SPEECH TO GO: Ideas for Speech

and Language Therapy

ASHA 2010
Philadelphia

1
Sarah A. Sawyer, MA, CCC-SLP

Owner/Operator
SPEECH TO GO
 Learning Outcomes
Participants will be able to:

Integrate ideas into their therapy program.

List ideas for engaging and collaborating with

teachers, parents and caregivers in the therapy process.

Complement current methods for documenting

speech/language goals progress
 KEEP IT SIMPLE I-Speech
Production Cards
60 photos which target commonly occurring error sounds
for many preschool children (/s/,/f/,/p/,/t/,/k/, and
multisyllable).
Most favorable phonetic contexts.
These cards are “kid-size”, easy to hold and fit on a small
tabletop, or family coffee or kitchen table.
 Favorable/Facilitating Targets for Speech Production
Practice
(Kent, R.,1982)

Examined phonetic and other linguistic factors that

promote correct production of error sounds.
Concluded that the selection for target selection
involves decisions regarding, stress, word
position, frequency of occurrence and neighboring
sounds. The final selection will depend on the type of
error, for example a interdental /s/ vs. a “stopped”
/s/, versus a lateralized /s/
 100% Correct Production
(Barbara W. Hodson, 2008)

Treatment Session – Basic Structure

Production-practice words (5-6
carefully chosen selected)
Use cues/assists/models – GOAL is
100%
 Give them an /s/
(Hodson, 2006)
Hodson found that it is more expedient to target /s/
clusters before singleton stridents (e.g. - /s/,/f/).
Typically if a child stops an /s/, an initial attempt at an /s/
singleton would yield /top/ for “soap”, but may be able to
add the /s/ to a word which already has a /t/ in it, such as
“stop”.
Hodson advocates that because of the frequency of /s/
clusters, teaching them early expedites intelligibility
gains. In addition, most typically developing children
include /s/ clusters by age 3 (Hodson, Porter, 2001)
 Keep It Simple II – Speech
Production Card
60 photos which target commonly occurring error sounds
later developing sounds (“sh”, /l/,/r/, “j”and multisyllable).

Based on work of Kent, favorable phonetic contexts.

Small, card deck size…work well for table top games
 When “Simon Says” Doesn’t Work:
Alternatives to Imitation for Facilitating Early Speech
Development
(DeThorne, Johnson, Walder, Mahurin-Smith, 2009)
This very useful article offers many evidenced based
strategies to facilitate early speech development in
young children who are not readily imitating sounds.
They suggest that these phrases offer a syntactic
frame for the target word.
These strategies include utilizizing carrier phrases ,
such as those found in our board games Kick Cow,
Freddy’s Farm and Stop and Shop – e.g. -”Kick cow”,
“Find Freddy’s fork”.
 Phonic Phone
DeThorne, et al (2009) also advocate enhanced feedback such as
speaking loudly, facing the child to enhance visual cues. Also
focus on auditory by delivering words and sound with slight
amplification thorough headphones, or an echo microphone or
phonic phone.

Timothy Rasinski, PhD, Kent State recommends phonic phones

for oral amplification of own voice, filters out ambient sounds.
Facilitates connect b/w letters and sounds – makes sounds more
distinct, and fosters reading fluency.
 Correlates of Phonological Awareness in Preschoolers
with Speech Sound Disorders
(Susan Rvachew
Meghann Grawburg, 2006)
This study found that Speech Sound Disorder children are at significant risk for
delayed Phonological Awareness skills. They conclude among other things among
if PA is delayed, it should the SLP who should target it directly.

We should be teaching beginning sound, end

sounds, onset, rime, syllables, phonemic awareness, syllable blending….this will
facilitate speech production skills, and down the line school age literacy skills.
 Language and Literacy : Improving the Effectiveness of
Speech-Language (and Literacy) Services for Children
(Schuele, C. Melanie, 2010)

READING SPEAKING WRITING

SEMANTICS SYNTAX/MORPHOLOGY PHONOLOGY PRAGMATICS

These METALINGUISTIC SKILLS are foundational language skills. We need to

start thinking about literacy at Preschool level and spoken language
development at the same time. She argues that one of our jobs is to
collaborate with teachers - problem solve with teachers on an individual
basis to figure out which metalinguistic skill needs to be targeted.
 ASHA Position Statement
Acknowledges the background and training that prepare the SLP to support the
development of spoken language, sound and word level awareness for the
alphabetic principle, comprehension and and formulation skills for higher order
semantic and syntactic forms, and knowledge of literate discourse structures.

The position states that children with language impairments are four to five times
more likely than normally developing children to have reading difficulties during
the school years.

Suggests that it is appropriate for SLPs play an integral in helping children become
literate. Further, it advises that SLPs possess skills in diagnosing and treating
children with phonological disorders; such skills can be applied in individual
consultation about a student or collaboratively with classroom teachers to develop
lessons on phonological principles.
 National Reading Panel and
National Early Literacy Panel
Both of these groups identified these areas
essential to reading and literacy –
phonological awareness, phonics, reading
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Instructional decisions should be made on
what is known to improve language and
literacy. We need explicit teaching of skills – as
well as incidental.
 Alphabet Go Fish Cards

•Teach alphabet knowledge

•Letter names and sounds
• Vocabulary
•Upper and lower case
•Following game directions
 Story Telling
(Roskos, Tabors, Lenhart, 2009)
In their book Oral Language and Early Literacy in
Preschool advocate story telling as a valuable
activity for developing the oral language skills
of active listening and oral expression. They
suggest that to be story tellers, children must
use expressive vocabulary, narrative skills, and a
sense of audience.
They suggest a 3 part strategy: 1) model
storytelling (model language, etc.), 2) guide
storytelling skills (suggest ideas, rehearse)and 3)
support storytelling skills (actively attend,
respond)
Clinical Markers of SLI (Rice 2004)
Studied grammatical tense deficits as a
clinical marker of SLI (regular and
irregular past tense, 3rd person singular)
and found it to be a useful area for
identification of Kindergarten children
who may benefit from services.
PHOTO LANGUAGE CARDS for
SEQUENCING, STORY TELLING
and CONVERSATION and
Where is…..? Preposition Cards
•Teach/model story telling skills
•Teach verb tense markers and pronouns
•Develop sequencing ability
•Introduce and strength vocabulary
•Teach prepositional terms
•Includes data collection sheet
•Back of card describes each scene and suggests
questions
 Creating ROBUST VOCABULARY
(Beck, McKeown,Kucan,2008)
In this book the authors argue that in order to effect a change
in comprehension skills we must go beyond simply having
students to associate words with their definitions – children
need to actively work with new words, with a high number of
encounters.

They developed the concept of “word tiers” – Tier One

as everyday words that you hear in conversation, Tier
Two are more sophisticated than Tier One, but are
typical of those heard in books, Tier Three related to
specific domains.
 How Many?????
(Beck, 2008)

Offers these guidelines for new vocabulary

acquisition:
Six words per week in Kindergarten and First
Grader
Seven words per week in Second Grade
Nine to ten words per week through Fourth
Grade
Middle and High School age students could be
learning 12 new words per week.
 Feely Bags – Preschool and
School Age Version
Supported by need for vocabulary and oral language
skills, these games offer endless opportunity for expressive
and receptive language use.
•Teach attentive listening to verbal clues about what is inside the bag
•Teach and develop strategies for expressing ideas (verbal clues) and
concepts without contextual cues.
•Develop descriptive, category and object names
•Discuss and understand use of objects
•Encourage thinking skills, including perception, prediction, analysis,
and synthesis.
•Opens up discussions of similar related objects, categories.
•Preschool Version – animals, textures, foods, transportations, tools,
materials
•School Age Version – land animals, sea animals, ground vehicles, air
vehicles, food types, texture, metal, wood, elastic materials
WordGirl is an American children’s animated television
series for old children aged 6-12, produced by the
Soup2Nuts animation unit of Scholastic Entertainment for
PBS Kids. The show began as a series of shorts that
premiered on PBS Kids GO! on November
10, 2006, usually shown at the end of Maya & Miguel; the
segment was then spun off into a new thirty-minute
episodic series that premiered on September 3, 2007 on
most PBS member stations. This animated show is aimed
at people seven and older and is designed to teach about
the expansive English language and its vocabulary. This is
also the second (The first was Liberty Kids) PBS Kids
 Carry It Home Sticker Sets

A unique sticker system for encouraging carryover of skills

to the home and classroom.

Customizable for each objective, the child wears an empty

grid on his shirt and receives a small sticker each time
she/he produces the desired target... ten times and the
card is full?. This product increases self awareness and
encourages mastery. Easy for classroom staff and
parents, it fills the essential need for carryover of skills
learned in speech therapy sessions.
Watch your back…….
In October, 99 the American Academy of Orthopedics
stated that “of the more than
100 physicians surveyed”:
- 71% felt that backpacks are a clinical problem for
children
- 58% have seen patients complaining of back or
shoulder pain related to
backpacks
- 65% have recommended that a patient modify the use
of a backpack to improve
or correct a back problem
- 52% feel that backpack injury is a significant problem
- · In November ‘98 the Consumer Product Safety
Commission issued a warning
concerning injuries related to backpacks.
 Thanks for
attending
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