We've kind of been hit and miss over the past year with her speech therapy, but she is quickly approaching three, and well, it was time to get serious!
She missed lots of particular consonants making her speech often unintelligible!
Here, Ashley, the speech therapist, is having Gabbi tell her the words on her cards (in her hand) in exchange for a duck. And speaking of DUCK... we are a LONG way from the "k" sound or putting such a sound on the end of a word. Did you realize that we always learn first consonants before the ending sounds or even middle sounds? Blends, such as "tr" or "ch" are even harder.
And some sounds are made in the front of your mouth, like "B" and "d". Go ahead... try it! They are made by your lips or very basic mouth movements. But sounds like "G" and "k" are made in the back of your mouth. To practice them, I make Gabbi grab her throat and cough so she can "feel" where she should be making these sounds.
Gabbi also does OT. She has some struggles with her fine motor skills. She can't get her clothes on or off alone. She struggles with motor planning and her fine motor skills are really impacted! She only started using a spoon without a total mess a couple of months ago. Think about it. You have to scoop your food with palm down, then rotate it to plam up , and balance it til it gets to your mouth. That's pretty intricate for a 2 year old. But they just learn it naturally.
The mouth is a fine motor organ too. Just say your name. Your entire name. For instance, for me... "Melanie".. Me La Nie. Me requires my lips to tuck under while I am pushing out a breath to create a sound. Then, La... the L is totally hard for someone with fine motor dyspraxia. It is kinda fancy... the whole backward tongue curl if you will !! That's why so many kids use "Y" for "L". Like "yittle" vs "little". Or "yeyyow" for "yellow". Then, Ni... I am not sure, but I think "n" is a fairly simple sound. Any SLP's reading today? Can you help me out? I actually should have run some (all!!) 0f this by Ashley to have her say "yep that's right. Or Nope. you totally made that up, Mel" before I posted it! Ha.
But anyway, grossly, that is the basic idea of why Gabbi Girl is taking speech therapy. Maybe I'll have Ashley do a guest spot on here. Got any speech therapy questions? Or what about OT?! I know Patchez would do it for me. Any OT questions for her? Dang! Mojoy could turn into a straight up medical information blog! Ha! And I haven't even mentioned PT yet! We ALL have aches and pains! Talk about opening up a can of worms! MO
10 comments:
Your staff and clinics sound amazing!
Keep up the good work Gabbi Girl.
I can't say enough about the speech therapy we did with our son. I am so glad we took the proactive approach with him. He is now 8, talks non-stop, and reads above grade level.
Thankful for all the gifted therapists who help so many!
WAY TO GO GABBI!!....and I can't believe how long and beautiful that baby girl's hair is...WOW! You do great work Mo....many folks benefit from your clinics.....huggers, BJ
very informative post,thank you. When I was young my cousin had a 'lisp' and need speech therapy. It worked wonders for her.
Yay Gabbi! Enjoyed the info also. Gabbi's hair is LONG!
Very interesting post, my son was diagnosed with apraxia when he was one and took speech therapy until he was almost four. He's now 15! In all these years I don't remember anyone vividly describing how letters are formed as good as you just did. I've always wondered what causes some kids to have certain problems with there speech. Thanks for sharing!
wow. bella will be four next week and she still can't completely dress herself and as far as eating, well i always get the "your child is the messiest eater of the class" from her teachers. she speaks extremely clearly. her sensory intergration issues have all but resolved, EXCEPT for eating certain foods. i doubt that will ever change, lol. glad gabbi is getting everything she needs at mmpt!
oh and that's odd for bella on that y vs l thing. her yellow is pronounced Lellow.
Girl, you are opening a can of worms! lol!
Gabbi has a great mom and dad taking care of her. It's wonderful that she can get speech therapy and occupational therapy. Early intervention is key! :-)
Now, about my aching neck/shoulders/back... ;-)
The glottals and plosives are stinkers for sure. Good job sweet GG!
At an Apple Academy this week -today they showed some awesome apps for the iPad and assistive technology-thought of you and your practice. If you are interested I can send you the info...
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