Article about importance of early evaluation

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Speech pathologist urges parents to have child checked

By Krejci, Dells Events | Posted: Friday, March 19, 2010 4:21 pm

The eighth annual CESA 5 Speech Language Pathologist Institute attracted a

nationally renowned speaker in the field who urged parents to see a specialist

if they suspect their children have a speech impairment.

Pam Marshalla, a speech language pathologist from Washington state with 34 years

of experience, was a featured speaker at the conference held at Kalahari Resort

earlier this month.

The focus of the conference was on early childhood speech and language therapy.

Dallas Kerzan, conference coordinator, said 500 speech language pathologists

attended from states across the Midwest. Local SLPs from school districts,

including the Dells, also attended, she said.

Jerry Nicholson, director of pupil services in the Wisconsin Dells School

District, said in the current 2009-2010 school year there are 120 students who

are in speech language therapy in the Dells schools. He said the number was

" steady to increasing " from year to year.

Marshalla spoke with the Dells Events March 10, the day after the conference

ended, about how to identify a speech impairment and how to get help for a

child.

She said initially parents can rely on a pediatrician or their local school

district to refer them to a speech language pathologist, or even look in the

phone book for speech therapists, but let a professional in the field diagnose

the child.

" A lot of parents don't know if there's a problem or not, " Marshalla said. " They

see their 2 1/2- to 3-year-old who's not talking well, and they wonder should

their child be tested. And if the parent has any questions they should follow

that up. Even if their sister-in-law is saying, `Oh they'll be all right.' "

Marshalla graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1976

with a master's degree. She has experience working as an SLP in schools, private

practice, hospitals, residential facilities and nursing homes. She currently

lives in Everett, Washington.

" I specialize in speech production...how to make sounds. How to make your mouth

do what you want it to do, " she said.

She helps clients overcome obstacles like drooling, thumb sucking, apraxia,

articulation and lisps.

Some examples of impairments include difficulty in pronouncing the letters " r " ,

" l " and " s, " or making the " sh " sound. She often sees children who say " wabbit "

instead of " rabbit. " Some have trouble making the " k " sound in the word " car "

and they say the word " tar " instead, she said.

Some students have lisps where they pronounce the letter " s " with a " th " sound,

she added.

Therapy, she said has the student hear language spoken properly, has them see it

done and do it themselves. Therapists teach students to pay attention when they

speak, helping them by breaking bad speech habits and reinforcing the correct

way to make sounds.

" That's why we always encourage parents to read books to their kids, read to

your kids, talk to your kids, listen to your kids, " she said.

Treatment involves drills and practice.

" Little children do this naturally, " Marshalla said.

She said 2-year-olds practice speech when they repeat phrases like " uh oh,

Mommy " 10 times in a row. The same practice occurs when a young child plays

peek-a-boo, she added.

Therapists like to employ games and toys in learning to speak properly. In 2008

Marshalla released a CD called " Do You Like Pie, " that is comprised of songs

whose lyrics encourage children to practice creating letter sounds.

Marshalla said a lot of students helped by speech language pathologists have

other disabilities, like being born with cerebral palsy or having a cleft

palate. Hearing impaired students and sometimes bilingual students need special

attention too, she said.

Marshalla gave examples of what a normally developing child would be able to do

at various stages of growth. Infants should be able to babble. One-year-olds

should be able to say " Momma, " " Dadda " and " uh-oh. " Two-year-olds should be able

to say the beginnings of sentences like " Uh oh Mommy " and " doggy bark. "

Three-year-olds should be able to form small sentences. Sometime between age 3

and the second grade children should be able to pronounce all the letters of the

alphabet, she said.

The school district has services for children beginning at age 3. The county

health and human services department has programs for children from birth to 3

years of age, Nicholson said.

http://www.wiscnews.com/wisconsindellsevents/news/local/article_231fba8c-339e-11\

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