a sound.  “Do this!”  Then I make a long, loud KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK sound in the back of my throat with my mouth open and encourage imitation. 2.  If that doesn’t work I have the child watch my mouth and I make the same sound in short bursts.  I have my mouth open slightly so he can see I am not using the tip of my tongue; OR 3.  I have the child do an H sound in a loud, but voiceless, manner: HUH-HUH-HUHKKKKKK.  I attach that KKK to the end of the HUH.  I might tap behind the child’s jaw (TMJ) at the same time to provide some tactile cues. 4. If these don’t work I lie down on my back and have the child do the same so that the tongue wants to move back with gravity.  Repeat step 1. 5.  If the child is making T for K at this point I have the child press the tip of his tongue down while making that exaggerated, crunchy KKKKKKKK sound.  I am still not mentioning K if the child fronts.  Having his mouth open wide makes it harder to do a T if fronting’s an issue. 6.  I use a mirror OR have the child and I look at ourselves in the camera on the iPad at any point where I think it will help. 7.  I sometimes do bombardment, then discrimination, if the child is still not getting a decent K sound, but honestly, I usually get K with Step 1.  For discrimination I use the LinguiSystems Apraxia program manual cues and pictures for T and K. I make a K or T sound and point to the corresponding picture from LinguiSystems for T (ticking clock) and K (dinosaur crunching dry leaves).  Then I start having the child point to answers as I exaggerate the sounds, including an open mouth for K.  Mini milkchocolate M&Ms are often very motivating for close listening. 8.  I may work on K until it’s in all positions of single words 90% while independently naming pictures before starting G, because at that point it’s usually very easy for the child to do. ~Jennifer, Pennsylvania
• Sometimes I try letting my kids try imitating me making noise as I drink juice.  The younger ones have trouble hearing the sound so that helps them hear that /g/  sound and if you try doing it without drinking they realize it is a /g/.  It doesn’t always work but I have had some success with it and the boys love the mess and noise so they don’t feel like it is ‘speech stuff’ ~Cee, North Carolina
• I give them a toy camera and have them lie on their back in bed at night and make the /k/ sound of the camera clicking (old school!). Lie on their back and make a static noise which you can shorten and sharpen.  Once it is sounding like a /k/, I put my hand under their head and slowly bring them up while they keep making the sound.  When it stops being a k (or static) then we go back down and try and get a bit higher next time! Hum happy birthday using mmmmm and then nnnnn and then ng and I can usually get a quick /k/ afterwards! ~Anonymous
• Keep mouth open as wide as possible and try ….gets tip of tongue out of the way.  If old enough, I have them gargle to get used to moving the velum…then “dry gargle”.  Usually I have the parents do this at home as part of teeth brushing time.  Then they can model a/k,g/  with a very wide mouth.  Wierd but works for many!! ~Kristie, Oklahoma
• I use a lollipop as a tongue depressor to hold the child’s tongue down and tell him to make his “back”sound. ~Leslie, Texas
• I have pushed a raisin onto the end of a straight pretzel to create a little “tool” for holding the tongue tip down and pushing gently back to help the child elevate the back of the tongue.  This has worked almost every time to elicit the sound.  Once the child has the feel for the movement needed, he/she can usually replicate it.  And they like eating the “tool”! ~Mary, Washington
• I use dum-dum suckers to elicit the /k/ and /g/ sounds. They are small and fit right behind the bottom teeth and help hold the tongue tip down (and kids don’t mind them like they do tongue depressors). I hold the tongue tip down and have them say /k/. When they are able to do it in isolation, we move to “ke.” It usually only takes a few trials before they remember to keep tongue tip down. I like this much better than laying on their back or other “coughing” type because it doesn’t have the glottal fricative sound that coughing tends to produce. ~Mary, North Dakota
• One thing I have found useful in eliciting /k/ and /g/ sounds is to hold down the tongue tip with a tongue depressor while the child practices the target sounds. Another “trick” is to have the child lie flat on his back while he makes the /k/ and /g/ sounds. This will help the child get a “feel” for the correct placement before beginning sounds in words. ~Leigh, Alabama
• I use a tongue depressor on the tip of the tongue! ~CC from Oregon
• -use a flavored tongue depressor to hold tongue tip down; if no flavored t.d., put a little sugar or pixie stick sugar on it -or use a flat lollipop, pretzel stick, candy cane, toothbrush, etc to hold tip down -have child use their own finger to hold tip down (lots of handwashing needing but gives them control of the situation) -gargle with water then try to “dry” gargle (guh, guh, guh) ~Liz, New York
• Put a dum dum in the bottom of the mouth. It sort of pushes the tongue up and back. I’ve also heard lying on a slight decline (head down) works, but I haven’t personally had success with this. ~Anonymous
• Tongue depressor… Have them say “kangaroo” ~Anonymous
• Have child hold teeth open approx. 1 inch. Keeping teeth open instruct then to imitate your production of the /k/. ~Susan, Indiana
• -Have the child lay on their back on the floor and look up at the ceiling. This position helps to naturally move their tongue in the back of their mouth. -Instead of using a tongue depressor to aid in correct tongue placement for k/g try using a lollipop (I like using Dum-Dum’s because they are cheap and small enough for little mouths). Most of my clients  will work extra hard to say their sound when they are reinforced with candy and it seems less invasive to my kiddos who are anxious about the doctor/anything going in their mouth. ~Olivia, Pennsylvania
• I have used a toothette or even a dum dum lollipop to help keep the front of the tongue down when first targeting the /k/ or /g/ sound in isolation. ~Anonymous
• -If you’re struggling just to elicit any back sounds you can use coughing (especially for /k/), growling (especially for /g/), or dry gargling (for /g/) ~Kelsey
• After teaching auditory discrimination between t/k, I’ve used a tongue depressor and mirror and talked to the studen about how there are tippy sounds like /t/ and throaty sounds like /k/. I’ll have them stick out their tongue while looking in the mirror and touch the tip of their tongue. That’s where we say tippy sounds. They’ll imitate /t/. Then, I’ll touch a little further back (not too far!) and talk about how that part of the tongue makes the throaty sound and I’ll model /k/. I also put my hand on the back of their head and talk about that’s where their tongue goes. We’ll also swallow together and “feel” our tongue hit the “back of our head.” I’ve also had success with having a student either (1) tilt their head back on my hand while swallowing to feel their tongue fall back. They try the sound or (2) lay on the floor and try swallow/feel tongue fall back.David Hammer (a wonderfully amazing SLP with a ton of therapy ideas and information on childhood apraxia of speech) has named this sound the “throaty” sound. I have my students put their hands on their throat while saying their “throaty” sound. He’s come up with clever names for all the speech sounds. ~Anonymous
• This is a tip for eliciting /k/ at the word level in the initial position.  Pairing /k/ with /h/ immediately following results in an easier transition to the vowel, without reverting back to sound in error (works well for fronting).  This also works with /f, s/ if stopping is involved. ~Kyle, Ohio
• I start with /g/ in isolation as something about the voicing makes it clearer.  I am very careful not to call it the “g” sound because kids will automatically do /d/ for that.  I tell them we’re going to do exercises to make their tongue strong.  We do a couple of tongue touches so they get the idea of copying me.  Then I hold the tip of their tongue down with a tongue depressor and have them copy a /g/ sound. I make sure they are opening their mouths as wide as possible. ~Katie, Illinois
• *Use a tongue depressor to hold the tongue tip down and slightly push it back. or *Start with /h/ to get the idea of a back sound.  Then move to “gargling.”  It sounds like a velar fricative.  This can be done with or without water and sounds really harsh on the voice but it’s just temporary.  Next, try to make the gargles shorter.  I’ve found that the shorter bursts get close to /k/ and you can praise the closest until success is achieved. ~Manda, Illinois
• I have a student who is severly apraxic and I had tried everything under the moon to elicit the /k/ and /g/.  Both his first and last name started with /k/.  First I tried having him lay on the floor (I left my door open in case passer by wondered what was up!)  I then used a tongue depressor to help push his tongue back into the proper position.  He didn’t like this, so I had to come up with a different method.  I read about the nutella spot where you take a dab of nutella and place it behind the lower teeth and have them lick it off.  Do this for a week.  The next week tell them to put there tongue at the nutella spot and then have them make the /k/ sound.  We’ve been moderately successful with this technique.  His /k/ is still closer to a velar fricative.  He is so apraxic that he just cannon coordinate his tongue for proper closure.  I’m always searching the net for different ways that I haven’t thought of yet! ~Leanne, Iowa
• Using a dumdum or tongue depressor to push front of tongue down / back of tongue up. Making glug glug sounds (as long as they’re not pharyngeal sounds). Lie on your back on the floor. Look up at the ceiling ~Daphne, Toronto

Links to other Tips and Tricks for K & G

Looking for more? Here are links to other posts on the subject of /k/ and /g/:

• Eliciting Sounds /k/ by Dean
• Therapy Ideas for /k/ and /g/ by Lauren Nelson PhD at Speech Pathology dot com
• Stimulation Ideas for the /k/ and /g/ by Pam Marshalla
• How to Teach the /k/ and /g/ Sounds from Mommy Speech Therapy
• How to Teach the /k/ Sound by Chicago Speech Therapy
• 12 Ways to Teach Your Child the /k/ Sound by Home Speech Home
• How to Elicit the /k/ Sound in Young Children from Speech Language Resources

Check back tomorrow for Part Two, where I share some products, programs and resources for eliciting and treating the K & G! 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post How to Elicit (Teach) the K & G Sounds {Part One: Elicitation Techniques} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

I am constantly looking for new games to play with my clients (and my own children as well). I recently shared with you a new game I love called Tell Tale which is fantastic for story telling and can be used to work on all types of speech and language goals. So I was pretty excited to recently become involved with the company who developed that awesome game, Blue Orange Games. They were kind enough to send me a couple of their products, including their game ChickyBoom, to review and share with you all! Isn’t that awesome!!?? So yes, I received this game at no cost to me to review, but as always I only provide my honest opinions. Also, there are affiliate links to Amazon in this post for your convenience!

What is ChickyBoom?

Chickyboom is a fun wooden game that is great for fine motor, concentration, patience, counting, and requires turn taking and cooperative play skills. The game comes with several chickens, wagon wheels and hay barrels that are balanced on a ramp.

Who is ChickyBoom for?

Chickyboom is great for preschool and up but little ones may need help understanding exactly how to pick the items to remove so that they don’t fall over! We even played it as a family with my 2 year old, by helping show him what pieces to chose.

How Do You Play ChickyBoom?

First you need to stack up all the chickens, wagon wheels and hay barrels on the ramp. Then you balance the ramp on the roof of the barn and players take turns removing items from the ramp VERY CAREFULLY to keep it balanced so that the ramp doesn’t fall over! Each item has a point value as well, so you can choose to keep score for a winner.

Why Do I Love ChickyBoom?

I love Chickyboom for several reasons:

• It is all wood! I LOVE wooden toys and games!
• It honestly is a TON of fun. I played this with some clients as well as my own children and they all loved it. My daughter has asked to play it several more times!
• The game requires some patience and of course turn taking, two skills that many children with speech and language delays are working on as well.
• This is also a great game for fine motor development, which I love to incorporate in my sessions when appropriate as so often as SLPs we work with children who also have fine motor delays. It is wonderful to be able to provide them practice in many developmental domains at the same time.
• Did I mention that it is just PLAIN FUN?

My Tips for Using ChickyBoom for Therapy/Home Speech Practice

There are a few ways you can use Chickyboom for your speech sessions or with your child on home practice

• You can pass out the pieces to all players. Have each player work on their goal (say words, sentences, etc) so many times and then have him/her stack their items on the rack. When all the items are stacked, balance the rack on the barn and play the game in the same way. 
• You can already have the game set up (rather than having the children help as they work) and play the game in the same fashion, while having children practice their goals as you go.
• If working with an articulation group, you can add a die (or two) to the mix. Have the children roll the dice first, and then say their words that many times before they take a turn.
• I usually do not keep score in games that I play in speech, because some children can get really competitive and unless a child’s goal is learning how to lose gracefully (which, I have worked on in the past with students) I just avoid the winner/loser issues since the real purpose of being there is to learn and meet their speech/language goals. However….this game does have a point system of you would like to keep track.
• For parents, if your SLP has sent home some flashcards to help practice some words, this would be a great game to play. Have your child practice saying each word 10 times before they take a turn, or take a word and put it into a sentence or two (depending on their skill level, your SLP should let you know).

Would I Recommend This Game?

YES! I would. I DO. My clients and own children love it.

Where Can I Buy Chickyboom?

You can buy this game at Amazon, or at other Blue Orange Games retailers (you can search for them HERE)

So tell me, have you ever played this game, or another game by Blue Orange Games? What is your favorite? So far I am loving all the games from them I have played!

The post Chickyboom (TM) Game Review appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Yesterday I shared with you a TON of tips on how to elicit the /r/ sound. Today, I am sharing with you materials and products you can use to treat the /r/ sound in therapy! From manipulative devices to books to programs to TpT products, there are a lot of fun ways to target this sound! (This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.)

Visual Aides

As I mentioned yesterday, many of the books/programs that I share below have visual aides to help you show children how to produce the /r/. I LOVE the  Jumbo Mighty Mouth Hand Puppet from SuperDuperInc and use it ALL THE TIME.

Proprioceptive Elicitation Tools

Yesterday I went over all these items. Here are the links for these items again for your convenience.

• Speech Buddies: Commercially available manipulation devices
• Tongue LifteR: Commercially available manipulation devices, similar to Speech Buddies (well, similar in nature..I have never used either so I have NO idea how they really compare to each other!).
  

  The Tongue-LifteR 2

• Dental Floss Method: Pam Marshalla shares information on how to use a dental floss pick to help manipulate and position the tongue. Click the link for more information or pick up her book Successful R Therapy
• Pam Marshalla’s Cake Decorator Tips: Pam Marshalla shares her tips on using these to elicit speech sounds…you can read her tips on her Facebook Page
• Dum Dum Pops or Tootsie Pop Mini can be used to touch/rub areas of the mouth to teach placement and awareness.
• Flavored Tongue Depressors can also be used in the same way as DumDums (but I find kids prefer the candy! Way more motivating!)

Books and Programs

There are many books and programs out there on the subject of the /r/. I personally own several different items and use aspects of ALL of them in my sessions when working on the /r/. Here are some that I recommend or your fellow SLPs have recommended.

• Successful R Therapy: Fixing the Hardest Sound in the World by Pam Marshalla. As I have mentioned before..this is the most comprehensive book on how to elicit the /r/ sound that I have ever read. There is a TON of information in this book! This is not a “program” like some of the others I am going share, but rather a book full of information to help you understand why a child is having difficulty producing the sound and how to teach the sound. According to the description on Amazon: “Excellent for student and professional SLPs. Facilitate correct R in the most difficult clients with this unique blend of oral-motor and traditional articulation therapy. Understand how the jaw, lips, and tongue work for correct R production. Understand the difference between the Consonantal and the Vocal R, and between a Tip R and a Back R. Motivate clients to participate and succeed in R therapy.” GREAT read, and I highly recommend it.
• The Entire World of /r/ Series by Christine Ristuccia and others from Say it Right. I have some of the books in this program and love them! This program breaks down the /r/ into the different types which I find is the best way to tackle this sound.
• Step up to /r/ by Leslie Sparkuhl from LinguiSystems. I just heard about this program, but have not used it yet. According to the description: “The programmed approach combines the best features from the Modified Cycles Approach (Hodson & Paden, 1990), the Sensory Motor Approach (McDonald, 1964), and Motor Learning Theory (Skelton, 2004) to help students master all the variants of /r/  and vocalic /r/ production.  Use it for pull out sessions and to meet the needs of groups with varying levels of competency.”
• Vocalic R to Go by Beverly Plass from LinguiSystems: I have this workbook and use it all the time when working on vocalic /r/. This is another that separates the /r/ into the different vocalic /r/ types.
•  Turn and Talk R by SuperDuperInc: This is a flip book that can be used to work on /r/.
• Let’s Hear it for /r/! This is a Webinar provided by Dawn M. Moore, CCC-SLP. You can check out the handout and info on the course by following the link and scrolling down to the “Articulation Information.” This method uses coarticulation  to address the /r/ and I have used Dawn’s method’s in my sessions as well.

Kids Books

• The Pirate Who Couldn’t Say Arrr! This is such an adorable book written by Angie Neal, MS CCC-SLP. Miss Speechy at Speech Time Fun shares how she uses this fantastic book in therapy. Check out her post HERE.

Cards

• Webber Vocalic /r/ Photo Cards: These are great for working on the different vocalic /r/ sounds.

Apps

if you’ve been following along a while, you KNOW that I don’t do apps! So I asked some of my fellow SLPs to weigh in on these and here are some that were recommended:

• R Intensive by Smarty Ears This one was recommended several times and it looks like it retails for $19.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
• R app by Pocket SLP This one retails for $4.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and the iPad.
• Articulate It by Smarty Ears This is a general Articulation App that retails for $38.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.
• Articulation Station Pro This is another WELL recommended general articulation app that retails for $49.99 and is available on the iPhone, iTouch and iPad.

TpT Products

I have just started getting into TpT more, and there are SO MANY awesome products our fellow SLPs create and sell there! Here are a few to choose from…some I have used (with a different sound set) or were recommended to me.

FREE Products

• Rainy Day /r/ Articulation by Carrie of Carrie’s Speech Corner
• Vocalic R Cards from Carissa

Paid Products (All under $5.00)

• “Art of R” Card Game by Natalie Snyders
• R Bingo by Jenn from Crazy Speech World (SLP Gone Wild) Who doesn’t love Bingo?? I like to use mini M&Ms as markers…super motivating!
• Whack a Sound by Jenna of Speech Room News I have used this game with a different sound set and my clients have LOVED IT.
• Mirror-TIC R by Teach Speech 365 of Teach Speech 365
• Rattlesnake Roundup R by Mrs.Tslp
• Match it Quick- Vocalic R by Courtney of PSST…Let’s Talk
• Artic Dice 6: Vocalic R by The Buckeye Speech Path. I have not used this specific set of artic dice but I have used other sets by this creator and I love using them both in the speech room (you can laminate them) or as homework.

So tell me now…what are YOUR favorite resources and products for the /r/ sound? Let me know so I can include them in the post! 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post How to Elicit (Teach) the /r/ Sound {Part Two: Materials and Products for /r/} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Oh that /r/. The DREADED /r/. This is the sound that gets so many of us SLPs all annoyed because it can be so darn hard to teach. Today, I am going to share with you MY tips for eliciting the /r/, talk about some “devices” you can use to elicit the /r/ and then we will “hear” from your fellow SLPs who weighed in on this subject as well. Then tomorrow check back for Part Two where I will share some great products and programs you can use to elicit and treat the /r/ sound. (FYI There are affiliate links in this post to Amazon for your convenience)

MY Tips for Eliciting the /r/ Sound

I actually already wrote an entire post on this. As one of my most popular posts of all time, you can read it HERE. I use a combo of all SORTS multi sensory methods to elicit the /r/ and I share them in that post! So get your mirrors, play dough, and DumDums out and check it out!

Visual Aides

Many of the books/programs that I will be sharing tomorrow provide visual aides to help you show children how to produce the /r/. However another fantastic 3 dimensional visual aide I like to use (as you will read in my post linked above) is the Jumbo Mighty Mouth Hand Puppet from SuperDuperInc.

Proprioceptive Elicitation Tools

You also can buy commercial devices or household items to help you elicit the /r/ sound. Here are a few examples!

• Speech Buddies: You have probably heard of these devices. They are pretty darn pricey, and I always hear mixed reviews on them in general. However several SLPs have done reviews on them recently, and you may want to check out the reviews and keep these in the back of your mind for *that one* kid that you just CAN’T get to produce the /r/. Check out the reviews at Speech Room News, If Only I had Super Powers, Speech Snacks,  Major Speech Pathology Fun, Smart Speech Therapy,
• Tongue LifteR: I just learned about this little device from a fellow SLP. It seems similar to the Speech Buddies device but significantly cheaper. if you have ever tried this one, let me know in the comments!!
• Dental Floss Method: Pam Marshalla shares information on how to use a dental floss pick to help manipulate and position the tongue to elicit the /r/. Click the link for information, or pick up her book Successful R Therapy for more information.
• Pam Marshalla’s Cake Decorator Tips Pam Marshalla shares her tips on using these to elicit speech sounds…you can read her tips on her Facebook Page.
• Dum Dum Pops or Tootsie Pop Mini can be used to touch/rub areas of the mouth to teach placement and awareness.
• Flavored Tongue Depressors can also be used in the same way as DumDums (but I find kids prefer the candy! Way more motivating!)

Books That Go Over Elicitation Techniques

• Successful R Therapy: Fixing the Hardest Sound in the World by Pam Marshalla (pictured to the right). This is by far the most comprehensive book on the /r/ that I have ever read. I HIGHLY recommend this book!
• The Entire World of R Book of Elicitation Techniques: I don’t own this book, but I do own some the Entire World of /r/ program and like the products.
• Eliciting Sounds: Techniques and Strategies for Clinicians: I own the original OLD SCHOOL first addition of this book (ok, so I actually copied the book while in graduate school because I was broke but thought it was awesome…). I have heard great things about this book in general and it is on my “wish list.”  

Your Fellow SLPs Weigh In: Their Tips

A few months ago I posted a survey, and a bunch of my fellow SLPs were kind enough to participate by leaving their tips to eliciting the /r/ sound. I went ahead and just copied their responses word for word here, so there be some overlap but with slightly different twists. The biggest recommendation I can make to those of you new to the /r/ is that there is no one size fits all way to elicit the /r/. You may have some tricks that work for most students, but then you’ll have that one that just will challenge you! Here are the tips from your fantastic fellow SLPs who took the time to fill out the survey’s:

• I usually teach a bunched /r/ by prompting the student to say /gr/ and hold out the /r/. I explain that the tongue tip needs to be down behind the front teeth and the sides pressed along their top back teeth. To teach a retroflexed /r/ I have students glide their tongue tip back along the roof of their mouth as they prolong the sounds in “ear”. Again they need to make sure their tongue tip is up, and the sides are pressed along the insides of their top teeth. We play with movement of the tongue forward and back in the mouth until we find their “best /r/”. ~Christina from Michigan
• I find this sound tends to be more individualistic in that you have to find the technique that works for each child.  For some kids, instructions to “smile”  (to get away from /w/) and “raise the back of the tongue” (along with cueing that by saying /k,g/) is enough.  For kids that can do “er”, I have them say an initial /r/ word by stretching out “er” (ex. “errring”) and then fading that stretch until there is just an initial /r/ sound.  Can’t wait to hear more techniques, especially for specific /r/ vowels.  I have a few kids who have an initial /r/, but are struggling with “er.” ~ Paula from West Virginia
• Lift tongue tip up to the alveolar ridge to produce /l/. Then, run your tongue along the roof of your mouth. Should produce, “ler.” ~ Jocelyn from New York
• I had the best success with a kiddo by first having him growl like a bear — the /g/ provided a facilitating context for producing /r/.  We worked from there, first attaching /g/ to the beginning of words, then slowly working away from initial /g/ by moving to voiceless /k/ then letting that get quieter and quieter until it was gone and the child was producing initial /r/ appropriately.  Once we got that, it seemed he was able to work more productively at initial and final /r/ production. ~Anonymous
• I draw the image of a train and train tracks, and then I teach the student that his upper teeth are like train tracks and his tongue is the train. The train wheels (the sides of his tongue) need to be steady on the tracks in order to move easily (same with his speech). ~Brea from Michigan
• Teach the retroflex version for challenging students with R. Instruct them to put their tongue up to alveolar ridges, slide it across the roof of the mouth so curled backwards, and make an easy smile….”ER”-Shape challenging vocalic R  from a good pre-vocalic R by saying “ruh” at the end of a vocalic R word. Say car”ruh”, (for “car”) so that it makes the vocalic R sound correct. Fade out the “ruh” gradually by changing it to a whisper, and then just mouthing it. ~Natalie
• When helping a child elicit the /r/ in the initial position, I have them watch my lips first and then to try the same thing on themselves with a hand held mirror. I tell them that they push out their lips and make an “O” when saying /w/ and that they make a square with their lips when making an /r/ sound.  Then I tell them to make the growling bear sound, while pushing their lips out, touching their teeth together and making a square with their lips….not an “O” or it will become a /w/ sound. This growling bear sound also works when the say /r/ in the final and medial positions. ~Ann from Massachusetts 
• Quick tip-I worked with one elementary school age (3rd grader) and she persisted in gliding all r’s.  I figured out that if she smiled (think big grin) when she said the r she had more success and her tongue was also further back in the mouth.  She liked this cue and it seemed to reduce her stress about not having her tongue in the correct spot. ~Carolyn from North Carolina
• I elicit the /er/ sound by telling students to “tickle your big teeth up in the back of your mouth (they’re called “molars”) with the sides of your tongue. Can you do it? Eeek! I can! Now…say “errrrrrrrr”  like a lion growling, or “arrrrrrrrrr” like a pirate. ~Suz from North Carolina
• 1. Without producing phonation, slide the tongue tip back along the roof of the mouth from behind the front teeth to the back of the hard palate (a mirror helps). Practice until the student can do it easily. 2. Now practice the same movement again without the tongue tip touching the roof of the mouth (still no phonation). Practice until the student is comfortable making the movement. 3. Next, practice the movement from step 2, this time with phonation. The student should hear his sound moving from an /l/ approximation to an /r/. It helps if I use some sort of signal when I hear the sound change to an /r/. Eventually the student should be able to hear himself when the production changes to /r/. ~Abby from Iowa
• 1)  Remind students that this is a tongue sound, not a lip sound. 2)  Have the students press the sides of the back of their tongue against the sides of the top, back teeth. ~Anonymous
• 4 steps:  1. stong tongue, 2. bring it back, 3. tongue tip up 4. make your mouth like a square (tiger growl) Make your tongue into a “tongue taco” Say the /l/ while you pain the roof of your mouth with your tongue…transitioning to an /er/ sound ~Anonymous
• Pretend the bottom of your top teeth is a train track and the sides of your tongue are the train. Slide your “train” back as far as it can go on the tracks while keeping your tongue tip high in your mouth. A visual aid is definitely helpful! Say /l/  and move your tongue back on the roof of your mouth to produce /r/. ~Anonymous
• Growling like a bear is the most fun or arrr like a pirate ~Suzanne from Texas
• Smiling!  This is my favorite trick to illicit initial /r/ for kids who substitute /w/.  Sliding the tongue from /l/ back to /r/ ~Jenn from Florida
• Probably used by many SLPS, but honestly I have had the most success with the “tongue sweep” method, starting with /l/ and sweeping the tongue back along the palate to /r/. I always try the bunched production first, with lots of cues to lift the back of the tongue, but when that isn’t working after a lot of effort, I go to retro flex with a lot of success. ~Mary from Tennessee
• There are 2 types of /r/ phonemes. The initial and blend and the vowel. The initial I tell the kid to 1.  Smile, 2.  Put tongue back, 3.  Make a sound in their throat. I never tell them to “make the /r/ sound” because they will immediately round their lips as a habit.  I pretend that its a new sound.  I then have the student combine the new sound with syllables and move to words after that. Blends I introduce afterwards and I explain to the student that if they are producing the /gr/,/kr/, /br/ and /pr/ to have their tongue back in the /r/ position while producing the first sound. For /tr/ /str/ and /thr/ I tell them to produce the first sound then “whip” the tongue back into the /r/ position. For vowel /r/ I use my hand as a visual aid. I hold my hand flat and palm up. I tell the kids that OT is like their tongue when it is flat. I say “eeeee” then as I fold my fingers up I curl my tongue back and say ” ear”. I have the student practice that while smiling to keep the lips from helping. I also play “eee”, freeze and scratch. I have the kid say “eee” ther pull the tongue back until I hear the vowel /r/ then I tell them to freeze in that position. I then tell them to move the tongue against the inside of the upper teeth ~Charity from South Florida
• To elicit the /r/ sound, I have the children hold their hands together (like when praying), and have them put their hands under their chin but slightly back to where they can place their “tall man” fingers lightly where the back of their tongue is and to gently push up. This helps give a tactile cue to the students to raise the back of the tongue to produce a good /r/ sound. ~Terri from Brooklyn, NY
• I take a tongue depressor and ‘scratch’ the hard palate just above the left and right side molars. Then I scratch the sides of the student’s tongue to show them where the sides of the tongue should touch the inside sides of the molars.. To do that, the tongue pulls back slightly. Then curl the tongue tip up and back.     Sounds crazy but it works for most of my kids! ~Joan from New Jersey
• With older children I talk about making a /z/ sound and then leaving the tongue pressed up against the back molars and pulling the tongue back slightly and making a vowel sound.  I usually model this with playdough and my hand! ~Anonymous
•  I like to start by having the child produce a long e sound…explained the structures and how they feel.  I tell them the tongue is the train and upper teeth are tracks.  They say /i/ then slide the train..tongue..back 2or 3 teeth..but keeping it on the tracks.  This allows for tongue stabilization at the back teeth and ensures they keep a “big, flat” tongue shape.  If that doesn’t work, I often find that the child is quickly able to get a retro.flex “curled” tongue /r/.  I have them hold a straw with the tongue curled under and around it when horizontal.  Then they use the straw to touch “just behind the bump” meaning alveolar ridge.  Then t touch that a few times with tongue tip, then act like they are holding the straw with the tip”almost touching the spot”.   Sounds crazy but it works, frequently on the first or 2nd try.  Wish I could SHOW you. ~Kristie from Oklahoma
• I usually start with a lot of mirror work first.  I explain to them to make the /r/ sound with their tongue and not their lips.  I give them verbal cues to lift their tongue up and back.  Sometimes sliding the tongue back from /l/ to /r/ helps.  Lots of minimal pairs of /w/ and /r/. ~Leslie from Texas
• We work on “puffy” tongue by using a mirror and lots of examples. Then concentrate on the /ah/ sound with a puffy tongue. Move from there to puffy tongue + vowels, then puffy tongue + vowel + consonant, then finally shape it into an /r/! ~CC from Oregon
• I use the /k/ and /l/ to help the tongue move back and up for placement… I have kids start by imitating /ka/ several times then I have them move their tongue from the back to front to produce the /la/…. Sounds like kala. After several productions of that… I move into the /r/. It sounds like /karla/… After I hear a good /r/ I fade out the /l/ and end up with car! Works just about every time… Pretty quickly too! ~Anonymous 
•  I’m a SLP in Sweden. Although the Swedish /r/ is slightly more forward placed than the English I think that this might work for eliciting the English (prevocalic) /r/ as well: I ask my children to buzz like a bee “bzzz” and move their tongue inwards/backwards while buzzing until they reach the r-sound. If need be I show them the tongue movement we are after with my hand and/or clay. ~Elivira from Sweden
• I have noticed that many of my /r/ kids don’t know proper placement for articulators when they start with me in 4th grade, even if they have been in speech since Kindergarten. The FIRST thing we do is an activity learning about our articulators and when and why we use them. For /r/ I encourage them to stop the lip rounding that turns /r/ to /w/, and we do minimal pairs with /l/ and /r/ noticing that the tongue is in the back or front of the mouth. We also do alot of the slides from /l/ to /r/ on the roof of the mouth to feel the difference and change sounds. I think the key to /r/ is manipulating sounds until you hit the jackpot! ~Sam from South Dakota
• Placing a tongue depressor across the child’s mouth and having them bite down. Then have them try “gr” words since “g” places the tongue in the proper spot. ~Anonymous
• At my clinic we have the child practice using “angry doggy” sound (grrr). He must show his top and bottom teeth. We start with “gr” blends in words. The pitch must go up at the end. We have the child say a word three times in unison with the SLP and then three times by themselves. ~Mehren from Texas
• I learned this key word from someone, “lacree” which helps to elicit /r/. My best luck with /r/ has been drilling rules every session. Tongue up, tongue back, back lateral sides touching upper molars, tongue tight. With these rules and then some discussion about where the tip is, either bunched or retro flex I am getting correct productions. A colleague of mine cues her kids to think of the tongue as surfing and not sunbathing to visualize the tightness.  She has icon visuals too! ~Kyle from Ohio
• “make a smile to help pull the tongue to the correct position” ”point your tongue tip towards the bumpy space behind your top front teeth” ~Anonymous
• I begin by showing the student a picture of the tongue with a cut view of the muscles.  I tell them that each of those muscles does something different.  Then I have them do a series of tongue movements.  For students who claim they can’t curl their tongue, I take a flavored tongue depressor and tell them the tongue depressor is a hot dog and their tongue is the hot dog bun.  By pressing  gently down the center of the tongue, I am able to get the student to curl the tongue.  This also works if I want them to curl the tongue tip up.
• My first step is telling students to put their tongues “up, back, and fat” to elicit “er”.  The tip of the tongue goes up and back and the sides of the tongue become fat, that is, they touch the top teeth on each side (I always point to the sides of my tongue and to the place where they are supposed to go). ~Anonymous
• Place a /g/ in front of it and have child say “grrrrr”, then words ending in /er/ such as “teachgrrr” “teacherrrr”. Have child push up off chair to gain tension often lacking Practice “eureka”, “you’re-right”, “you’re-reading”, etc. “eureka” Use dumdum to push tongue up+back and round tip of tongue around ~Daphne from Toronto
• My tips for eliciting /r/ are things I have collected from other therapists or resources.  I would recommend getting the Entire World of R screener and book on eliciting /r/ because it breaks down the different types of /r/ and you can usually find a context in which the student can correctly produce /r/.  I believe the company is Say It Right.  I have also used dental floss and had the student rub the dental floss on their tongue and then try to lift the dental floss behind their back molars with their tongue.  This helps get their tongue back in the position for the /r/.  Hope that helps! ~Felice from California

• One trick that has worked really well to elicit /r/ is to have them make the /zh/ sound (as in the middle sound in the word ‘treasure’).  I ask the student to tell me what the various parts of the tongue are doing when he/she is doing this: what are the side edges, the center, the tongue tip, and the top edges.  I also explain that they need to keep the tension in the tongue and that they need to slide, not drop, the tongue back to a position just behind the alveolar ridge.  Then, when that has been done, he needs to curl the tongue tip up and back.

  For me, the most important part of this entire process is carefully listening to the child, imitating what he is doing, and then figure out what he needs to do to go from that point to the /r/.  I then explain all that to him.  I also use a model of the human mouth to show what the tongue needs to do.

  For some students, it is easier to get to /r/ using /sh/, the voiceless version of /zh/.  I have also used /i/ to /r/ and /l/ to /r/, but the most successful phoneme has been /zh/.

  I also explain to the student the importance of lip position, and tension in the tongue in maintaining the /r/.

  Many of my students tend to drop the tongue away from the /zh/ position as they move the tongue back.  What occurs is a loosening of the tension and a flattening of the tongue, thus losing the slight curve down the center of the tongue.  I explain to the student what he has done that prevents him from reaching /r/ and how to maintain the correct positioning.

  I do one other thing that I believe helps to encourage the student.  I use a system I call the “Shadow /r/”.  I tell the student there are three stages to reaching /r/.  The first is the “shadow /r/”.  In this stage the student is no longer articulating a pure /w/, but has begun to move the tongue into a position that is neither /w/ nor /r/.  If the SLP listens very closely, she/he will begin to hear the student beginning to move toward the /r/.  The second stage is one I call the “close” /r/.  The student is beginning to get very close to /r/, but has not yet articulated a true /r/.  The final stage is one I call the “target /r/.”  This is where the student reaches the goal of correctly articulating /r/.  I use this system because it encourages the student that he is on the right path, and that, although he may not have reached the /r/ yet, he is on his way toward it.

  This sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is.  I do hope it helps other SLPs. ~Linda from California

Links to other Tips and Tricks for the /r/

Looking for MORE tips? Here are some links to come other posts on the subject:

• A Collection of Approaches to the /r/ Sound Compiled by Judy Kuster
• How to Teach the /r/ Sound by Mommy Speech Therapy
• How to Teach the /r/ Sound by The Speech Mama
• How to Teach the /r/ Sound by Chicago Speech Therapy
• Eliciting Sounds /r/ by Two Gals Talk About…Speech Therapy 
  
• Tips, Tricks and and a Handy Tool for Teaching the /r/ Sound by Gordy Rodgers at Mommy Speech Therapy

Check back tomorrow for Part Two, where I share some products, programs and resources for eliciting and treating the /r/!  Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post How to Elicit (Teach) the /r/ Sound {Part One: Elicitation Techniques} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

 Today is National Childhood Apraxia Awareness Day!

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder that significantly impacts a child’s ability to communicate. To celebrate this day of awareness, I’m sharing with you all the post I wrote on CAS as well as some links to other helpful information.

What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech?

This is an excerpt from my CAS post: Childhood Apraxia of Speech, or CAS, is a motor speech disorder. Children with CAS have difficulty producing sounds, syllables and words. For reasons unknown, the brain has difficulty with planning and executing the fine motor movements needed for speech. The child knows what he wants to say, but the brain is having difficulty coordinating or “talking to” if you will, the parts of the parts of the body that are used to produce speech sounds (i.e. the vocal folds, lips, jaw, tongue and palate). Basically the part of the brain that is responsible for controlling the parts of the body responsible for speech production is either not fully developed or damaged. CAS is NOT due to muscle weakness or paralysis (which is seen in another motor speech disorder, dyarthria) and the child should have no issues with spontaneous non speech movements like coughing, laughing, chewing or swallowing.

To read more from my post on CAS, click on the image below.

CAS Resources:

• I HIGHLY recommend the book  (affiliate link ->) Speaking of Apraxia: A Parents’ Guide to Childhood Apraxia of Speech if you suspect your child has CAS.
• The Childhood Apraxia of Speech Association of North America (CASANA) has a parents start guide HERE for parents just starting on their CAS journey
• CASANA has an SLP start guide for SLPs and SLP students HERE who want to learn more about CAS
• CASANA has a whole Apraxia Library HERE packed with a TON of information
• CASANA has downloadable information HERE for both parents and SLPs
• The American Speech-Language Hearing Association has some information HERE
• Caroline Bowen, PhD  SLP’s website has info HERE

Questions? Comments? Please let me know!

The post Childhood Apraxia of Speech Awareness Day 2013 appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Welcome to the third installment of What You Can Expect from Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents}. In the last installment, we talked about how you can go about getting your child a speech and language assessment. Now that you have decided where you will start this journey (early intervention, school district, private practice or through a hospital/medical clinic) what will this assessment process look like? What will happen and how can you prepare?

How You Can Prepare for the Assessment

Before your assessment, there are a few things you can do to prepare yourself and your child. Here are some general recommendations:

• Have any and all paperwork completed before the assessment (if this is option). This allows the SLP to be able to go over the information you provide and ask you any follow up questions. You will receive some sort of health and development questionnaire and your answers to these questions can really help your SLP get to know your child and his history. 
• If possible, let the SLP know ahead of time about your child’s interests. This can help the SLP plan appropriate activities that will allow your child to feel comfortable and help your child build trust in this new person.
• If you have a young child under age 5, you may want to let them know that a special friend will be playing with them (either in your home or in their office, depending on the location of the assessment). If you know the SLPs name ahead of time you can share that with your child as well. I usually advise my clients/parents of young children to let their child know they will be playing and talking to “Miss Katie.”
• Make sure your child is healthy and (hopefully) gets enough rest before the assessment. Sick children don’t do well being assessed.
• If your child is being assessed in the schools, you can let your child know that he/she will be pulled out of class to talk to {insert name of SLP} so she can listen to his/her speech and language skills. The SLP will also go help explain to your child what is going on, but it is always good to have these open conversations with your child and allow them to ask any questions they may have.

The Screening

A Common First Step is a SCREENING

Many times, before your child is given a full speech and language assessment, your child will first be screened by a speech pathologist. A screening usually consists of a short (20 minutes or so) meeting with your child (and yourself, if appropriate) where he will be asked to repeat some words and answer some questions and take part in a short conversation. This also may include a short observation of your child in the classroom (if your child is school aged). The information from this short meeting and any observations will help determine if an assessment is indeed indicated.

Screenings are usually the first step in the assessment process in the schools and in early intervention. In fact some schools will do school wide speech and language screenings for incoming kindergardeners. In some areas, private practices or medical/hospital clinics will offer free speech and language screenings to the public as well. There is even an SLP who comes to my daughter’s private preschool every year that does speech and language screenings for a small fee.

After the Screening: What Happens at the Assessment

After a screening, if indicated you will be off for a full assessment. Regardless of the setting of the assessment, you can expect the basic following things during the assessment process:

• Paperwork: Your SLP will be giving you some paperwork to fill out either before the assessment or during. Forms may include a health and development form (to provide her with as much background information as possible about your child’s development), a release of information form (to give her permission to communicate with other professionals if needed like your pediatrician, preschool teacher, other therapists, etc), and a permission to assess form (written permission to assess your child). There may be other informational and legal paperwork as well depending on the setting of your assessment.
• Parent Interview: The SLP will want to talk to you about your child, your concerns, and and go over the health and development form to gather as much information as possible about your child’s current levels of functioning and health background. The SLP will also want to know what YOUR concerns are for your child and why. 
• Teacher/Caregiver/Other Specialists Interview(s): With your permission, the SLP may interview your child’s teacher(s), daycare provider, and any other specialists your child may already have a relationship with (occupational therapist, physical therapist, pediatrician, neurologist, etc). These professionals may have valuable information for the SLP in regards to your child’s development.
• Observations at School/Daycare: With your permission, your SLP may ask to observe your child in different natural environments to gather more information about his/her speech, language and communication skills. I did preschool observations a LOT when I was still working in the school setting. I find these observations SO valuable in regards to seeing firsthand how a child uses his/her communication skills in different environments. Usually this is also the time the SLP will interview your child’s teacher/caregivers.
• Observations/interactions with the child: The SLP will observe your child and will interact/play with your child to both build rapport and to begin to observe your child’s speech, language and communication skills. These interactions can look like she is “just playing” or “just talking” to your child, but the SLP is observing and taking note of specific skills your child is using.
• Oral Motor Exam: The SLP will attempt to do an evaluation on your child’s oral motor abilities. She will look in your child’s mouth and ask him/her to do different movement with his/her lips, tongue, and jaw to check to make sure he/she has adequate strength, control and mobility of the oral structures for speech. I use the word “attempt” because sometimes kids just do not participate in these activities, but the SLP will do his/her best to gather information about your child’s oral motor skills.
• Speech and Language Sample: The SLP will either write down or record a short sample of your child’s speech (if your child is verbal) to later analyze, looking to see what kinds of words he uses, how many he can put together, analyze his/her syntax and semantics skills, general vocabulary use, etc.
• Formal/Standardized Assessment Measures: The exact formal/standardized assessments that your child will participate in depend on your child’s age and suspected needs (I cover these below). Formal/standardized assessments are those that are designed to compare your child’s abilities to other children of their same chronological age. The results of these assessments (along with all the other information above) help the SLP determine if your child has delays in his/her speech or language skills and if so, how severe.
• Informal Assessment Measures: Informal assessment measures refer to the activities and interactions the SLP does with your child that do not involve a standardized measure as mentioned above. This includes some “games” or “play” and conversations that happen within the session. During these activities, the SLP is taking careful note of how your child is communicating and interacting with those around him. Though you may think the SLP is just “playing and talking” to your child, in reality these activities often give SLPs the most valuable information during the assessment process!

What Will the Speech Pathologist be Looking For? What Areas Will Be Assessed?

The exact assessments your child will participate in will depend on what the suspected areas of weakness are. However in all speech and language assessments the SLP will be looking at the following skills, either formally or informally:

• Articulation/Phonological Skills: How your child can physically produce and sequence speech sounds and your child’s speech intelligibility. For more information on articulation/phonology, check out my post HERE.
  
• Oral Motor Skills: How well your child can move and coordinate the lips, tongue, jaw and other oral motor muscles required for speech production as well as to check the strength of these mechanisms.
• Receptive and Expressive Language: What your child can understand and what he says. For more information on the definition of language, please read by post HERE.
• Pragmatic Language/Behavior skills: These are also known as social skills or social language. This looks at how your child USES language to communicate and if he/she can use language appropriately in different situations. For little ones, we look to see if the child uses language to request, protest, initiate interactions, ask questions to gain information, etc. We also look at how children use eye contact and body language to communicate as well as how the child interprets  OTHER people’s body language and nonverbal communication.
• Speech Fluency: This refers to how fluent a child’s speech is. Is there stuttering behavior present? You can read more about stuttering HERE.
• Voice Quality: Lastly, the SLP will be listening to your child’s voice to make sure his/her voice quality is healthy and free from horseness, nasality, etc.

Special Considerations

I mentioned the use of standardized/formal and informal assessments above. It is important to know, that sometimes standardized/formal assessments are not appropriate or even possible to administer, at least not “correctly” for some children. Many assessments are very specific in how they are to be administered (like with specific wording, few or no repetitions, no additional cuing, etc) in order for the score to be valid. There are many children with special needs that simply cannot participate in the test in the way it was designed. In these cases, the SLP may depend solely on informal assessment measures or the SLP may still administer some formal assessments but with modifications. Though modifications will void the validity of the standardized score, an SLP can still gain a great deal of valuable information about a child’s speech, language and learning skills by using the standardized assessment in a non standardized fashion.

Timelines: How Long Does All This Take?

It is important to know, that assessments don’t happen overnight. When you are dealing with public services (like Early Intervention or the School District) there are legal timelines they must follow from the time you ask for an assessment until actually have an assessment and then until you have a meeting to determine eligibility. The exact timelines vary from state to state so I ENCOURAGE YOU to do your research to make sure you stay on top of the timeline in case the agency you are working with slips up. Here in California, for example, a school district has 60 days to perform an assessment once you have signed the consent to assess.

If you are seeing out an assessment by a private practice, you may have to deal with wait lists and with medical/hospital services you may have to deal with pre approvals as well as wait lists…so be sure to be proactive and start the process as soon as you have concerns in case you have to wait to get in for your assessment

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Now that we have covered how to go about getting an assessment and the general process, it’s time to go over the RESULTS of the assessment. That’s up next!

Looking for more? A  great book that also covers all this information in more detail and more is (affiliate link->) Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems by Patricia Hamaguchi. I highly recommend it!

To read the other installments in this series, click HERE. 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents} Part Three: The Assessment Process appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

I have started buying more and more products from my amazing fellow SLPs at Teachers Pay Teachers (If you don’t know what TpT is…you better head over there as soon as you are done here and check it out!) I recently just purchased and used a pretty awesome game called Intergalactic Articulation for Speech Therapy from Jenn over at Crazy Speech World. And I love it.

What is It?

It is a Star Wars Themed (see why it rocks already?) articulation card game with a Star Wars themed board game that targets /f, k, g, p, b, m, t, d/ in all positions of words. You get sets of cards that look like the ones below.

Then the game board looks like this

Who is it for?

It is for kids who LOVE Star Wars and are working on /f, k, g, p, b, m, t, d/ sounds in any position of words. So….for pretty much every little boy on your caseload And maybe your husband too?

How Do You Play?

So here is the cool thing…you can use the cards WITH the game board OR you can use the cards with another game you are playing. I used the cards with two other “normal” kid games (affiliate links ->Chickyboom and Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed). BUT…I then left the board game with my client to use as HOMEWORK.

Why do I love it?

I love it because it is Star Wars and very motivating for little boys, and that it uses pictures of objects paired with the words. I also LOVE the fact that Jenn included BLANK cards that you can use to add in your own target words!!! This is HUGE for me, because I always find it difficult to make products really individualized for my students, especially students with a little more dynamic speech issues going on like Childhood Apraxia of Speech. Here are what the blank cards look like:

How I Used the Black Cards to Fit My Client’s Needs

So with the client I played this game with, I used the blank cards to write sentences on. I wrote sentences like “I can see…” “The cat has a….” “I like the…” and so on. So I could keep track of those cards, I drew an X on the back of them all, and then when playing, the child needed to pick one card from that pile and one from the word pile, and then put them together to form a sentence. Then I had the child say the sentence two times.

What makes this even more fun, is that sometimes the sentences won’t make any sense at ALL. And this is the fun part! Silly sentences make kids giggle and they motivate them to want to make more silly sentences. So they were even more motivating!

One last tip…each card has a Star Wars character on them. My client LOVED seeing which two characters he would get on each turn. A couple times he got matching characters. I think next time I play I will make it so that when you get the same character, you get an extra turn at the game!

Where Can You Get This Awesome Game?

You can pick up this game in Jenn’s Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s store by following THIS LINK. And by the way…I didn’t get this game for free or anything (nor do I get any kick backs)…I just bought it and loved it so much I wanted you all to know!

Do you have any favorite products from TpT? I’d love to hear about them!

The post Intergalactic Articulation for Speech Therapy from Crazy Speech World {I Love It} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

When we are talking about young children’s speech and language skills, it is important to think of the child in terms of the skills the child currently has (rather than chronological age) so that interventions can be best built upon these skills. Knowing what stage of communication your child is currently in also helps YOU as a parent know how to best help your child communicate at home.

Stages of Communication

I love the way The Hanen Centre breaks down these early communication skill sets within their It Takes Two to Talk program. Hanen’s Four Stages of Communication are as follows:

• The Discoverer – These children react to how they feel and to what is happening around them, but have not yet developed the ability to communicate with a specific purpose in mind. These children may squeal with delight when being pushed on a swing (reacting to the swinging) but have not yet developed the ability to communicate that he wants MORE swinging.
• The Communicator – These children send specific messages directly to a person, without using words. Example: Your child may point and grunt to an object he wants you to get him or even “tell you with his eyes” (and face and body) that he is interested in something my looking at the item, looking at you, and then back at the item with an excited facial expression.
• The First Words User – These children use single words (or signs or pictures). These children have developed the ability to communicate with a specific purpose in mind and have begun using symbolic ways to communicate (single words, signs or pictures).
• The Combiner - These children combine words into sentences of two or three words. These children communicate by stringing words together.

How do you know what type of communicator your child is?

Guess what? The Hanen Centre actually has a great form YOU can fill out, which is available on their website for FREE!  (It’s from their It Takes Two To Talk Parent Handbook). As I mentioned earlier this month, May is Better Speech and Hearing Month and to celebrate, Hanen has a FANTASTIC page set up called ThePower of Parents. On this page, you will find the My Child’s Stage of Communication Checklist as well as some tips on How to Build Language at Every Stage for your child.

Not only that, but make sure you check out the last section of the page called Seize the Power of Every Day. If you have been reading a while, you know how much I talk about how children learn language everyday within normal routines and activities. Hanen has some wonderful articles linked in the section that can help YOU build language in everyday activities and routines.

So tell me, what type of communicator is YOUR child? Do you find these terms helpful?

Quick Note: I love the Hanen Centre and their It Takes Two to Talk program (you can read my review of the training session HERE). Though I did contact Hanen for permission to use their terms, they in no way sponsored this post….I just love their information and programs! I highly recommend the It Takes Two To Talk Parent Handbook if you have a young child with speech and language delays. 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post What Type of Communicator is YOUR child? {With Tips on How Can You Help Build Their Speech & Language Skills} appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Welcome to the second installment of What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents}. Last week I introduced this series and explained some of the many variables that contribute to how assessments and therapy could look like for YOUR child. Today we are going to talk about how you can go about getting a speech assessment.

So you are worried about your child’s speech and language development. Whether your child is 12 months or 12 years old, things can pop up in your child’s behavior that might make you wonder if there is something going on. Maybe you have an infant who is not babbling, or a toddler who is not talking. Maybe you have a 6 year old with a lisp or a 12 year old who suddenly starts stuttering. What can you do? Who do you contact? How can you have your child assessed by a speech-language pathologist?

First, A Very Important Note

Before we get started, I want you all to know something very important:

In the US, you do NOT need a referral from a pediatrician for an assessment! Thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) there are FREE or REDUCED COST programs available in ALL STATES for children birth through the 21st birthday, and you can refer your child yourself. That means..if you have concerns you can refer your OWN child for an assessment based on YOUR concerns. (More on that below).

A Note About Pediatricians: I love our pediatrician. She is a great doctor. She was a very important member of our team when my daughter first presented with her terrible limp and we were trying to find out what was wrong. She knew the tests to run and made the appropriate referrals. She went to school to be a pediatrician and she is great at her job.

Pediatricians are medical doctors. They specialize in the health and care of children. But they are not specialists in speech and language development. This is a very important thing to remember on this journey because sometimes a pediatrician will advise you to wait when you shouldn’t or advise you to seek an assessment for something that is completely age appropriate. As an SLP I have seen this many a times. They simply are not speech and language specialists. 

The bottom line: GO WITH YOUR GUT. If you have a nagging feeling something is not right and you are not thrilled with your pediatrician’s recommendations, know that you don’t need them for a referral.

Federally Funded Programs

Thanks to federal programs and funding, there are programs and services available to all children in the United States (for those found eligible)  from birth through age 21. They are a result of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). These programs and services are available at NO COST TO YOU or at a REDUCED RATE if your child is found eligible, so I encourage you to research these programs if you feel your child may need interventions of any kind.

Straight off the IDEA website:

“The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to more than 6.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities. Infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-2) and their families receive early intervention services under IDEA Part C. Children and youth (ages 3-21) receive special education and related services under IDEA Part B.”( http://idea.ed.gov/ )

Birth to Three

You may have heard of these as referred to as early intervention or early start programming. These services are provided from birth through a child’s third birthday. Though the exact programs vary state to state, children from birth to three are typically seen through some kind of early intervention (EI) program (IDEA part C: You can read about it HERE). In the birth to three age group, services are outlined and documented through an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). This is like a contract between the family and those providing the services stating (among other things) what the present levels of development are for the child, goals for the child to meet in a specific time frame, and the services/programs that will help the child to achieve those goals. (I will talk a bit more about these further on in this series).

If you are concerned about your child’s development, there are a couple ways you can go about getting an assessment through your local early intervention programming. One option, is to speak to your child’s pediatrician who can refer you to the appropriate programs in your area (as I already went over though, you do not *need* a referral to get assessment. Your pediatrician should still be able to direct you to the right people to talk to). You can also go to your state’s website for information on how to obtain an assessment and any services needed through IDEA Part C. In addition, your local school district may be able to provide you with the contact information for the early intervention programming in your area (sometimes the school district will even be the ones providing this service, depending on your area).

**Some states require you get an screening before you can receive a full assessment (something I forgot to mention and was pointed out by a kind reader). Your child will first need to fail the screening to receive the assessment. Thanks for reminding me!

Age 3 to 21

Once your child turns three (and through his/her twenty-first year), he/she becomes eligible for any necessary services through IDEA Part B. These services (with some exceptions as not all states do things the same) are uaully by the school district in which you reside. This is usually true for preschool aged children as well (3-5) regardless if the child attends a district preschool program, as well as for young adults ages 18-21. (Because programs differ state to state, you will need to contact your local state or school district to inquire about these services, but regardless of who provides them your child is entitled to them if he/she meets the eligibility criteria). These services are provided under an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which is similar, but different, from an IFSP used in birth-3. You can read more about IDEA Part B HERE. (I will go over IEPs more later in this series).

Now how do you go about getting an evaluation through your school district? The first step is to contact your district’s special education office and ask them for the specific steps you as a parent must make to start the process. In the districts I have worked in, for 3-5 year olds a request must be in writing. **Just like in EI, it is common for your child to first go through the screening process before a full evaluation will take place.

If your child is already in school, speak to your child’s teacher about your concerns and if you still have questions, talk to the proncipal and/or a representative from the special education department to find out what the process is to have your child evaluated. Most schools have a referral process that is followed to begin this process and you will need to find out how you can be involved in this process (i.e a screening may need to happen first, a Student Study Team, Response to Intervention, etc).

How to Acquire Medical Services

Federally funded programming is not the only way to go about getting a speech assessment. Speech and language therapy is also available in the medical setting, in hospitals and outpatient centers. These services may be covered by your insurance or they can be paid for out-of-pocket. In order to get an assessment covered by your insurance, you most likely will need a referral from your pediatrician just like when going to any other specialty services like occupational or physical therapy.

Insurances are all very different in what they will cover, and sadly many insurances cover very little speech therapy, if any at all, so it is important for you to check with your insurance provider before you go in for an assessment to make sure it it covered, and is so how much. For example, some insurances only over 20 sessions a year. Other more, others less.

How to Locate Private Services

Another option for getting your child assessed is by pursing an evaluation from a private practice/private practitioner. Private practices may or may not accept insurance, so keep this in mind. Some will be private pay only and be sure to check what payment methods they accept. The good news, is that most private practice SLPs will be able to provide you with a receipt for services that you can them submit to your insurance for reimbursement. Make sure to check with your insurance provider to see if this is a possibility for you as not all insurances will reimburse and as I explained above, they most likely will only cover so many sessions a year, so be sure to have all this information before you get started if you will be depending on reimbursement.

Here are some ways you can locate a private practice/private practitioner in your area:

• Check the American Speech-Language Hearing Association’s (ASHA) online data base for SLPs in your area. You can access this data base HERE.
• Ask your pediatrician. They often will have a list of local service providers
• Ask your local school district’s special education department. They also often will have a list of private providers.
• Part of a mommy group or mommy list-serve? Ask around for recommendations.
• Live near a University? Call and see if they have a Speech and Hearing/Communication Disorders Clinic. Here, graduate level students in Communication Disorders provide assessments and therapy at a minimal cost (and sometimes FREE) under the supervision of a professor.
• Do a Google or White Pages search for Speech-Language Pathologist or Speech Therapy

Another Possible Option: University Speech and Hearing Clinics

A few days after I first posted this, I remembered another option for assessments. Universities that have Speech Pathology/Communication Sciences/Disorders majors often have a Speech and Hearing Clinic on campus that provides free or low cost assessments and therapy by graduate students under the supervision of licensed speech-language pathologists. You can call your local university near you for more information.

Those are the four five main ways to start the assessment process for your child. Once you decide on what type of provider you will be going with for an assessment and make your appointment, it will be time to prepare. What can you expect in the assessment process? That is up next!

Looking for more? A  great book that also covers all this information in more detail and more is (affiliate link->) Childhood Speech, Language, and Listening Problems by Patricia Hamaguchi. I highly recommend it!

To read the other installments in this series, click HERE. 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents} Part Two: How to Get an Assessment appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

The last two years (2011, 2012) we participated in our local Arthritis Walk to support our daughter who suffers from an Auto Immune disease that causes joint swelling and inflammation (among other things). Her disease can be very debilitating and yes, even DEADLY. In those two years, we raised about $28,000 dollars.

Our first year fundraising, when we hit the $15,000 mark. We ended up raising over $17,000 that year and over $10,000 in 2012

You can read E’s story HERE.

And you can watch this short movie I made in 2011 to help educate about JA.

Or this one I made later that year for the California Coast CLassic bike ride, where Esella was an Honoree.

This year, we are “taking the year off” from big time fundraising due to how much we have had going on (you know, the pregnancy, selling a house, buying a house. packing, unpacking…)

The walk is TOMORROW Saturday May 4th and we are trying to see just how much we can raise in about 16 hours! FLASH FUNDRAISING!

So, if you feel inclined to support my blog and my family, you can make a donation under my daughter’s name. Let’s see if we can get her to BEAT her grandparents who have raised $1700! Can we do it??

You can make a tax deductible donation in honor of my sweet daughter E HERE. THANK YOU!!

(Though the walk is tomorrow, you can continue to donate through out the entire month of May, as May is Arthritis Awareness Month)

The post Arthritis Walk 2013: Support My Daughter and Children Like Her appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

To celebrate, I’m going to share some posts with you that I think can help better your child’s speech and language skills! Simply click on the image below to take you to the post(s).

Knowledge is POWER

The first step in helping your child with his speech/language skills, is to educate yourself as much as possible about speech and language development. While I don’t expect you to become an expert, I know from personal experience how knoweledge can help us best help our child. When my daughter first was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that was attacking her joints, I became pretty obsessed with learning as much as I could about her disease. And that knowledge has really helped me help her. Here are some links to some information I think you will find helpful regarding speech and language development:

Want to learn more? Check out my Speech and Language 101 Page for a ton more information on speech and language development and disorders!

Activities and Tips to Better Your Child’s Speech, Language and Listening

Want more? Check out my How to Help Your Child Talk page for a bunch more activities and tips to help expand your child’s speech and language skills.

Stay tuned this month for my series What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents}. You can read the intro HERE.

Happy Better Speech and Hearing Month!

The post May is Better Speech & Hearing Month! Information to Better YOUR Child’s Speech, Language & Listening appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

There you are. You have been concerned about your child’s speech and language skills and are seeking an assessment. Or maybe your child has already been assessed and speech therapy has been recommended. What can you expect on this journey? What will happen? How can you help?

This is the first in a series of posts to help parents understand what to expect from the speech therapy process from beginning to end. As a parent, I understand how scary it is when you suspect there is something wrong with your child and you are waiting to find out what is going on (you can read my post HERE about my daughter’s health issues for our story). Then when you have confirmation that your child indeed needs intervention, a whole new set of anxieties and endless questions are bound to consume your brain.

I want to try to calm some of these fears and anxieties and answer some of those questions through this series of posts. Because knowledge is power. Let’s first start with some basic information to set the stage before we get started.

Many Factors Can Play A Role in What to Expect From Assessments and Therapy

The first important thing I want you to know as a parent, is that the therapy (and even the assessment process) for your child will look different from another child’s therapy/assessment, even if they are being seen for the same general issues by the same speech pathologist. There are so many variables that are in play when we are talking about speech therapy and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Some of these variables include:

• The setting for services. You can get speech therapy in a variety of settings, and each setting is unique in how, why, where and when speech therapy is recommended and implemented. Settings can include those funded through your state/local government like early intervention or through the school system or can include hospitals and private clinics, to name a few. Some settings provide therapy 1:1 only, groups only, or a combination of the two. Some settings provide services in a classroom-like environment while others provide services in a pull-put environment. 
• The state you live in, the county you live in, and the school district you live in (assuming the therapy is provided in the school). If you are getting services that are funded through your state like early intervention or the school system, those services can look different just a few streets over in another county or district.
• The age/grade of your child. Therapy can and will look different for children of different ages due to developmental abilities to attend, imitate,    read, write, etc.
• The specific issues your child is experiencing. Therapy for a child working on making an /r/ sound is going to look different from therapy for a child who is working on fluency/stuttering (however…it is common for these two children to be in the same group therapy sessions!) A child with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS)’s therapy will look different from the therapy for a child with a phonological delay, though again these two children could be in a group session together.
• The severity of those issues/delays. A child with a more severe delay may require more frequent therapy and more 1:1 therapy than a child with a less severe delay.
• Any additional delays/disorders your child may have. Some children have more than just delays in speech or language. If your child is found to have other delays as well (such as fine or gross motor) these delays can effect your child’s speech assessment and/or therapy. For example, if delays in other areas are suspected your child’s assessment may be done as a collaboration between many therapists (like occupational therapy, physical therapy, psychologist, behaviorist, etc).
• Your child’s individual personality/temperament. The shy child, the outgoing child, the silly child, the serious child…each personality type needs slightly different intervention styles to help them learn the best.
• Your child’s learning style. Some children are more visual learners while others are more auditory learners. Some children learn best with multi sensory instruction, while others do not require this. Each child’s therapy will be tailored to meet your child’s learning style.
• Your individual speech-language pathologist: Every SLP does things in their own way. Every SLP has their own unique teaching style and personality and therefore your child’s therapy may look different from your friend’s child’s speech therapy because they have different SLPs. And yet both children can be getting exactly the right services to meet their goals!

Speech and Language are NOT THE SAME

The next thing I want you to understand before we start, is that speech and language are NOT THE SAME. They are two different things that work together to allow your child to communicate. Understanding the differences between speech and language will help YOU as the parent, understand your child’s needs and his/her therapy goals and thus will empower you to be able to help your child at home.

Check out my posts below by clicking on the images to learn more about speech vs. language.

Now that you have an understanding of the differences between speech and language and have a general idea of why no two therapies (or even assessments) will look the same, we can start to talk about the evaluation process. But how to you even go about getting a speech evaluation for your child? That is up next!

To read the other installments in this series, click HERE. 

Don’t want to miss future posts? You can have posts delivered via email! just click HERE (be sure to watch for the confirmation email). You can also follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for even more speech and language information and fun!

The post What You Can Expect From Speech Therapy {A Guide for Parents} Part One: An Intro appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

Back when I did my reader survey, I had several requests on information about what to expect from speech therapy. I am consulting with some colleagues for this post but also am looking for information from PARENTS to help me write this series as well. If you are a parent or an SLP, I’d LOVE some input. Specifically:

From PARENTS:

• What do you wish you would have known about speech therapy before you started? 
• What do you WANT to know about speech therapy? What specific questions would you want answered from this topic?

From SLPs:

• What do you want parents to know/understand about speech therapy? Specifically in the many different types of settings?

Any other comments/questions are welcome. You can leave this information in the comments section or email me at katie@playingwithwords365.com. I will not be publishing any of your comments or your names….just looking for some feedback to help me make these posts as informational as possible!

THANK YOU ALL!

The post What do You Wish you Would Have Known? appeared first on Playing With Words 365.

I recently got my hands on a new game and I HAD to write a post about it. I had seen some reviews on this game and thought it would be AWESOME for use in therapy (and also tons of fun for my own family). And I was right!

The Game

The game is Tell Tale Card Game: Take a Journey Into Storyland by Blue Orange Games. Simply put, it is a small canister filled with 60 round cards with images on both sides of each (120 total). Images include characters, places, objects, emotions and more! You use the cards in a variety of ways to have your children/students/clients practice telling stories!

Who is it For

The game description says for ages 5 and up and for 1-8 players. You can totally use these cards for 3 and 4 year olds in more structured storytelling activities. You can use this with typical children as well as with children with speech and language delays (with your help, of course).

How to Play

The other cool thing about this game, is that it is not a game with a “winner” or a “loser.” Rather, it is a game meant for just good old fun and creativity. The game developers give a few different ways to use the cards to make the stories. In addition to their ideas, when using these cards with young children or with any child with a speech/language delay, I would recommend going through the cards ahead of time and separating the cards into categories so that each player can have at least one card in each category you would like them to use. Categories can include people, places, emotions, and objects but you can also divide the objects into smaller categories as well (transportation, animals, weather, etc).

What Goals You Can Target

• Story telling skills (stories with beginning, middle, end with characters, settings, etc)
• Vocabulary development
• Syntax/semantics practice
• Articulation practice/carryover
• Fluency practice
• Voice disorders practice

Why I Love It

• The pictures are simple yet fun and colorful
• There is a wide range of images, which allows for children to learn new vocabulary and then use that vocabulary in their stories
• The cards can be used for many different ways (not just for the story telling game)
• My kids love it My daughter has asked to play it several times since we got it and she LOVES playing it, especially when daddy plays (daddy is very creative)
• It is well priced

Additional Tips/Ideas

• As I already mentioned, you can separate the cards ahead of time into categories to best target your child/student goals
• Tape record the stories and then have your child (or yourself) transcribe the story into a story book. Have the child illustrate the book and practice reading/telling the story out loud. This would be really great for the child to take home and practice his/her new skills at home, for better carryover.
• This is a great game to play at home for carryover of speech/language skills. As an SLP you can recommend the game to parents for home practice.

ENJOY! You can pick up the game on Amazon HERE.

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