Guest guest Posted November 7, 2010 Report Share Posted November 7, 2010 We have been looking into this program as well and I am anxious to see the response or hear about your experience. ~ A > > I am getting ready to start my 6.5 yo son in the Fast For Word program. I was wondering if anyone out there has used this program. If so, did you do it online or in a therapists office? What did you get out of it? What did you love/hate about it? > > Thank you. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2010 Report Share Posted November 7, 2010 Fast ForWord is a wonderful program computer that works on Memory Attention Processing Sequencing. It changes at the child's pace & is an intensive program that can significantly increase skills in a shorter amount of time. See below from the website: www.scilearn.com Just as exercise promotes physical fitness, exercising our brain improves brain fitness in four critical areas: Memory Attention Processing Sequencing Exercises that work these cognitive " muscles " provide valuable benefits to learners: Accelerated acquisition of knowledge Better ability to utilize and organize information to which they have already been exposed Readiness to embark upon an improved trajectory oflifelong learning Together, brain fitness activities and good instructional practices create an optimal learning environment where students can reach their full potential. Fast ForWord products develop the cognitive skills essential for learning and reading success. On average, participants gain 1 – 2 years of reading skills in 8 – 12 weeks of regular, consistent use. The products help bring participants to proficiency quickly by simultaneously building the cognitive skills of memory, attention, processing rate, and sequencing, along with the foundational reading skills of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. We are a FFWD provider & I highly recommend it. You can do it on or off site. Off site means you load it onto your computer & your child can do it in the am or pm. Email me if you have any other questions. Warmest wishes, Barbara A , M.S.,CCC-SLP CEO, Help Me Speak, LLC www.helpmespeak.com 2500 Wallington Way Suite 103 Marriottsville, MD 21104 410-442-9791 Ask me about NutriiVeda! On Nov 7, 2010, at 7:19 AM, " jlw21_1783 " <jlw21_1783@...> wrote: > We have been looking into this program as well and I am anxious to see the response or hear about your experience. > > ~ A > > > > > > I am getting ready to start my 6.5 yo son in the Fast For Word program. I was wondering if anyone out there has used this program. If so, did you do it online or in a therapists office? What did you get out of it? What did you love/hate about it? > > > > Thank you. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 7, 2010 Report Share Posted November 7, 2010 I agree with Barbara! Dr. Tallal is one of the co creators of Fast For Word is one of the Cherab advisers http://www.cherabfoundation.org/about/advisoryboard/paula-tallal-ph-d/ My son Tanner was helped by a number of computer programs and one of them was Fast For Word which was used by his therapists (Earobics was another used frequently by his therapists and that we used at home as well). The following is some of the information from the archives- much more there if you search! By the way in the following there are some therapy tips as well -was going to delete them but just left them in just in case they may help. And...not to beat this but PLEASE look into NV as speech, language and academic surges are noted by most of us, in most cases dramatic and in most cases within the week http://pursuitofresearch.org/pursuit.html [ ] Re: Looking for resources for phonics I have a bunch of archives below that I found on phonics. Dr. a Tallal is one of our Cherab advisors and the survey below was something they used back then with our group -and even though that survey is over think the questions are that good for all to ask themselves about their child. Below the Fast For Word info is a bunch of articulation exercises from the archives that have been suggested that you can do from home- many more if you search the archives! Dr. Tallal interview http://www.childrenofthecode.org/interviews/tallal.htm The Fast ForWord family of programs were developed for children with language problems. particularly children who have difficulty processing the sounds they hear. This series of questions may help to indicate whether your child has difficulty learning language and reading skills. Choose one answer for each question to indicate how often the behavior is exhibited in your child's daily life. (answers for each are either RARELY, SOMETIMES or FREQUENTLY) YOUR CHILD'S ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT PEOPLE SAY 1. Does your child ever misunderstand what you say? 2. Does your child request that information or instructions be repeated? 3. Does your child deny hearing the beginning or middle of long sentences or groups of sentences? 4. Does your child have difficulty understanding humor? YOUR CHILD'S ABILITY TO EXPRESS HIMSELF ORALLY 1. Does your child give slow or delayed responses? 2. Does your child speak with a peculiar pace (too slow, long pauses with repetition)? 3. Does your child have difficulty reconstructing a story in appropriate order? 4. Does your child lose his/her way in sentences, or fail to finish longer sentences? 5. Does your child speak mostly in single sentences rather than elaborate on a topic? 6. Dos your child have trouble rephrasing a point if he/she is not understood at first? 7. Dos your child try to communicate a point using too few words? 8. Does your child try to avoid typical interactions with strangers in noisy environments? (for example, ordering at the counter in a store or fast food restaurant) 9. Does your child use few descriptive words? 10. Does your child use imprecise words or phrases? 11. Does your child have difficulty finding the right word (or does he/she substitute with inappropriate words)? 12. Does your child mispronounce typical words sounds? 13. Does your child have difficulty using humor? YOUR CHILD'S BEHAVIOR IN A GROUP SETTING 1. Does your child get confused in a noisy situation? 2. Does your child allow other people to finish his/her sentences? 3. Does your child have difficulty understanding or integrating visual/body language cues with language cues? (i.e., does your child tend to misinterpret another person's mood or demeanor?) 4. Is your child reluctant to engage in conversations? 5. Does your child avoid group activities? 6. Do other children often repeat things, or speak especially loudly, to your child? 7. Does your child have difficulty understanding the point or focus of a groups activities? 8. Does your child have difficulty following changing dynamics among people in a group? 9. Does your child get teases or left out because of difficulty keeping up with what peers are saying? 10. Do your child's peers direct their conversations to each other, but not to your child? 11. Does your child have unexplained behavior problems? 12. Does your child have insufficient confidence, self esteem? HOW YOUR CHILD DOES AT SCHOOL 1. Does your child have difficulty remembering questions when called on in class? 2. Does your child have an attention problem? 3. Does your child have difficultly with phonics (such as identifying the initial or last sound of a word, segmenting a word into syllables, or decoding new words)? 4. Does your child have difficulty with reading or learning to read? 5. Does your child have difficulty with spelling or learning to spell? 6. Does your child have difficulty speaking in front of the class? 7. Can your child give you a meaningful account of the events of the school day? Software improves school's test scores in reading DELORES DELVIN / STAFF Teacher Jane Crites helps sixth-grader Li Zhong Kai with the Fast ForWord computer program at Westwood Elementary. Li Zhong moved from Japan this fall and has made great strides in learning English, Crites said. By NICOLE GARTON Staff Writer MANCHESTER, Tenn. & #65533; When Deyci Sierra moved here from Mexico four years ago, she didn't speak a word of English. Like other English as a Second Language students across Middle Tennessee, she struggled not only to learn the language of her new country but also to keep up with schoolwork she could barely understand. ''I was scared because I was afraid no one would like me,'' 13-year- old Deyci said. Today, Deyci is in seventh grade and does the same work as her native English-speaking peers. She helps her younger siblings with their homework and plans to go to college and become a teacher. Both Deyci and her former teachers at Westwood Elementary believe her rapid progress has a lot to do with ''Fast ForWord,'' a language and reading computer program that retrains the brain to learn faster and better. ''It has helped me a lot in my language, learning new words,'' Deyci said. Based on neuroscience research, Fast ForWord was initially designed to help individual kids overcome reading and language disabilities such as dyslexia. But educators are discovering that, when used across the board, the program can result in higher test scores. Westwood was one of the earliest schools to use the software schoolwide. More than two years ago, Principal got a grant to try out Fast ForWord on six students who were having trouble in reading. District officials were so impressed with the results, they provided funding to buy enough software for the whole school. Since that move, Westwood has seen dramatic improvement in its value- added test scores. Although the school always has had high achievement, students weren't learning as much each year as they should have been. For example, on its 2000 school report card, Westwood's value-added score in language arts was 90.1% & #65533; lower than 100%, which is average. Last year, after a year with Fast ForWord, the school had raised that score to 138.2%, an achievement the state considers exemplary. After seeing Westwood's success, other schools are following suit. New Union Elementary, also in Manchester, bought Fast ForWord this year and plans to implement it schoolwide by next year. ''I'm really excited about the program. I think we'll see big results from it,'' said Janice White, instructional coordinator for the school, citing an expected gain of 1 & #65533; to three years in reading and language levels for most students. Schools must be willing to pay big for those results. It can cost up to $30,000 for a yearlong license from Scientific Learning Corp., the company that makes the software. And that doesn't include computers to put it on. believes it's worth it. ''The children learn faster. We can hold their attention longer,'' she said. ''One of the things we're all concerned about in Tennessee is test scores and accountability. Our children made tremendous gains this year.'' & #65533; & #65533; & #65533; Walking into the Fast ForWord lab at Westwood is a bit eerie. The only sounds are the whirring of machinery and the clicking of computer mice. All 21 pairs of eyes are focused on their glowing screens. Each year, every student in the school goes through the six-week program, spending 100 minutes a day in the lab. ''You would think they could not stay here for an hour and a half without having to get up and go to the bathroom, but they are so engrossed in what they're doing,'' said sixth-grade reading teacher Martha Hodges. ''They thought they were going to hate it, but they don't hate it. In fact, some of them are real competitive with each other, and they have fun doing that.'' Jenna , 12, took about a week to finish a program that takes most students 25 days. This was her second year using the Fast ForWord software. ''It's not boring because you're doing six different things, and you spend about 20 minutes on each one, so it doesn't get boring,'' she said. On the screen, animated men in hard hats run around a building site. Each construction beam has words on it, making up a sentence with a missing verb. Trent , 11, has to choose the correct verb tense to complete the sentence. Once he solves the puzzle, a new one pops up. When students launch the Fast ForWord software, they feel like they're playing a computer game. But what they're really doing is causing permanent physical changes to their brains through repetition of certain exercises. With headphones on, they listen to the individual phonemes, or basic sounds, that make up the English language. The computer is able to slow down speech to draw out and isolate each sound in a word & #65533; something the human voice can't quite do. This allows students to hear sounds better that they might normally have trouble distinguishing, such as ''ka'' and ''da.'' Since beginning Fast ForWord, the faculty at Westwood have noticed particular improvement in ESL students like Deyci and in kids with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder. But the program has value for all the kids, they say. ''They're just going to be better readers and better able to converse with other people,'' said Jane Crites, a reading teacher and Fast ForWord coordinator at Westwood. The changes manifest themselves in a lot of little ways, such as making better eye contact and choosing harder books to read, she said. There's no way to prove Fast ForWord is solely responsible for these changes, and the program certainly isn't a cure-all for every child's learning troubles. It needs to be supplemented by solid teaching in the classroom, Crites said. Still, it makes a difference, and parents as well as teachers have noticed. Sam , 11, was one of the first six kids at Westwood to use the program three years ago. His mother, , had begun to worry about his struggle with reading. ''He just was not where I wanted him to be with his phonics,'' she said. ''He was a whole reader as opposed to a part reader. He would memorize that the letters C, A, T together made 'cat,' as opposed to saying 'kkk-aaa-ttt' to make it a word.'' The inability to sound out words could lead to vocabulary problems later on, she knew, so she asked to have him included in the Fast ForWord program. She's noticed some definite improvements. ''I just think he has more confidence in reading a chapter book that doesn't have pictures. Before Fast ForWord, he would have been relying on those pictures,'' she said. ''Now he picks up a chapter book without a second thought.'' http://www.scilearn.com/ http://brainconnection.positscience.com http://brainconnection.positscience.com/teasers Re: Articulation Therapy Does Audrey have a diagnosis yet. I have your only other email below from June of last year that says you were not sure if you should have her evaluated. Articulation therapy would be great if Audrey has an articulation delay or disorder. But...saying she's getting " articulation therapy " can be a different approach from any two school based SLPs. This is why you do need to know diagnosis first. Is it just a delay or is it an impairmen?. If it's not developmental and it's an impairment is it due to motor planning, weakness, sensory -or is it 'just' an articulation or phonological disorder..or something else? If she has apraxia you need to have someone that knows about motor planning or other appropriate therapies for apraxia because too much articulation therapy sometimes causes dysfluencies. Here's a bunch of " articulation therapy " ideas posted to one site and more below -but get back to us when you can about diagnosis Articulation Therapy Ideas The following Articulation Therapy Ideas were posted to the mailing list GRNDRNDS. Since it is a public mailing list, and does maintain an archive, the ideas posted are not " copyrighted " and are available to the public. To make it easier, I have extracted the ideas listed by these creative clinicians. Perhaps they can adapted by clinicians and student clinicians working with children with articulation disorders and looking for therapy ideas. Article: Brain Plasticity & Fast ForWord Terrific article from Oct 11th Wall Street Journal with quotes from CHERAB adviser Dr. a Tallal http://www.cherabfoundation.org/about/advisoryboard/paula-tallal-ph-d/ on her work in language and the Brain Plasticity! SCIENCE JOURNAL Survival of the Busiest --- Parts of the Brain That Get Most Use Literally Expand And Rewire on Demand By Sharon Begley 10/11/2002 The Wall Street Journal B1 (Copyright © 2002, Dow & Company, Inc.) FOR THE CONVENTIONAL wisdom on our gray matter, just open any lavishly illustrated brain book. There, detailed diagrams map out specialized brain structures: areas that generate speech and areas that process vision, areas that sense sound and areas that detect when you touch your left big toe. The diagrams resemble nothing so much as zoning maps produced by the most rigid land-use board. Every bit of neural real estate is assigned a job, reflecting the decades-long belief that different parts of the brain are hard-wired for certain functions. This view of the brain dates back to 1857, when French neurosurgeon Broca discovered that particular regions are specialized for particular functions, such as language. His and subsequent discoveries gave rise to the dogma of the hard-wired adult brain, and it had profound real-world consequences. It held that if the brain sustained injury through stroke or trauma to, say, a region responsible for moving the left arm, then other regions could not step up to the plate and pinch-hit. The function of the injured region would be lost forever. And it implied that if, by the age of 12 or so, you had not recruited neurons to the specialized task of playing the violin, for instance, or learning a second language, then you might as well give up: your old brain was simply not going to learn new tricks. But that dogma has been under assault in recent years. Although specific portions of the brain do, usually, specialize in certain tasks, the brain is much more adaptable and renewable than previously thought -- and that's true throughout life. Animal experiments provided the first hints that the brain is able to change dramatically after childhood. When lab monkeys practiced -- and practiced -- the trick of using a single finger to reach into a tiny dish and grab a morsel of food, the brain region devoted to fine motor control of that finger grew like suburban sprawl. And these were grown-up monkeys. Even the adult brain is " plastic, " able to forge new connections among its neurons and thus rewire itself. Sensory input can change the brain, and the brain remodels itself in response to behavioral demands. Regions that get the most use literally expand. In terms of which neural circuits endure and enlarge, you can call it survival of the busiest. In 1993, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, then at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, led the search for what would become one of the earliest findings in human neuroplasticity. Does anyone, he wondered, habitually experience powerful tactile stimulation to a particular portion of their body? Of course: blind people who read Braille with their fingertips. Dr. Pascual-Leone recruited 15 proficient Braille readers and wired them up so he could measure their somatosensory cortex -- the part of the brain that registers and processes the sense of touch. Then he administered weak electrical shocks to the tip of their right forefingers (the " reading finger " ), recording which parts of the somatosensory cortex registered the sensation. He did the same thing to the blind people's left index finger, and to fingers in non- Braille-readers that don't get exceptional use. The result was unmistakeable. In the Braille readers, the area of somatosensory cortex devoted to the reading finger was much larger than the comparable area for fingers in both blind and sighted people who don't have such demands put on them. It was a clear case of sensory input changing the brain. The cortical region processing that input had expanded, with a consequent increase in sensitivity. That would explain how Braille readers are able to make such fine discriminations among patterns of tiny raised dots. By the spring of 1995, Taub was also exploiting the ability of the brain to rewire itself. The University of Alabama, Birmingham, scientist was developing a revolutionary new therapy for stroke patients. The goal was to enable an intact area of the brain to take over for a region knocked out by stroke. But Dr. Taub was sure that neuroplasticity went beyond damaged brains. His goal was to see how normal behaviors changed brain maps. One evening that spring, he and his wife Mildred , a lyric soprano who had been a principal artist at New York's Metropolitan Opera in New York, were having dinner in Germany with a group of neuroscientists. Casting around for a study they could collaborate on, Dr. Taub asked the group: Is there any normal activity that uses one hand way more than the other? The scientists were flummoxed, but Ms. chimed in, " Oh, that's easy -- playing a string instrument. " When a right-handed musician plays the violin, four digits of the left hand continuously finger the strings. (The left thumb grasps the neck of the violin, undergoing only small shifts of position and pressure.) The right, or bowing, hand undertakes far fewer individual finger movements. Might this pattern leave a trace on the cerebral cortex? To find out, the scientists recruited six violinists, two cellists and one guitarist, all of whom had played their instrument for seven to 17 years, as well as six nonmusicians. The volunteers sat still while a pneumatic stimulator applied light pressure to their fingers to record neuronal activity in the part of the brain that processes the sense of touch. There was no difference between the string players and the nonmusicians in how much of the cortex was devoted to " feeling " the fingers of the right hand. But there was a huge difference when it came to the left hand: The amount of brain territory devoted to those fingers had increased substantially in string players. That increase was greatest in musicians who began to play before the age of 12. But to Dr. Taub, the most dramatic finding was that even in people who took up the violin as adults, regular practice had changed their brains. Their cortex had rezoned itself so that more neurons were assigned to the fingers of the left hand. " Even if you take up the violin at 40, you still get brain reorganization, " he says. These were the opening shots in what would become a revolution in treatment for stroke, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, Tourette's syndrome and other brain diseases. All were based on the discovery that the brain has the ability to change in response to the input it receives. At the University of California, San Francisco, researchers led by Merzenich had shown that sound has the power to reshape the brain in lab monkeys. Across the country, at Rutgers University in New Jersey, neuroscientists a Tallal and Steve had begun to suspect that Specific Language Impairment (a general term that includes dyslexia) might reflect a problem not with recognizing the appearance of letters and words but, instead, with processing certain speech sounds -- fast ones. Dyslexics, Dr. Tallal thought, have some brain impairment that prevents them from hearing staccato sounds like " b, " " p, " " d " and " g, " which burst from the lips and vanish in just a few thousandths of a second. Since learning to read involves matching written words to the heard language, it's no wonder that a failure to hear certain sounds impairs reading ability. When Dr. Tallal discussed her theory at a science meeting in Santa Fe, you could almost see the light bulb go off over Dr. Merzenich's head. His experiments on monkeys, he told her, had implications for her ideas about dyslexia. Dyslexics might become better readers, he said, if their brain could be rewired to hear staccato phonemes -- something that could be done by harnessing the power of neuroplasticity. To find out if the brains of young dyslexics could be rewired, and if that rewiring would help them read better, the Rutgers scientists recruited about a dozen kids and designed an experiment. One of Dr. Merzenich's colleagues, meanwhile, wrote software that slows down staccato phonemes, stretching out the interval between " b " and " aaah " in " baa, " for example. To everyone else, the processed speech sounds like someone shouting underwater. But to the dyslexic children, the scientists hoped, it would sound like " baa " -- a sound they had never before heard clearly. When Dr. Tallal listened to the processed speech, she was so concerned that the kids would be bored out of their minds listening to endless repetitions of words and phonemes, that she dashed out for a supply of Cheetos. She figured her team would have to bribe the kids to stick with the program. And so began Camp Rutgers. For 20 days one summer, 22 kids age five to nine played CD-ROM games structured to alter the brain. One game asked the child to " point to rake " when pictures of a lake as well as a rake were presented, or to click a mouse when a series of the spoken letter " g " was interrupted by a " k. " To train the brain to hear target sounds, the computer voice stretched them out, intoning " rrrake " and " ddday " and " bbbay. " To ease the monotony, the scientists offered the kids snacks and puppets, frequent breaks and even handstand demonstrations. Steve recalls: " All we did for hours every day was listen. We couldn't even talk to the kids; they got enough normal speech outside the lab. It was so boring that a had to give us pep talks and tell us to stop whining. She would give us a thumbs-up for a good job -- and we'd give her a different finger back. " After a few months of training, all the children tested at normal or above in their ability to distinguish sounds. Their language and reading ability rose two years, something no other dyslexia program had achieved. Although the research did not include brain scans, it seemed Fast ForWord (as the software was called) was doing something more dramatic than your run-of-the-mill educational CD: It was rewiring brains. " You create your brain from the input you get, " says a Tallal. At first that was only speculation. Critics of Fast ForWord said the system was being rushed to market before its claims had been proved. The contention that Fast ForWord reshapes the brain was the target of the most vituperation. Studdert-Kennedy, past president of the Haskins Laboratories, a center for the study of speech and language at Yale University, told the New York Times in 1999 that inducing neuroplasticity was " an absurd stunt " that would not help anyone learn to read. Yet a year later, researchers reported compelling evidence to the contrary. Using brain-scan technology called functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), i of Stanford University compared the brains of dyslexics before and after Fast ForWord. He found exactly what the skeptics said he wouldn't: In dyslexics whose language comprehension had been improved, the brain's left prefrontal region showed more activity after training. Hearing the drawn-out sounds apparently induced this region, impaired in dyslexics, to do its job of processing staccato sounds. As evidence accumulated that changes in the sensory information reaching the brain can profoundly alter the cortex, an obvious question arose: Can the mind itself change the brain? Can mere thinking do it? Dr. Pascual-Leone, now at Harvard University, provided a preliminary answer, with an experiment that has not received nearly the attention it deserves. He had one group of volunteers practice a five-finger piano exercise, and a comparable group merely think about practicing it. This second group focused on each finger movement in turn, essentially playing the simple piece in their heads, one note at a time. Actual physical practice produced changes in each volunteer's motor cortex, as expected. But so did mere mental rehearsal. In fact, as big a change as the physical practice. Like actual movement, imagined movements change the cortex. Merely thinking about moving produces brain changes comparable to those triggered by actually moving. The existence, and importance, of brain plasticity are no longer in doubt. The brain is dynamic, and the life we lead leaves its mark in the complex circuitry of the brain -- footprints of the experiences we have had, the thoughts we have thought, the actions we have taken. The brain allocates neural real estate depending on what we use most: the thumb of a videogame addict, the index finger of a Braille reader, the analytic ability of a chess player, the language skills of a linguist. But the brain also remakes itself based on something much more ephemeral than what we do: It rewires itself based on what we think. This will be the next frontier for neuroplasticity, harnessing the transforming power of the mind to reshape the brain. --- Adapted from the book " The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. " Copyright © 2002 by M. Schwartz, M.D., and Sharon Begley. To be published by ReganBooks, a division of Harper Publishers Inc. Reprinted by permission. -- ----------------------------------- ----- From Jackie We play a lot of: tic-tac- toe putting the cards around a darkened room and then finding them with flashlight (really a big hit with the preshcool set) putting paper clips on each card and then pulling them off the table with a magnet on a fishing pole simple lotto games simple board games coloring target sound pictures I also do a lot of giving a reinforcer for every two or three correct responses as we go through the cards: blocks Connect Four game monkeys from " Barrel of Monkeys I also make a speech book and then staple the games onto the pages so they can practice at home. The main thing is to make sure that the playing of the game isn't so involved that it gets in the way of trials. ----------------------------------- ----- From: Put and Take.... Cut construction paper into small squares, maybe 36...on an even number of cards write, PUT 1, PUT 2, PUT 3, TAKE 1, TAKE 2, or TAKE 3. (you can color code the words for little ones who can't read) Give each child 2 stacks of artic cards, one to be called a PUT stack, another to be called the TAKE stack. Each child will turn over one of your squares. If the card says PUT 2, child moves 2 cards from the PUT stack over to the TAKE stack (after saying it correctly of course). The object of the game is to empty one stack. It sounds more complicated than it is. I think it's fun, easy to make and the gives the children opportunity for drill. ----------------------------------- ----- From: Carol I do some easy craft activities with my little ones-things like adding leaves to trees, or making it seasonal like pasting eyes, etc. on a pumpkin. Often I hide the piece that they will paste under one of two stimulus pictures and they have to choose which one--it puts the stimulus word in a longer context, ie., " Is it under the___ " . I also make my own puzzles-basically take a picture with their sound, cut it into pieces and they put them back together. Then, we can talk about the " snowman " or the " snowman's face " as they work on the puzzle. Other activities I do: pasting pictures with their sound on seasonal pictures--they have to ask for the picture they want. bean bag toss-they name the picture they hit riddles where the answer contains their target sound ----------------------------------- ----- From Christiane I pick anywhere from 4 - 10 target words for a half hour session, draw pictures on a piece of paper, then drill the words with mirror and all the little tricks (I also have a puppet with lips, teeth and tongue, and have kids manipulate articulators on the puppet I got the puppet - it remotely resembles a frog - at a rummage sale - it was one of those with a big mouth like the muppet puppets, but it's not Kermit. It had soft fabric around the mouth - voila lips. And then I just sewed in a tongue and teeth out of felt. The teeth I strengthened with Elmers glue - soaked the fabric and let it dry.) - often combined with gross motor kind of movements, such as stamping on the picture every time the kid says the word - in imitation or spontaneous use. Then I move on to providing a frame for the word (either sentence of phrase), with the kid filling in the word like in a cloze test, e.g., it was time for bear to take his _____. Then we use the words to draw, write and retell a story, with the child participating depending on the linguistic level practiced. Variations include using a story that I already have and having the child draw and retell the story. Kids get to take their stories home and share them with their family. ----------------------------------- ----- From Sherry I have a puppet called the " Speech Pillow " which I received as a gift. It is a big round face made of fabric. It has removable lips (they velcro on), teeth (not removable) & a big tongue which you or your clients can put your hand in so you can manipulate the tongue. It was a gift so I'm not sure exactly sure how much it was (maybe around $30??)- Renfro Studios in Austin, Texas- 1-800-933-5512 to order- again, it's called the " Speech Pillow " . It's a great puppet! ----------------------------------- ----- From -Trish I absolutely LOVE " Listening for Articulation All Year Round " by Linguisystems. 1-800-PRO IDEA. It's a great program for seasonal activities and it has games that you can make by photocopying the masters from the manual. GREAT STUFF!!! ----------------------------------- ----- From Get your hands on " Achieve for Phonology " by linguisystems. This has lots of hands on activities for little ones and work sheets to use as you drill with other students. I use crazy crayons and markers and bright pens to spice up worksheets and this does busy the little ones as you drill others. And as they sit they get the auditory bombardment of the others responses. I also use beanbags to toss on cards...and chips to place under cards...and they LOVE money too. Soooooo many ideas I can't put them all here. Write with any more questions at my address. ----------------------------------- ----- From Jigna Put cards in a bag. Have client close eyes, pick a card, and name it. Bowling: clip cards on clothespins and line up (like bowling pins). Have client roll ball and name the card he/she knocks down. Hopping: place cards face down on floor (or under shaped cut-out construction paper). Have client name the card he/she hops next to. Mail cards: use a toy mail box and have client name each card as he/she mails it. Games: use any sporty games (e.g., basketball, football, baseball). After each turn, have client pick a card and name it. If named correctly, gets another turn. Create a road with cards placed at various places on the board. Client names the card he/she stops by. For minimal contrasts: memory ask questions (e.g., if working on final consonant deletion): make a stack of cards with final consonants and a stack without final consonants. Pick a card from each stack and make up a question. For example, " Can a moose go moo? " present a minimal contrast pair and describe one from the pair. Have client identify and pronounce the correct word. If correct, client gets both cards. ----------------------------------- ----- From Ursula I make a spinner with the different parts the kids must collect to create something (i.e., " r " rabbit, I have the ears, nose, whiskers, etc.,.) and the children can spin and practice artic at the same time (ex. " I need the rabbit's whiskers " ) Not only is it fun for artic but you can also modify it for language, pragmatics or whatever! ----------------------------------- ----- From Robin I am one of those clinicians who has little fondness for games. I prefer cooperative/interactive play, reading, writing and conversing. As such early on in my career II used a homemade puppet...not as sophisticated as your adapted one...to teach articulation. Now I just do anything the child enjoys and interject the articulation therapy as part of the activity. Sometimes with particularly challenged children I will use a game as a distractor. At this point in my career however, pretty much all I need is speech communication to find the way to work on articulation. It may be just my way of saving myself from something I never enjoyed even as a child, namely " games " . I'd rather put on a play or paint or picture or read a book to/with a child. Just how I am. ----------------------------------- ----- From Celeste I use a literature based therapy approach with almost all of my students. For artic, I choose a book I like and think the students will enjoy. I go through the book and make a list of all the words containing the target sounds. I then make cards for these words. We read and talk about the story. For older students, as we read each page I let them find the words that have their sound. We use the vocabulary cards to play games, (Memory, Go Fish, a board game, or any activity you can think of). You can also ask questions about the story and have the students respond with their target words. As you can see, not only do you get lots of artic practice, but you can target language and literacy as well. It helps link therapy with classroom activities because it helps with word recognition and reading skills. The students also like to take turns playing " teacher " and " reading " the book to the group. I let them sit in my chair and use my pointer as they read. Even though they may not yet be able to read, they can retell the story in their own words. I have found that using this approach to therapy rather than drill increases carry-over. The students are practicing their speech in more meaningful contexts. There is a book I love that I can't remember the name of right now and it is at school. I think it is Articu-lit. I know you can get it from Super Duper. It follows this approach. Someone beat me to writing it!! Anyway, it has target words for most of the sounds from about 25 popular children's books. It also has blank vocabulary cards, and a game board to copy that goes with each story. It also lists other activities as well as some language activities for your language students. It's a great resource to get you started. ----------------------------------- ----- From I use computer programs as the basis for artic therapy (once the child can correctly produce the target sound in a word.) For older artic students who can read, I use programs with simple repetitive vocabulary (e.g, Oregon Trail from Learning Company, Carmen San Diego USA by Broderbund, or Supermunchers from Learning Company) and have them work on correct pronunciation for words with the sounds they are working on. For non-readers, I can use Carmen Sandiego ,Jr. Detective (by Broderbund) which requires no reading and I let the student name the pictures with their sounds. Most kids love playing the educational computer games. They are learning new vocabulary and new facts as well as getting artic " drill " . Another method I sometimes employ with readers is to have a child make a computer picture with graphics containing his sound. Then we write a colorful story together using these words. I usually use Blocks in Motion with the Land, Sea, and Space module (Don ston), but Kid Pix, KidWorks 2 or any other graphics programs should work. The child has lots of opportunities to read back the story and share it at home with family and with teachers. ----------------------------------- ----- From I love my little mailbox. I also use various containers that " eat " chips. I have a frog with a slot on his head. A garbage can that open with a mini footpeddal, etc... ----------------------------------- ----- From Katy From my perspective, there are two factors that have not been directly addressed. 1. Regardless of the activity, articulation tx is much like physical tx in that the specific motor behavior becomes automated only with numerous trials. In other words, the number of attempts at production must be substantial to change a motor behavior in a reasonable length of time. I try not to have less that 50 responses in a 20 minute session. 2. Because we do not spend much time talking in individual words, I try to spend very little time at that level. Many of the activities presented in response to this question stressed the production of single words. I think we need activities which require sequenced production. The sequences must ultimately be produced at a " normal " rate of speed if the child is to use the target in spontaneous communication. In other word, time spent on the phrase " my soup " (/s/ as target) should require /maisup/ rather than the separation of the two words. In my opinion, there is a great possibility that games will reduce the efficacy of therapy by preventing the above emphasis. I simply use tokens. I hold the number of tokens that I feel represents the appropriate number of responses for the session. The tokens are placed in a container following each response. When the tokens are all in the container, the child gets a few minutes to " play " , pick out a sticker, etc. If I find that I have selected more tokens than are reasonable for that session I slip some into the container when the child is not looking. In that way, the child always " finishes " that which I have required. I have found that children soon learn that the faster they go, the quicker they get to play. They never figure out that I begin with more tokens as they get better. Furthermore, because the " drill " has the potential to be boring even though it is the most efficient way to change articulatory behavior, the child is quite cooperative because he/she can " see " the contract (tokens) at the beginning. In that way, the child senses some control (getting rid of tokens quickly) and knows that I, as the adult, can't make them engage in the drill indefinitely. http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/therapy/articrx.html Here's more on what you should be seeing between 2 and 3 and what is cause for concern Typically seen in first 18-24 months & #65533; Uses mostly words to communicate & #65533; Begins to use two word combinations (more cookie etc) & #65533; By 24 months has more than 50 words, or word approximations Cause for concern in first 18-24 months & #65533; Relies on gestures to communicate & #65533; Limited vocabulary (speaks less than 50 words) & #65533; Does not use any two word combinations & #65533; Limited consonant production & #65533; Mostly unintelligible speech & #65533; Regresses in language development: Stops talking, repeats phrases inappropriately Typically seen in first 24-36 months & #65533; Engages in short dialogues & #65533; Expresses emotions & #65533; Begins using language in imaginative ways & #65533; Begins providing descriptive details when speaking & #65533; Begins to use articles and word endings (a, the, ing,) uses plurals (cats) Cause for concern in first 24-36 months & #65533; Words limited to single syllable and no final consonants & #65533; Few or no multiword utterances & #65533; Does not demand a response from a listener & #65533; Asks no questions & #65533; Speech difficult to understand & #65533; Tantrums when frustrated & #65533; Echoing of speech without communicative intent http://www.cherab.org/information/latetalkerhandout.html Let us know if you have a diagnosis -and for those that don't know who you are again I've included your original message below: New Member Hello All, I have a 17 month old daughter who has no real words as of yet. Her pediatrician told me that if she wasn't saying 7 words by her 18 month appointment that she would give me a referral for Early Intervention. I'm familiar with the whole process as my 5 year old began physical therapy with EI at 5 months of age for gross motor skill delays and sensory issues. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I should have my DD evaluated. One one hand I think she just needs a little more time, but I'm afraid that waiting to give her help might not be the best route to take? Is speech delay better addressed as soon as possible? My biggest concerns are that she says no real words consistantly. Every one in a great while she will say a new word but it's gone the next day, never to be said again. For 3 days she was calling DH, " daddo " but then she never used that word again. She said " mama " a long time ago, but only once. She does have a couple of made up words that she uses daily, " bah gah " means all gone, " caca " is something yucky. That's about it. She understands everything that we say to her and will follow simple directions. She babbles like she is carrying on conversation but it's all just different variants of noises. Should I be concerned? Marie (3.19.02) Audrey (12.30.05) Molly Anne (5.13.07) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Re: Therapy Options Hi Suzi! Since our two are both around the same age in Kindergarten -and around the same skill level and receiving about the same amount of therapy -I want to share a suggestion of what to add that I'm finding to be a really good thing for Tanner. Since Tanner has spent so much of his early childhood in therapy either at home with me or in the office of an SLP or OT in a hospital or school -I'm trying adding some fun multisensory (therapy?) activities now that Tanner is 6 and a half years old. I am finding multisensory activities are extremely successful for not only motor planning. Multisensory activities appear to not only stimulate speech -they appear to be important for social and emotionatl aspects as well. I'm trying my own version of " laugh therapy " Being that Tanner spent so many years with hardly any facial expression or smiles -I just believe that laughter is very important for him...and good for all of us. As I've posted we spend some of our free time now at Disney going on rides and seeing shows. Tanner still doesn't smile and laugh as much as other kids -but he appears to enjoy when I try to get him too (he gives big hugs instead of smiles most times when he is happy) I found that multisensory activities are great for more than just getting Tanner to smile and laugh more. I first posted about karate and swimming lessons which I still highly recommend. It as always is still important to find the right school and (sensitive)instructors. I'm now finding that there are many other multisensory activities that are great for our kids -so it's best to be open and explore some with your child. These activities can at times be incorporated into traditional therapy sessions. They can enhance traditional therapy even if they are not done together with traditional therapy in that they can be used as a topic that highly interests your child in traditional therapy sessions (important!) -and again they appear to raise the child's confidence -as well as motor and social skills. See what your daughter likes to do. Maybe a dance or ice skating class would be great. Maybe she would like something with acrobats. I know where I live we are close to Club Med now and Tanner loves to take the " circus " lessons -trapeze and trampoline. He also loves roller blading lessons (also Club Med) Tanner's body actions are still a bit stiff -he doesn't move as smooth as he should - you can tell he's really concentrating in many of the activities on his actions. It's probably better to work on all this now early too rather than waiting till he's older to try to teach him. Tanner is really enjoying these fun multi sensory activities -and they are all in the world of what most " normal " kids would be doing - so it gives him a way to play with others -or something to excel in if speech is never one of his best assets. Tonight we are meeting with Jennie and her daughter Lindsey (also from Bilker's Talking Page http://www.debtsmart.com/talk/lindsey.html ) and we can let you know tomorrow what fun multisensory activities we do to make the kids laugh..and talk more! ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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