Briannas First Trip To The Speech Therapist

Brianna started speech therapy a few days ago ( after being on a waiting list for awhile ). The lady that is doing the therapy seems really great with kids and even though Brianna ( now 3 and a half ) is very shy around new people, it only took her about 15 minutes to warm up to the therapist and start talking to her. After a few minutes of playing house and naming some pictures on cue cards the therapist told me she is pretty sure Brianna is suffering from Verbal Apraxia . She is fairly certain that with extensive therapy she will be able to speak clearly. Brianna has quite the little language started - I understand every word she says but it is difficult for new people to figure out at times. She mixes up a lot of her letters so instead of for example : like , she will say 'yike' , instead of 'Faith' ( her sister ), she say 'Bay' ( she is unable to pronounce certain letter combinations like 'th', 'sh', 'ch' etc.), instead of 'that' she will say 'dat', etc. She is a very intelligent, funny & sweet little girl though - I am hoping that therapy will be able to help her acheive clearer speech so that everyone else can understand her and see how great she really is!

So our first therapy session consisted of some play time , including blowing bubbles and drinking from a straw ( to build up her muscles ), playing with a doll house ( naming all of the people in the house, talking about what they were doing etc. ), and doing some letter sounds with actions ( for lack of a better description ). The therapist said that starting with sounds she can do at first is always best so we are doing ' P, B & T' this week ( each one has its own little action ). All in all - even though it cost $100 for a one hour session - I think that it went well. We have to go back every week at least once - so it will be a costly recovery but at least Brianna likes the therapist which will help immensely ! I liked her too - it was great that she got down on Briannas level and really played with her, she also made a great effort to listen closely to what Brianna was telling her ( I had to translate a lot of it ) - but I am so thankful that we found a therapist everyone is happy with.

Here is a copy of the report that I received ( for those of you who may have a child with similar speech problems );
28.05.08

Brianna was accompanied by both Shasta and Brian for this initial session (as well as her toy dog, Casey). Although quite shy and initially quiet, Brianna cooperated quite well during the session but would not permit hands-on oral-motor intervention. As she felt more at ease, she used language more readily, sharing information related to her family and friends. Intelligibility of speech is compromised and Shasta’s reformulation was invaluable, both in providing an interpretation for an unfamiliar listener and in rephrasing for Brianna. A speech-language assessment had recently been completed at NPCC by Dorota Parafianowicz, SLP and similar observations were noted today in terms of expressive language skills and articulation patterns. Use of me/I pronominal substitution appeared consistent.
Phonological processes:
- deletion or stopping of all fricatives and affricates: Shasta noted that bite position to lower lip has been difficult to establish, even with practice in front of the mirror. Brianna typically places the lower lip over the upper lip during /f/ attempts. She also noted that /s/ can be elicited in isolation but not in combination with a vowel.
- fronting or deletion of all velars: backing could not be elicited today when a kinaesthetic cue for /k/ was tried (elbows moving backward as /k/ + vowel is modelled);
- reduction of many words to CV, deletion of final consonant;
- use of glide “y”, often in initial position before a vowel, as well as in medial position;
- Vowel variation was difficult to assess since Brianna was reluctant to repeat words on request. She was reported to use /jaI/ for “I”; /bε/ for her sister, Faith; and was noted to use “oo” in the context two; /bæ/ (black); /j۸/ for “up”
- some vowel variation was noted in her use of /tIk tIk/ (cat) and baby;
- inconsistent voicing of /t/ to /d/ and /p/ to /b/ e.g. “You bick” (pick) was also noted e.g. “doo” for “two”

I also received instructions on our 'homework' for the week which I made into a simpler version and printed out to hang on the fridge ( I also made up a little chart with a space to mark down each days progress - which activities we did , and how well it went ) One of the activities was to work with a harmonica ( for building up the muscles ), and Brianna has dragged that little harmonica everywhere with her for the entire week !!! She loves that little thing - and actually is good at it - even has a little sense of rythym ~ which she does not get from me !! This is the first weeks homework :


SPEECH THERAPY WEEK 1 ACTIVITIES

Bubble blowing: Model lip rounding and try to elicit a whispered “hoo” blow

Horn Blowing: Encourage blows of increasing length and remove horn after each blow in order to encourage repositioning of the lips

P/B & T Sounds: use kinaesthetic cues to elicit bilabials /p/, /b/ and /t/, always accompanied by a vowel; track any difficulty with vowel variation
Final Consonant Placement: Focus on eliciting final consonant placement in one-syllable words, as well as two-syllable marking of easier words e.g. those containing m, p. b, t (mommy, puppy, baby, tummy); focus on words targeting vowel shifts

Look For Backing: Focus on eliciting final consonant placement in one-syllable words, as well as two-syllable marking of easier words e.g. those containing m, p. b, t (mommy, puppy, baby, tummy); focus on words tar
geting vowel shifts.

Oral Motor Work: Introduce some oral-motor intervention at home (horn #2; bubble blowing; use of straws for all liquids and for fruit sauces/yogourts (without fruit pieces). Also suggested was the retrieval of a Cheerio placed on the lower lip (using her “bunny teeth”), as well as the use of pudding placed on the lower lip to encourage scraping of the lip with the upper teeth, both to encourage bite placement for /f/

We have been working on these things each day - and have another appointment on Monday. Hopefully progress with start soon - its a lot of work & money but will be so worth it !

NEW Bob The Builder Stuff...Just for Josh :)

Well, sorry for not posting in such a long time. Life is just so busy around here with my two girls, my website and life in general. Even though I haven't posted many notes in my blog lately I have been busy adding new things to my website. This week I have added a bunch of new BOB THE BUILDER stuff. Lots of free coloring pages as well as an entire section on Bob the Builder birthday parties ( lots of great ideas for games, decorating, cakes, free printables etc. ) I made the Bob section as a special request from my 2 year old nephew - he is Bob the Builder crazy so I had to add it just for him :)

I have really been working hard to improve/add to my birthday party section and hope that you all enjoy the changes. I have added some new themes recently including the Pirates of the Caribbean ( which I am considering as my oldest daughters next party )

Oh, and also, I have added some Horton Hears a Who coloring pages - which were REALLY hard to find I might add ! We just went and saw the movie a few weeks ago in theatre with my two girls ( age 9 and 3 ) and it was really great. Lots of laughs from the kids, as well as myself ! The only thing my youngest didn't like was that mean purple kangaroo, and that crazy looking bird - she got really upset whenever he was on.

And last but not least I wanted to add a little side note - I have just had my younger daughter diagnosed with having speech delays ( she replaces a lot of her letters, cuts multi-syllable words down to shorter versions, and uses a lot of 'D's in her words - and although I understand everything she is saying most people do not ) So she will be having speech therapy starting very shortly ( she has to start school in the Fall and hopefully she will have a bit of improvement before then - it is always so hard for children when they are different ). She is such a little sweetheart though, and very eager to learn so I think she will do ok with it. In any case I am going to be posting notes about her progress, and some ideas / therapy plans etc. that hopefully some other parent out there will be able to use. I know there are a lot of other kids out there with speech delays so hopefully some good will come from all of this and I will be able to help some of you out there through my blog and website. If you have any ideas/links you would like to pass on please feel free to contact me
Thanks for reading - and I will be posting again soon
Shasta