ARK's Blog

Question:  Do all children with speech problems have to attend regular speech therapy? Not necessarily.  Sometimes you can place mild cases on consultation to monitor their development and progress.  For example, I recently saw a child with an L distortion in a private school. She was four years old, and I knew the parents would be very conscientious about  home follow …

When working on articulation, I often find it best to begin the session with an auditory discrimination activity.  Not only does this help children better hear their own speech, but it also helps them settle into therapy and focus their attention. Auditory discrimination is the ability to tell the difference between correct and incorrect speech sounds.  Some kids struggle with …

Tongue tip elevation is the ability to lift the tip of one's tongue up to the alveolar ridge (the spot just behind the upper front teeth).  As a shorthand, we often call this location "on spot," as in, "get your tongue tip on spot!" Tongue tip elevation is an oral motor skill necessary to say certain speech sounds (t, d, n, l, s, and z).  It's also where the tongue should rest …

For the K, G, and Y sounds, the back of the tongue elevates to the palate.  One of my favorite "tricks" to assist back of tongue elevation is to use the Z-Vibe with the Hard Spoon Tip. . . Place the bowl of the Spoon Tip on the tip of the tongue, and then have the child say the sound (as demonstrated in the video below).  By holding down the tip of the tongue with a tactile …