Need help with speech homework

[Guest guest]

Hi. I a little information since I don't post much. I have a Son

who is 6 dx with global apraxia, speech being the main issue for us.

He has been in speech therapy since he was 2. I do not like this

speech therapist at the school, I have asked her to do oral motor

work with Connor she said there is no research to show that helps

with apraxia children. I have seen no improvement in Connor's speech

since this school year started.

Last night we were about to start the speech homworkk until I saw

what it was. One one side of the paper there is half of a word some

examples BUZ, MU, LIZ ect then on the other half of the paper is the

rest of the work ZARD, ZLE, ARD. Now he is suppose to draw a line to

the puzzle piece on the left to the puzzle piece on the right to

complete the word (if this all makes sense).

I am upset about this homework, how does this have to do with apraxia

of speech? He is also doesn't know how to spell or read these words

so how the heck is he suppose to know? He is also in the process of

being evaluated for LD. I have asked the speech teacher to talk to

the home room teacher to coordinate the lessons.

Am I being unresonable? What should I be asking for int he way of

homework? Any other advise?

I am very upset now with this. Thank you for listening.

Karianne

[Guest guest]

Hi Karianne,

From you've posted, it was appear appropriate to have your little guy

draw a line from the " front-part " of the word to the " end-part " . I

would have used pictures with the words to give him a visual

representation. I would also encourage you to have him " tap " out the

word parts with his hand or fingers; " buzz " (tap when he says this part)

and then " ard " (tap when he says this part). I have used playdoh of

differing colors to help kiddos understand the " tapping " . From my

standpoint, I work with my kiddos from the mindset supported by the

Kaufman approach; I accept word approximations and encourage use

of carrier phrases (I see, I want, etc). Your SLP is probably using

words that begin with /m/ and /b/ because those are easiest to produce.

Don't' give up yet; hang in there.

Also, in regards to oral-motor tasks...I reference them as placement

cues as there are so many different approaches for treatment of apraxia.

Some say " YES " to oral-motor, others say " NO " . I say...do whatever

helps the child. I am not PROMPT trained because it is too expensive.

I like what I've heard about it though. These are just my thoughts and

I would encourage you to keep talking out things with your SLP; hope

this helps.

Alan F. , MS, CCC/SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Liberty Elementary School

606.787.6961

" God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but

shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. "

-C.S.

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From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of karizoll

Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2008 11:29 AM

Subject: [ ] Need help with speech homework

Hi. I a little information since I don't post much. I have a Son

who is 6 dx with global apraxia, speech being the main issue for us.

He has been in speech therapy since he was 2. I do not like this

speech therapist at the school, I have asked her to do oral motor

work with Connor she said there is no research to show that helps

with apraxia children. I have seen no improvement in Connor's speech

since this school year started.

Last night we were about to start the speech homworkk until I saw

what it was. One one side of the paper there is half of a word some

examples BUZ, MU, LIZ ect then on the other half of the paper is the

rest of the work ZARD, ZLE, ARD. Now he is suppose to draw a line to

the puzzle piece on the left to the puzzle piece on the right to

complete the word (if this all makes sense).

I am upset about this homework, how does this have to do with apraxia

of speech? He is also doesn't know how to spell or read these words

so how the heck is he suppose to know? He is also in the process of

being evaluated for LD. I have asked the speech teacher to talk to

the home room teacher to coordinate the lessons.

Am I being unresonable? What should I be asking for int he way of

homework? Any other advise?

I am very upset now with this. Thank you for listening.

Karianne

[Guest guest]

Thanks Alan for answering and some good motor planning tips -so many

uses for playdoh with apraxia! My question for you based on

Karianne's message is what is your feelings about the statement she

makes " I have seen no improvement in Connor's speech since this

school year started " (It's April!) The rule of thumb is no progress

in 3 months -I wouldn't even wait for 6 months at this age - you

should look to explore other therapies, therapists and/or diagnosis -

something's not right. Even though apraxia progress (without EFAs

and E) can be painfully slow -there's still progress.

And Karianne -what are the set IEP goals? Do you have 3 or 6 month

goals in your child's IEP or just a yearly goal? (and even then since

the year is almost up!) Also is there a communication book -or do

you have a book to keep track so you can look back at where he was?

At times we forget -and if you don't post often (or this is your

first post -at least from this email Karianne ) you can't use this

group as your online " diary " of progress. I use the archives all the

time because we all forget.

About the word puzzle -I do agree with Alan and believe it's a great

motor planning activity for a 6 year old, however generally I found

the school based SLPs do incorporate the spelling words that are

being used in the class -so where are these words from? Is your

child in kindergarten? (please say yes!) Children don't need to

start kindergarten at 5 -in this group we found it better if there

was still a delay in speech to keep them in that multisensory

enriched preschool one more year for extra development and therapy

time. But even if he is in first grade -don't let them push him into

a learning disabled placement -the child has a verbal impairment.

Just because you can't talk doesn't mean you can't learn! And since

he isn't reading -and unless these are the class spelling words (and

then this would be appropriate) I believe the words should be simpler

because the goal is speech over academic right now and you can

achieve the same goal with letters and words like " b " or " m " together

with " at " Well let us know what grade he's in -that will help us

better answer how to proceed.

Years ago before I knew that as parents we could purchase the Kaufman

cards for home use (which provide appropriate developmentally

appropriate approximations that fit within the hierarchy of language

development) I went to office supply stores and educational stores to

try to find things that can help with Tanner's motor memory...and I

found these spelling cards that were awesome. Just like I posted

above they had letters and simple words and when placed together they

formed a picture of the " Hat " So I would take the " h " card and

breathing out say " h " and then the " at " card and tap on it and

say " at " and each time I touched the h card make the h sound and then

touch the at card and say at -and gradually as I moved them closer

and closer together would say the word " hat " and that was something I

could get Tanner to do with me because I made it fun.

I also made sure that I had much sing song animation in my voice -

made it seem like doing what I was doing was more fun then the first

6 seconds of Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster in Disney's

Hollywood Studios which just about nothing is more fun than -0 to 60

in 3 seconds right into 2 loops http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=VFwoRwWFrWg - that's what I made playing with these cards like. I

could have won an let me tell you! Here's more on the Kaufman

Cards

Article -the Kaufman Kit for any Late Talker

http://www.speechville.com/KaufmanKitArticle.html

Here is information about Kaufman, and her two KAUFMAN SPEECH

PRAXIS TREATMENT KITS

" For nearly 10-years, the Kaufman Children's Center for Speech and

Language Disorders (KCC) has been the leader in providing specialized

apraxia of speech therapy in preschool and early elementary-aged

children.

The director of the KCC, R. Kaufman, M.A., CCC/SLP, has

specialized in the preschool population for 21-years. She lectures

locally and nationally on the subject of apraxia of speech in

children and has earned awards for continuing education.

Our staff, each holding their Master's Degree, are specially trained

professionals of speech pathology and are all certified with the

American Speech Language and Hearing Association.

Enjoy our site and give us your feedback, we hope you find it to be

the most useful resource for children's speech therapy online! "

THE KAUFMAN SPEECH PRAXIS TREATMENT KIT

Children with apraxia of speech are not capable of initiating sound

sequences necessary to produce normal speech. This occurs because of

a breakdown in the ability to coordinate the oral-motor movements

necessary to produce and combine phonemes to form words, even though

there is no evidence of oral paresis or paralysis. Without guidance

these children often stop attempting to speak or verbalize patterns

at rudimentary levels below that of which they are capable. This can

delay progress and can cause unnecessary frustration for the child,

parents and educators.

This treatment method explains in a systematic way how to simplify

word pronunciation patterns making it easier for children to

communicate. Phonological processes are utilized and explained as a

systematic method of enabling the user to develop verbal stimuli

(successive approximations toward target words) that match the

child's current ability to initiate phonemes. As the child's ability

to produce more complex phoneme patterns improves more appropriate

successive approximation patterns can be introduced keeping the

child's ability to speak at their maximum level.

This unique material (manual and 200 plus stimulus picture cards)

help the clinician determine why a word is difficult for a child to

produce and how to change the stimulus to meet the motoric needs of

the child. For example, the voiceless phoneme in the word " pony " may

need to be voiced (bou-ni); or the medial consonant may need to be

more " gross " or visible (dentilize the n) or may need to be deleted

(po-i); or the final vowel may need to be neutralized (po-ne). These

picture stimuli were specifically designed for individuals with

apraxia of speech. They are also appropriate for any individual

exhibiting articulatory and/or phonological impairments.

If the child cannot produce all of the phonemes in simple bisyllabics

(C1 V1 C2 V2) the user is able to choose a variety of appropriate

stimulus material from this section of the treatment kit. Other

treatment categories include:

VC

CV

CVCV

CVC

CVC

CVC

CV1

CV2

CVCVCV

ClVlC2V2Vowel-Consonant (initial consonant deletion)

Consonant-Vowel (final consonant deletion)

Repetitive syllables

Simple assimilation

Bilabial assimilation

Tip alveolar assimilation

Repetitive syllables with vowel change

Simple polysyllabics

Simple bysyllabics plus CVC

(m) synthesis

( synthesis

(d) synthesis

(h) synthesis

(n) synthesis

(w) synthesis

Kaufman is also author of the The Kaufman Speech Praxis Test

for Children (KSPT)

Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Kit for Children

The Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Kit 2

A proven method for teaching young children how to produce and

combine the oral motor movements necessary to speak functionally, and

intelligibly.

The Kaufman Speech Praxis Treatment Kit 2 was developed at the

Kaufman Children's Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan, a nationally

recognized clinic for children with apraxia of speech. Simplifying

words to make them easier to produce has been known to be an

effective treatment approach but until now, no one has organized and

developed a comprehensive treatment program incorporating successive

phonological approximations toward target words. The KSPTK2 explains

in a systematic way how to simplify word pronunciation patterns

making it easier for children to communicate. Utilization of this kit

also allows the clinician to introduce more complex phoneme patterns

as the child's ability improves, thus keeping the child's ability to

speak at their maximum level.

The manual contains:

Complete evaluation hierarchy

Complete therapy hierarchy

Cueing techniques

IEP goal writing

The Kit 2 picture stimuli are appropriate to use with children age

two through six though they can be used with anyone who is having

difficulty with sound sequencing.

Kit.2 ADVANCED LEVEL

For children who are successful with p, b, m, t, d, n, and h but have

difficulty with the production, synthesis or sequencing of words with

k, g, s, sh, l, f, and consonant blends s, r, and l. Kit 2 also

includes two and three syllable words for the training of word

complexity and length factors.

Kit 2 Picture Stimuli Include:

Complex consonants and synthesis for initial and final positions: /s,

f, k, g, S, l / and / r, s, l / blends

Tip-alveolar to back-velar and back-velar to tip-alveolar words

Pivot syllable words: " ter, " " low, " " ber, " " ing "

Familiar 2 & 3 syllable words

The KSPTK2 offers:

277 quality pictures, bright, interesting and durable that are the

perfect size to fit in one hand.

Systematic word simplifications ( " word shells " ) on the back of each

picture!

A complete " how to " manual.

A durable carrying case with card files for easy pulling and

replacing.

http://www.speechville.com/KaufmanKitArticle.html

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