Thursday, April 25, 2013

Palatometry and Speakers with ASD

Check out the article from CompleteSpeech Blog site called "Working with Adults on the Autism Spectrum."  This is a nice article of how moving beyond traditional speech therapy has made a difference in helping people "see and find their voice".    I was able to be a part of this as I trained the Therapists at Scenic View.  I love their willingness to give so much.   Their patience, time, talent and giving their best resouces to their students has paid off.  Using the SmartPalate System has been a great choice for so many students.

http://completespeech.com/speech/blog/?utm_source=Master+List&utm_campaign=02c17ca6dd-March+1%2C+2013&utm_medium=email

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Speech Services

A+ Speech Therapy helps with the following speech needs.
1. Stuttering/Cluttering
     Saying words without hesitations, repetitions, prolongations, blocks, or secondary behaviors; twitches, eye blinks, tension.   For cluttering, add false starts, mazes, revisions, interjections, unaware of rushing, so on.

2. Articulation issues
    Usually this can mean lingering articulation errors on one or more sounds. Most common errors being distortions like "S, Z"  being dentalized or lateral (uni or bi lateral) and "R" sounds being substituted or diminished.  For some people it can be difficulty reaching full articulation gesture or maintaining clear articulation throughout the word and sentences.

3.  Literacy
     Difficulty with reading and writing difficulties.  Maybe from core auditory processing deficits of phonological awareness and phonological rules. not being able to retain or recall sequence of letters/sounds and or numbers.  Difficulty comprehending what was read.  Maybe a slow reader.

4. Voice
     Vocal nodules, vocal fatigue, quiet voice, or too loud of a voice, monotone, pitch issues, oral resonance issues, strained voice or too breathy of a voice, etc.

6. Language
     Difficulty understanding instructions, events, stories, general conversation. 
Difficulty expressing one's ideas and thoughts.  Difficulty with social-emotional language, like those with autism, ADHD, hard of hearing, so on.



Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Correct Sound Placement; Connect the Dots

Remember dot to dot drawings?  The SmartPalate speech therapy might be as simple as that!

See the dot to dot connection for correct /r/ placement (yes two right triangles).  How did my client's tongue know how to make two right triangles?  Your tongue is amazing, it will adapt to where it's suppose to because we are visual learners with mirror neurons. We want to match with what we see.

It's not new science, it's proven science that we do best with "multi-modality learning"
We learn, retain and recall  better with "hearing, seeing and doing." 
With traditional therapy, the student can't see inside the therapist's mouth to match what their tongue is doing.   But now with the "SmartPalate" system, the client can see what the instructor does and match their "dot" placement better.   Kids and adults love it!

 Female, age 10,  Consistent correct /r/ placement after 2 sessions
 Consistent correct sound and placement after 5 sessions in sentences.
 Below is a sample video of Millie teaching me how she does her homework to generalize her good /r/.

Friday, March 29, 2013

Many children struggle to get in their R sound completely correct.  Here is one way to help them to generalize. I learned this lesson from my client.  How great is that. First we will show you with the Smart Palate then without the mouthpiece.


Monday, March 25, 2013

April; Teaching Syllables for kids with apraxia

I use Visual Phonics (hand gestures) for those needing extra visual cues.
See how I teach basic syllables with "m" as the consonant rotating through vowels.
First video with visual phonics, the second video just showing letters/sounds.
You can purchase Visual Phonics DVD and visual guide booklet at Brigham Young University, author ComD.  Total cost is approx $15.00


Thursday, January 10, 2013

WELCOME TO 2013!
I HOPE YOUR BLOG BROWSING WILL BE ENJOYABLE!



Phone; 801-372-4383, 
Email: adorais159@gmail.com

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Free Speech Worksheets

I LOVE good shopping alerts, and "FREE" SPEECH HANDOUTS"
Once in a while you run across a person who has done tons of work to make worksheets for therapists and parents.  Here is that good website This site has lots of other good information.
check out Heather's Free Speech Worksheets   I sure you will enjoy this website as much as I do.

Monday, September 17, 2012

SmartPlate System Demo

Here is a nice short informative Demo on the SmartPalate System.
.Speech Demo
Or cut and paste link below into your web browser.
 https://www.dropbox.com/s/5zd03uoyiiq4g94/Complete%20Speech%20Commercial.mp4
Speech Therapy with the Palatomoter can now begin

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Therapy Handout Website

 I will highlight speech-language websites once in a while for parents and therapists.  This website has great therapy materials for homework materials and lots of knowledge materials.
Today's featured website is by Judith Kuster's Net Connections for Communication Disorders and Sciences (www.communicationdisorders.com); This takes you directly to the various topics that may be important to you.  http://www.mnsu.edu/comdis/kuster2/sptherapy.html?goback=.gde_1554647_member_149727478

Friday, July 6, 2012

Seven Best Tips for Speech Therapy; Using the SmartPalate System

Here is a culmination of therapy tips from holding 4 years of Summer Intensive Speech Therapy. These tips are sure to help any therapist and child using the "SmartPalate" system.  (For Therapist's mostly, but parents are welcome to read on). To get theses tips in full detail, click on the title.

1. To get best results, teach children to "relax" from the beginning.

2. Use "mirrors" to help the child watch his lips, tongue tip and jaws during the session and at home.


3. Don't forget to emphasize good forward AIR flow! 

4. Practice the correct approach to the word at different rates. 

5.  Once the "R" was fairly intact; I had them practice the "r" syllable in contrast, correctly and incorrectly


6. Practice with and without the "smartpalate" mouthpiece across linguistic complexity.

7. Allow child to practice for 3-5 minutes on their own, without your feedback. 


You are welcome to email me if you have any questions about these tips using the "SmartPalate" System at adorais159@gmail.com