Apraxia Therapy: Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) Part 3

I frequently receive requests for information from parents or therapists of very young children - usually between the ages of 18 and 30 months. The children have very few, if any, words. They make few sounds. They have a history of reduced or absent babbling. They have difficulty imitating and difficulty making volitional utterances. They are beginning to become aware that they are different. They want to communicate and yet struggle. Frustration is increasing on the part of both parents and children. The child may begin to act out in negative ways. What do you do? Where do you start?

You have three immediate goals:

1. Reduce frustration.
2. Establish and increase frequency of volitional utterances.
3. Increase number of daily speech utterances through structured practice.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Reducing frustration.

Read about how to address this goal in part one of my Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) series.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Establishing and increasing frequency of volitional utterances.

Read about how to address this goal in part two of my Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) series.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Increase number of daily speech utterances through structured practice.

Childhood Apraxia of Speech is a disorder of the motor planning of speech movements. The brain knows what the child wants to say. The mouth is capable of making the movements necessary. The planning of those movements gets jumbled in between. Children with apraxia need repetition, repetition, repetition in order to establish proper motor planning routines and make those routines smooth and automatic. One of the most efficient ways to increase the sheer number of repetitions your child makes is through drill. You can do drill activities with very young children, but first you need to figure out what to drill. I will outline a sequence of steps that will show you how to determine which sounds to target first for a specific child and help you find the resources and methods for doing those drill activities with young children.

1. Take a speech sound inventory - Young children with apraxia often have a “limited phonemic repertoire”. This is just a fancy way of saying that they can’t make very many sounds. Even if they are trying to mimic a wide variety of words, the sounds they are actually producing often are not the sounds that should be in the words they are trying to imitate. Listen carefully to your child when they are verbalizing. Take videos of several times when your child is “chatty”. Then go back and really listen to those utterances. Transcribe them if you can. What sounds do you hear? What vowels? What consonants? Write those down. For example, check out this speech sample of a child with apraxia at 23 months of age. You can see the transcript of the words Ava was saying and the actual sounds she produced. You'll want to do this several times so that you can be sure that you have a fairly complete collection of the types of utterances your child can make.
2. Analyze the speech sound data you collected - Take your lists of the transcribed words your child makes (if you are a parent, you don't have to use fancy transcription symbols like I did -just note vowels and consonants as best you can). From those lists, make a final list of all the consonant sounds your child can produce. If you can, note next to each consonant whether you heard it at the beginning of the word (in initial position) or at the end of the word (in final position) or both. Your list of consonants may be very small. When I started working with Ava, her only consonant was /d/. You may hear several consonants. If so, try to identify the one or two consonants your child uses most often. Or, the one or two consonants they can imitate best.
3. Choose speech practice target sounds - This may seem counterintuitive, but you want to begin by working with the sounds your child is most successful with. You are going to begin practicing with the one or two sounds that they already use the most and/or that they can imitate the best. You are going to do this for two reasons. First, you want them to experience success. Early apraxia therapy is all about turning speech from a frustrating activity the child feels like a failure at to a fun activity they can enjoy and consistently participate in at some level. Second, it is likely that they are only using those "best" consonants in a single word, or that they cannot produce them at will in many situations. You want to take that sound that they are currently only using in one word, at home, with you and turn it into a sound they can use in many words (with different vowels to mean different things) in many different situations (school, with other family members, at the park, etc.).
4. Make therapy practice materials - Go to my free speech articulation materials page and download a free card set or two. Choose a card set that features the sounds you identified in the previous step. If your child uses the sound at the beginning of their words, download the initial card set for that sound. If your child uses the sound at the end of their words, download the final card set for that sound. The card set is designed to pair that consonant your child can produce successfully with multiple vowels. If they leave off a sound (for example, "pah" for "pop"), accept that as correct and move on. If there are cards in the set that your child cannot produce because they can't imitate that vowel sound at all, don’t use them. Right now you want your child to think that this game is fun. You want them to experience success.
   
   Scroll down to the bottom of the free card set page for some tips on doing speech practice with young children and 30 ideas of games and activities to do with those cards.
5. Practice, practice, practice - Keep practice sessions short. Treat it as play. Tell your child that you're going to play a speech game and then follow through with making it fun. If your child is struggling, ask for just one more, and then put it aside and come back to it later, with a different game. Remember that all of these speech repetitions are cumulative. You are using a variety of strategies throughout the child's entire day to increase the number of speech utterances they produce. Structured practice with picture cards can easily double a the number of speech utterances a child produces in a day in a very short amount of time. It is a valuable tool. It also allows your child to practice using very simple combinations of sounds to produce a wide variety of words that they will hopefully begin to be able to incorporate into their own spontaneous use.

If you found this article useful, check out other articles I've written about Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Apraxia Therapy: Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) Part 2

I frequently receive requests for information from parents or therapists of very young children - usually between the ages of 18 and 30 months. The children have very few, if any, words. They make few sounds. They have a history of reduced or absent babbling. They have difficulty imitating and difficulty making volitional utterances. They are beginning to become aware that they are different. They want to communicate and yet struggle. Frustration is increasing on the part of both parents and children. The child may begin to act out in negative ways. What do you do? Where do you start?

You have three immediate goals:

1. Reduce frustration.
2. Establish and increase frequency of volitional utterances.
3. Increase number of daily speech utterances through structured practice.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Reducing frustration.

Read about how to address this goal in part one of my Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) series.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Establishing and increasing frequency of volitional utterances.

Typically, very young children with apraxia have difficulty producing sounds when they want to. You want to help them be able to intentionally vocalize. If they already can vocalize at will, you want to increase the number of those utterances and the contexts in which they can produce those utterances. Note that for the purpose of this goal, you should not care if the utterance is phonetically accurate. For example, if the child is trying to say, “baby”, and the utterance they make doesn’t sound anything like “baby,” that is all right. If they produce something different each time, that is all right too. You simply want them to be able to reliably produce an utterance in response to a stimulus.

Every time a child with apraxia makes a vocalization (any vocalization) on purpose they are practicing formulating a message in their mind, creating a motor-speech plan, and successfully coordinating breath, phonation, and movement of the speech articulators to produce sound. For these children, that sequence of events is a huge success and a necessary beginning. You need this to happen before you can begin to fine tune the specific sounds that emerge. There are many ways to establish and increase practice opportunities for volitional utterances. I will describe four methods below.

1. Echoing - One of the simplest ways to establish or increase the number of volitional utterances is to echo any utterances your child does make back at them. Remember that every single time your child deliberately makes a sound to communicate they are coordinating intent with breath, phonation, and movement of speech muscles and structures. This is essential practice in early apraxia therapy. So, if your child happens to make a sound (not a frustration sound, but any other sound) echo it back at them. You want to try to create a fun feedback loop or simple game out of bouncing that word/sound/exclamation/utterance back and forth. For example, there was a time when my daughter's only word was "da?" (for "that?"). She would use it to label items she already knew the name for, to request the name for unknown items, and to request items she couldn't reach. She and I could have an entire conversation consisting of bouncing that one word back and forth. She would point to an unknown item (let's say... a marble, just for the sake of this example). The conversation would unfold as follows:
   • Ava: "Da?" (What's that?)
   • Mama: "Da?" (You mean this?)
   • Ava: "Da!" (Yep!)
   • Mama: "Da?" (You sure you mean this?)
   • Ava: "Da!" (Yep mama. Tell me already!)
   • Mama: "Marble."
   
   So, instead of her making a single utterance and then receiving either the marble or the label for the marble and being done, Ava practiced making an utterance three times in the context of a true, turn-taking conversation. Over time, this simple technique can result in dozens, or hundreds of extra utterances a day. You can listen to an example of a father using this technique with his 21 month old daughter in the first apraxia speech sample audio clip of this post.
2. Interactive book reading - Sit down with your child and a picture book. Your goal is to use the book interactively to elicit speech from your child. Read the same book each night so that the child sees the book as a familiar and fun activity. You do not want to read the book to your child, although you can make reading the text on each page part of what you do. You want to engage your child in commenting on the action in the pictures by pointing and asking questions. For example, if a story involves a character who falls, every time you read that page, point to the character and say, “Uh oh!” Then encourage your child to mimic you. Go back and forth several times. Have fun with it. Other utterances that can be worked into reading many children’s books include “hi,” “oh no,” “shhhh,” “bye bye,” “mama,” “daddy,” etc. Again, it doesn’t matter so much that your child mimics those words correctly. You simply want them to experience the turn taking and joint attention that comes with playing the game.
   
   You can watch a video of this type of interaction in my Case Study of Apraxia – Audio Samples from 21-30 months post. I am reading a book with my 21 month old daughter with apraxia. I also highly recommend the Big Book of Exclamations by Teri K. Peterson. The author is a speech pathologist who designed the book to provide many, many opportunities for interactions and vocalizations. Read my review of The Big Book of Exclamations for more information on this great book.
3. Pair actions and vocalizations - Often children with apraxia find vocalizing easier when their efforts are paired with motion. Encourage your child to say “whee” while sliding down a slide or swinging on a swing. Play horsie and bounce them on your knee or on an exercise ball while saying “ba bump, ba bump, ba bump”. Blow bubbles and encourage them to say “pop” as they pop each one with their finger. Crash cars together and have them mimic “bam!” Give them a ball of play dough and let them poke holes in it imitating “squish” each time. Line up blocks along the end of a table and have them say “uh oh” each time they push one off. Then they can say “up” each time they put one back up setting up for the next round. Possibilities are endless. Again, it doesn’t so much matter what sound they make. What matters is that they do make a sound. You want them to enjoy making the sound. Making a sound is part of the game. Without a sound, the game isn’t as much fun.
4. Strategic Withholding - Create speech opportunities in daily life. Structure interactions to require speech. It is so easy with a minimally verbal child to start anticipating their needs and eliminate the need for them to even try to vocalize. Instead, deliberately place a few favorite things out of reach so they have to ask for your help to reach them. Give them a small serving of their favorite food so they’ll need to ask for more. If you are coloring with them, deliberately place the colors just a little out of their reach so they’ll have to ask you to hand them the crayons. These are just a few simple examples, but extend the concept as much as possible during the day. Through this simple technique you can create dozens of opportunities for your child to verbalize each day. Every single utterance adds up to extra practice. A child with apraxia needs as much practice as you can possible squeeze in.
   
   Do not take this to extremes. You are not trying to be mean, or to deliberately frustrate the child. You are simply intentionally creating opportunities for requests. You want the process to feel natural and not forced. If the child is not able to vocalize a request, respond to nonverbal requests (and signs) as well. You want to avoid increasing frustration. Think “create opportunities” rather than “force practice.”

Trying to write this as one continuous post was simply too long. Look for the continuation of this series the rest of the week. In the meantime, if you need more general information about Childhood Apraxia of Speech, the following posts may be useful:

1. What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech and How Is It Diagnosed?
2. What makes Childhood Apraxia of Speech different from other speech disorders?
3. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 1 - How Much and How Often?
4. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 2 - Types and Variability of Practice
5. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 3 - Methods and Content

Apraxia Therapy: Early Apraxia Therapy (Where to Begin) Part 1

I frequently receive requests for information from parents or therapists of very young children - usually between the ages of 18 and 30 months. The children have very few, if any, words. They make few sounds. They have a history of reduced or absent babbling. They have difficulty imitating and difficulty making volitional utterances. They are beginning to become aware that they are different. They want to communicate and yet struggle. Frustration is increasing on the part of both parents and children. The child may begin to act out in negative ways. What do you do? Where do you start?

You have three immediate goals:

1. Reduce frustration.
2. Establish and increase frequency of volitional utterances.
3. Increase number of daily speech utterances through structured practice.

Early Apraxia Treatment - Reducing frustration.

Both child and parents experience increasing frustration. The child has the cognition and underlying receptive and expressive language skills to want to communicate and yet the child is unable to talk. The child wants to initiate simple requests - they want attention, food, help, an item out of reach, etc. When they are unable to make those requests they are frustrated and act out in frustration. They also resort to grabbing, pulling, pointing, crying, and grunting as they attempt to communicate. You need to reduce all of this frustration to improve the quality of life for the child and everyone around him or her. The child needs to be able to communicate their basic needs. You need to teach temporary ways for the child to communicate effectively.

1. Teach simple signs - Teach the child simple signs such as "no, stop, more, help, eat, drink," etc. Teach the same signs to any adults and other children who regularly spend time with the child. Incorporate the use of these signs into daily routines and encourage the child to use them as well. Adults and other children should pair the use of the sign with the matching spoken word, but do not push the child with apraxia to vocalize. The purpose of using the signs at this point is to allow the child to communicate functionally when their voice fails them. This will result in a happier child who will be able to better understand the underlying give-and-take nature of communication when you are ready to bridge to verbal communication. Here's a visual guide to 21 signs useful with young children.
2. Create communication boards - Create communication boards and post them in key areas of the child's home. Make a simple chart of food and drink items to put on the wall in the kitchen (at a height the child can reach). Post another chart with characters from their favorite TV shows near the television. A third chart might include pictures of the toys they request most often posted near the place toys are put away. This gives the child a way to request specific things without needing to be able to verbalize complex sounds.
   
   Think about the things the child most often struggles to communicate and create boards that feature those things. For more in depth information, read about why and how to make and use communication boards in my Apraxia Therapy: Communication Boards post.

Trying to write this as one continuous post was simply too long. Look for the continuation of this series the rest of the week. In the meantime, if you need more general information about Childhood Apraxia of Speech, the following posts may be useful:

1. What is Childhood Apraxia of Speech and How Is It Diagnosed?
2. What makes Childhood Apraxia of Speech different from other speech disorders?
3. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 1 - How Much and How Often?
4. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 2 - Types and Variability of Practice
5. Childhood Apraxia of Speech Therapy Fundamentals: Part 3 - Methods and Content

Back to Basics: Syllable Shape in One-Syllable Words

Learn why it is necessary to control syllable shape in your target words and how.

Why does syllable shape matter when choosing words for speech therapy?

Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) is a neurological speech disorder that disrupts the sequencing, transmission, and execution of the motor-planning commands of speech. For most people, this process is automatic and effortless, but for children with CAS, each sequence must be taught and then practiced over and over again until it becomes automatic.

Think of it this way. Pretend that children with motor-planning problems have a circuit breaker somewhere in their system between their brain and their mouth. If the demands on the circuit are low, the breaker does not trip and the word is produced correctly. If the demands are high, the circuit breaker is overloaded and word production fails.

Words with many sounds are more demanding than words with fewer sounds. Consonants put more stress on the system than vowels. A new sound or sound combination takes more effort (putting more demand on the system) than one that has been practiced many times. As a therapist, you always want to find that balance between stimuli that are demanding enough to teach new skills, but not so demanding that the circuit breaker trips and the student only experiences repeated failure. Controlling syllable shape is one way to create an appropriate list of target words for children with CAS and other children with a motor-planning component to their speech problem.

Children who have no motor-planning problems can learn a new sound like /p/, practice it at the beginning and ends of words, practice it in phrases and sentences, and then use it in conversation. Once taught a /p/, children with a motor-planning component to their speech disorder can say the /p/ in some one-syllable words, but not others. Why? Not all one syllable words are the same.

Understanding Syllable Shape

One-syllable words are words that contain only one vowel. "A" is a one-syllable word. "Springs" is also a one-syllable word. "A" is a one-syllable word comprised of just one vowel sound - /eI/. "Springs" is a one-syllable word comprised of six sounds (five consonants and one vowel) - /s/, /p/, /r/, /I/, /ng/, /z/. One-syllable words are not all created equal. A one-syllable word with 6 sounds has motor-planning requirements that are significantly more demanding than a one-syllable word comprised of only one or two sounds.

One-syllable words can have a variety of syllable shapes. Typically more sounds = more difficult. More consonant blends = more difficult. You can break down the sounds in the words into consonants (C) and vowels (V). There are also R-colored vowels or vocalic R sounds (like in the words car, fur, and air), but we will save discussing those for another time. If there is a vocalic R in your word list and you are working with a child with a severe speech disorder, discard that word for now.

The simplest one-syllable words have a vowel-consonant (VC) or consonant-vowel (CV) shape. Whether you are targeting a consonant or vowel, it is interesting to note that some children may find production easier in a CV context and other children will have an easier time with VC. Experiment to find out which is easier for the child you're working with. Remember that you're working with sounds - not letters. "bee" and "she" are both CV words even though the first is spelled with one consonant and two vowels and the second is spelled with two consonants and one vowel. You are looking for words that are pronounced with only two sounds regardless of how they are spelled.

In terms of complexity of syllable shape, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words are next. To keep things simple, you want to choose CVC words that include two sounds your child can make and only one target sound. For example, if your child has trouble with /k/ and /n/, and you're targeting /k/, do not choose the word "can". Choose "cab" instead. Another thing to remember when creating a CVC word list is word position. Again, the child may find words with the targeted sound at the beginning of the word more difficult or they may find words with the targeted sound at the end of the word more difficult. Adjust your word list accordingly. Remember to keep your focus on sounds. Words like "ship", "with", "cheat", and "those" are all CVC words.

One-syllable words with consonant blends come next in terms of complexity. If you're working with children who have a severe speech delay I would avoid these for now. Consonant blends are two or more consecutive consonants in the same syllable that are produced in a blended fashion. Your one-syllable word could have one or two consonant blends. CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC, CCCVC, CVCCC, CCCVCC, CCVCCC, and CCCVCCC are all potential one-syllable syllable shapes.

Guidelines for Creating Word Lists by Syllable Shape

1. Include only one target sound in each word. Make sure all the other sounds in the word are in the child's phonemic inventory. (Alternately, accept approximations of the other sounds in the target word.)
2. CV and VC words are the simplest. CVC words are more complex. Work at the highest level of complexity the child can handle to maximize speed of progress and generalization.
3. Avoid words with vocalic /r/ and consonant blends.
4. Experiment with words that include your target sound in initial position and words that include your target sound in final position. A child may find one position easier than the other giving you a starting point for therapy. As soon as possible, mix the word positions together to increase difficulty and improve generalization.
5. Remember to focus on sounds, not letters when searching for words to include in your list. All of your words will be two or three sounds, but may be spelled with more letters.

Moving Beyond CVC Words

If your child has mastered production of your target sound in one-syllable CVC words move to simple two-syllable words or focus on the CVC words in short phrases before trying to work on the sound in consonant blends. The simplest two-syllable syllable shapes are VCV, CVCV, and VCVC.

A useful technique when moving past CVC words is to introduce a simple carrier phrase that is used over and over again with the target words. ("Give me the _____." or "That is my _____.") Another strategy is to find a nursery rhyme, children's song, or children's book that contains some of your target words and use them with the child pausing to let the child fill in the target words at the appropriate times.

Motor-Speech Articulation Method (MSAM)

Controlling syllable shape is one of the fundamental underlying strategies I use when designing the illustrated card sets that are the core of my free and premium speech materials. Other strategies involved in target word selection in the MSAM method include controlling the phonemic complexity of the individual sounds that are the building blocks of the target words and maximizing co-articulation variety.

Places to Get Free ASHA CEUs Online: Part 1

ASHA requires 3.0 Continuing Education Units every three years. That is the equivalent of 30 contact hours. The state of Missouri requires 30 hours of continuing education every two years. (Check your state's SLP continuing education requirements.) If I get 15 hours every year (or one every 3.5 weeks) I should be covered. Of course, last year I only got 10. That means I need 20 more by December 31st. Next year, I'm setting a reminder on my calendar. Every three weeks I'm going to spend an hour working on continuing education. That will put me a little ahead by the end of the year so I can take the holidays off. Or, alternately, being slightly ahead will make up for the occasional time I can't actually keep my self-imposed CEU appointment. However, next year's responsible plan does not save me from this year's last-minute mess. I went searching online for sources of free SLP CEUs. Here's the first place I found and tried.

Places to Earn Free Speech-Pathology CEUs Online: LinguiSystems

LinguiSystems
First, you have to sign up for a free LinguiList account in order to take their free courses (sign up). The plus side is that if you provide them with your ASHA account number, they'll report your continuing credits to the ASHA registry for you as you earn them. Their FAQ states that it can take up to six weeks for the courses to show up in your ASHA CEU registry. If you're not participating in the ASHA CEU Registry and keeping track of your CEUs yourself, you can also print a certificate to keep for your records to send to ASHA or your state if you get randomly audited. (As a complete aside, getting chosen for a random audit one month after the birth of your first, constantly screaming, child and four months after moving into a new home was soooo much fun.)

1. LinguiSystems has three ways to earn credits. You can take one of 19 short courses that range from .15 to .3 CEUs each. You read the contents of the course presented in slideshow format and then take a written exam. You can keep the course up in another window while you take the exam so that you can refer back to the content when choosing your answers. One small tip. Use the search function (ctrl-F) to search for a key phrase in the course quickly when taking the exam. Some exams are simple multiple choice (the two I took were 20 questions) and you get your results (and your CEUs) immediately. You need 80% to pass.
   
   Some exams are a mix of multiple choice and paragraph-style responses to open-ended questions and you have to wait up to 24 hours to find out if you passed and earned your CEU. They say you may re-take a course you fail. Unfortunately, you can't tell which style exam a course will have until you click on that exam to take it. However, you can save a half-finished exam and come back to it later. I have taken three of their short courses and I thought they were all nicely presented with good information.
   
   The courses cover a wide variety of topics including attention disorders, AAC, typical development, counseling skills, dysarthria, evidence-based practice, and more. I took the Developing Communication Skills in Young Children and Communication Milestones courses (multiple choice exam) and the Changing Behavior to Change the Child's Voice course (multiple choice and short-answer exam).
   
   I particularly liked the Communication Milestones course and intend to print it out and keep it handy for easy reference. I also thought the voice course was well-done and well worth reading if you have a voice client. However, the short-answer exam took me a long time and if you're looking to get a lot of CEUs done quickly, save the voice one for later.
   
   I intend to take several more of these courses and will update in the comments if there are any I thought were particularly well done or particularly poor.
2. If you own any of LinguiSystems "Source" books (I have the Source for Apraxia Therapy, for example.) you might be able to take a free online assessment about the contents of the book and earn anywhere from 0.4-0.8 CEUs if you pass. (Not all of the Source books have an online test available.) The test for the Source for Apraxia was a 20 question multiple choice exam. I was already intimately familiar with the contents of the book so it didn't take me long to complete. I earned 0.4 ASHA CEUs for taking the exam. I know this post is about earning free CEUs, but purchasing a source book (some of which can be purchased on CD and therefore would be a searchable PDF), is a pretty price efficient way of getting CEUs and you are left with a well-written reference book on a topic that interests you.
3. The third way to earn free CEU's from Linguisystems requires that you have 5 SLPs in the same place and must be registered 30 days ahead of time. If so, you can request a DVD course. There are currently 14 to choose from although two are being discontinued at the end of the year.

I took three short courses and one test on a LinguiSystems Source book I already owned and earned 1.0 CEUs in one (admittedly long) morning. That is half of the total number of CEUs I needed to earn between now and the end of the year. And that was my experience earning free CEUs with LinguiSystems. In the next installment of this blog series on earning free ASHA CEUs online I'll talk about the next place I found to earn free ASHA CEUs online. If anyone has tried any of the other LinguiSystems short courses and wants to share their favorites or mention which ones had which types of exams, please share with us in the comments. I'll be taking some more shortly and I'd love to know which ones you liked. Also, if anyone has seen one of the LinguiSystems DVD courses, I'd be interested to know what you thought of that method of earning free CEUs.

Initial F: One-Syllable Word List by Syllable Shape

Here you go. Over 360 one-syllable words beginning with the /f/ sound all on the same page. They are sorted by syllable shape: CV, CCV, CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CCVCC, CVr, CVrC, CCVr, CCVrC, and CVrCC (Vr=Vocalic /r/). I chose to go with comprehensive so a lot of these words are a bit obscure and there is some repetitiveness across syllable shapes (i.e. face/faced, fry/fryer/fryers). However, if you need to practice CCVCC initial /f/ words, you'll find a bunch of them here. I've included a color handout and a printer friendly version. Take your pick.





Chime in with a comment if you like this resource. If people are finding this useful I'll make some more. I haven't chosen which sound I'd do next, so if you have a request, this is your chance to put in a vote.

Permissions:
I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this resource provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Would This Type of Word List Resource Be Useful?

I've done lots of picture therapy cards, but not all words are easily pictured. Sometimes you just want a long list of words that suits your needs. I was playing around with making a single page word list resource that sorts one-syllable words by syllable shape. This is what I was thinking of:

Would something like this be useful? Should I make more? Any feedback or ideas? This is just a work in progress, but I wanted to get some feedback before spending more time on the project.

Speech Steps from Isolation to Spontaneous Sentences

This is a description of the variety of ways you can use the exact same set of stimuli to work with children who are at vastly different levels of proficiency with a target sound. Or, alternately, a description of the set of incremental steps you can go through using the same set of stimuli to take a child from producing a sound in isolation to using that same sound in spontaneous sentences. For the purposes of this discussion, I am using the /s/ phoneme as an example, but the same process can be used with any phoneme.

At the beginning of the spectrum, you have a child who is stimulable for the target sound, but is having difficulty at the CV, VC, or CVC single-syllable word level. At the end of the spectrum, you have a child who is ready to work on carryover to conversational speech with the sound. Let's look at the steps you can take with the same set of stimuli to vary difficulty to meet the child's needs.

I attempted to get this information down in paragraph form, but it was too wordy. An illustrated flowchart seemed to work better, so here it is. You might consider printing this and attaching it to a copy of one or two of my free articulation card sets and sending it home as homework for the summer with students.

Speech Steps from Isolation to Spontaneous Sentences

Very Nice Basic FAQ Page on Childhood Apraxia of Speech

I really liked this basic information page on CAS. It gives a decent overview of the disorder and a description of how an SLP works with a child with CAS. I particularly like the section at the end that gives suggestions for how a parent can help / work with their child at home. There are some excellent suggestions there.

Check it out.

Initial L: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

These articulation picture card sets are designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for these sets are young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with sounds at a one-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in these sets. (Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 30 therapy cards with the target word and picture on the front, and the difficulty level and a carrier phrase on the back.
• The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
• Combines the target sound with all possible vowel sounds at least once.
• Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses this card set. Let me know if you find errors or there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Kids Express Train Set 1 - Therapy Music

Therapy Materials Review: Kids Express Train Set 1 (KET Set 1)

This is a review of The Kids Express Train Set 1 (referred to from here on as KET Set 1 for short) created by Rachel Arntson, M.S., CCC-SLP. Rachel was generous enough to provide me with a complimentary copy of this set to review. At it's core, this product is music. It is therapy music. The KET Set 1 comes with two music CDs, a CD-ROM of therapy resources, and a manual.

Target audience

I'd say this music would be most appropriate for children between the ages of 12 months and 5 years of age. The music could certainly be listened to by younger and older children, but in a therapeutic setting I see it being used most with toddlers and preschoolers. There are always exceptions where the kit might be appropriate for older children.

The music and materials would be useful to therapists providing services in a clinic, school or home setting, and also to parents in the home. The music has a wide enough appeal that it could also easily be enjoyed in a preschool or daycare classroom as well.

Description of the Kids Express Train Set 1

This set contains two music CDs with 30 tracks. There are 25 unique songs with lyrics and 5 additional instrumental versions of some of the tracks. The set also contains a manual and a CD-ROM with additional materials. These songs are composed at a slightly slower rate and in a key that is high enough for young children to easily sing along. Adults and children are singing together and the cue, "Your turn." is built into each song. Each song provides many opportunities for children to imitate, often in sets of three repetitions. The topics covered by the songs and vocabulary used in the songs are accessible to young children.

• Imitation Station - CD1 The goal of Imitation Station is to encourage verbal imitation through singing with music and rhythm. There are 13 songs on this CD. I will list the song titles and the primary therapeutic objective of each song. I will also link to a song sample when available.
  
  
  1. Express Train - taking turns talking
  2. Animals - animal sounds
  3. Puppy, Puppy, Puppy - actions / puppy sounds
  4. Noisy, Noisy, Noisy - making noises
  5. Monkey Song - vowels / actions
  6. Dump and Fill - concepts of in and out
  7. Owie - actions / common vocabulary
  8. Milk and Juice - foods and choice questions (Sample here. Scroll down a bit until you get to the KET Set 1 section to find song sample.)
  9. Baby Blowing Bubbles - words / phrases (Sample here. Scroll down a bit until you get to the KET Set 1 section to find song sample.)
  10. Put the Sound on the End - ends of words
  11. Barefoot Toes - two-syllable words/phrases
  12. Go in My Car - vowels and the word, "go"
  13. Bye, Bye - two-word phrases / common objects
  
  The manual provides a brief description and 2-4 simple activities for every song on this CD. The CD-ROM has .pdf files that provide additional resources all of which can be printed (in both color or black and white). Those resources are:
  
  • Lyrics for all songs.
  • A list of speech and language goals and the specific songs that can be used to address them. Some language examples include action words and motor imitation (tracks 3, 5) and daily routines and social stories (tracks 6, 7). Phonemic awareness is addressed in track 10. Some of the speech goals include noises and animal sounds (tracks 2, 3, 4) and vowels/vowel combinations (tracks 5, 12).
  • A song request sheet. This sheet is like a pictorial table of contents. You print it and the child can choose which song they want to hear.
  • Follow-along sheets. These sheets are single or multi page sheets with the lyrics and pictures printed out to help the adult/child follow along with the song visually and sing along. (Available for all tracks except 6, 7, and 11.)
  • Flashcards. Some of the songs have the images from the follow-along sheets blown up into flash cards. (Available for tracks 3, 10, and 13.)
  • Activity sheets. These are fairly simple activity sheets available for about half of the tracks. They are more like a visual prompt for an activity rather than a worksheet designed to be completed with pencil and paper.
  
• Vocalocomotion - CD2 The goal of Vocalocomotion is to encourage verbal imitation through speaking with music and rhythm. There are 17 songs on this CD. The first 12 tracks are original (with one repeated at a slower pace) and the final 5 are instrumental only versions of a few of the first 12. I will list the song titles and the primary therapeutic objective of each song. I will also link to a song sample when available.
  
  
  1. Express Train - two-syllable combinations
  2. Hi - two-word phrases
  3. The New BMW - B, M, W in syllables (Sample here. Scroll down a bit until you get to the KET Set 1 section to find song sample.)
  4. Tongue Tip Time - T, D, N in syllables
  5. Let's Eat - foods
  6. Yee Haw - Animals / sounds
  7. Bath Time - body parts / bath words
  8. Hi - slow version - two-word phrases (Sample here. Scroll down a bit until you get to the KET Set 1 section to find song sample.)
  9. Row Your Boat - interaction song
  10. Put Them On - clothes
  11. Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy - interaction song
  12. Instrumental of The New BMW
  13. Instrumental of Let's Eat
  14. Instrumental of Yee Haw
  15. Instrumental of Hi
  16. Instrumental of Gonna Get You
  
  The manual provides a brief description and 2-4 simple activities for every song on this CD. The CD-ROM has .pdf files that provide additional resources all of which can be printed (in both color or black and white). Those resources are:
  
  • Lyrics for all songs.
  • A list of speech and language goals and the specific songs that can be used to address them. Some language examples include action words and motor imitation (track 12) and daily routines and social stories (track 7). Early emerging speech sounds in syllables are addressed (tracks 3, 4).
  • A song request sheet. This sheet is like a pictorial table of contents. You print it and the child can choose which song they want to hear.
  • Follow-along sheets. These sheets are single or multi page sheets with the lyrics and pictures printed out to help the adult/child follow along with the song visually and sing along. (Available for all tracks except 4.)
  • Flashcards. Some of the songs have the images from the follow-along sheets blown up into flash cards. (Available for tracks 2 and 8.)
  • Activity sheets. These are fairly simple activity sheets available for about half of the tracks. They are more like a visual prompt for an activity rather than a worksheet designed to be completed with pencil and paper.

How to Use the Kids Express Train Set 1

I think these songs can be useful in a wide variety of situations:

• Minimally verbal children - use the songs targeting animal sounds to try to get verbalizations.
• Children who are having difficulty imitating - music can often help you get children who are reluctant or unable to imitate in more structured therapy to verbalize.
• Home practice - this is wonderful for the car, or during a music time at home. Children are getting in speech practice while listening to music.
• Integrated intervention - If you are a school therapist doing any intervention in the regular classroom these songs would be ideal whole class activities.
• Individual or Small Group Therapy - These songs could be used as the core of a therapy lesson. Choose one or two songs and design your lesson around the song. Play the song two or three times during the session and use the activity pages.

Pros and Cons of the Kids Express Train Set 1

Pros:
The music is a wonderful therapy tool. The songs address a wide variety of early speech and language goals while providing you with a completely different type of activity to do with children.

The kit is applicable to a wide variety of settings and situations. It can be used with minimally verbal or even nonverbal children, children with early language goals, and children working on early speech production goals (early emerging consonants, single and multi-syllable utterances, two-word phrases, etc.). It can be used in the home, in a clinic or private practice, or in the schools.

The songs are also really catchy and well produced. My children, husband, and I all genuinely enjoyed listening to and singing along with the music. The children listened to several tracks two or three times in a row at their request the first time we listened to the CDs.

Cons:
The set is a little pricey at $39.99, but it is a pretty reasonable cost for two full CD's of therapy music plus goals/objectives and activity suggestions for each song. You also get several printables for each song as well.

It could be easy to get caught up in the music and forget to focus on getting enough speech repetitions from the kids. Some of the songs are heavy on participation from the kids and some are light. You'll want to balance the fun and usefulness of the music while still being focused on getting enough actual speech productions from your students.

Bottom Line

I like the KET Set 1 a lot. I would definitely recommend it as a great therapy resource to have for your practice.


There is a coupon code for the site. It is for $5 off any order. The code is KET201102.

Initial K: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

These articulation picture card sets are designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for these sets are young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with sounds at a one-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in these sets. (Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 30 therapy cards with the target word and picture on the front, and the difficulty level and a carrier phrase on the back.
• The words are all CV or CVC in syllable shape.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
• Combines the target sound with all possible vowel sounds at least once.
• Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses this card set. Let me know if you find errors or there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Turn & Talk Early Sounds

Therapy Materials Review: Turn & Talk Early Sounds - Fun Practice with P, B, M, T, D, and N in Initial, Medial, and Final Positions of Words

This is a review of Turn & Talk Early Sounds. This easel book is published by Super Duper Publications. The book contains 600 illustrated words addressing the early emerging phonemes (p, b, m, t, d, n) in initial, medial, and final positions of one and two syllable words.

Target Audience

The publishers state that the target audience for the Turn & Talk Early Sounds book will be children from PreK-3rd grade. The pictures on the cards are appealing to children. I could see using selected sections with younger children who need practice on early emerging sounds as well.

Description of Turn & Talk Early Sounds

This product is a 11 inch by 4.5 inch spiral bound book with hard covers. The book has a built in easel so you can stand it upright. Inside you'll find an introductory section describing the contents of the book and giving tips for eliciting correct production of the target sounds. This section also includes a blank card you can use to write in the sounds in isolation or in VC or CV syllables with a dry erase marker if you want to work on the sounds at that level.

Phonemic Breakdown

The book has a tabbed section for each of the six phonemes: P, B, M, T, D, N.

Each section includes 100 words divided as follows:

• 20 Initial One-Syllable
• 20 Initial Two-Syllable
• 20 Medial Two-Syllable
• 20 Final One-Syllable
• 20 Final Two-Syllable

How to Use the Turn & Talk Early Sounds book

This book is going to be most appropriate for intense drill on these phonemes. Choose the section that addresses your goals and objectives for a child and use that section to drill. The pictures are fairly engaging, but you will probably need some motivational tool such as a turn at a game, sticker, or token.

Pros and Cons of the Turn & Talk Early Sounds book

• Pros:
• The Turn & Talk Early Sounds book is compact and easy to carry around.
• AT 100 words per phoneme, the Turn & Talk Early Sounds book includes a pretty good number of stimuli per phoneme.
• The five picture spread format allows you to do many repetitions easily. This is a great format for approaching therapy with apraxic children from a motor planning standpoint.
  
• The book is sturdy and has a built in easel.
• The illustrations are well done and appealing to children at a wide variety of ages.
• Cons:
• Although there are 100 words per phoneme, there are only 20 one syllable initial and 20 one syllable final pictures for each phoneme. Most of those 20 one syllable words are fairly complex including later emerging phonemes, vocalic /r/ sounds, and even blends. Therefore, if you are working with a child with a severe speech delay you may find this book to include stimuli that is mostly too difficult. My free articulation picture cards target these same phonemes at a simpler motor planning level, so if you need simpler look there.
• This book will work best for children needing a simple articulation approach to speech remediation. Most children with simple articulation errors are making errors with later emerging phonemes. This book may not address the phonemes you need most.

Bottom Line:

The Turn & Talk Early Sounds book is a good purchase if you need stimuli that address these early emerging phonemes. Just think carefully about whether the stimuli included here are actually going to be too difficult given that often children who need drill on early emerging phonemes are severely delayed and may have difficulty producing many of these stimuli because of the other phonemes included in the target words.

You might also be interested in the following products:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Word Flips

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Phrase Flips

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Word Flips

Therapy Materials Review: Word Flips - Flips for Learning Intelligible Production of Speech

This is a review of Word Flips. This flip book is published by Super Duper Publications. The flip book contains three identical 40-word card sets divided into sections by consonant placement (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and palatal). All 40 words are CV words.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Word Flips will usually be children with severely delayed expressive language typically between the ages of 2-5. The pictures on the cards are appealing to children. This book is ideal for children working on early emerging sounds in CV syllable structure.

Description of Word Flips

This product is a 11 inch by 4.5 inch spiral bound book with hard covers. The book has a built in easel so you can stand it upright. Inside you'll find three identical sets of picture cards divided by tabs into sections according to place of articulation (bilabial, alveolar, velar, and palatal). 40 words are included and they are all CV syllable structure.

Phonemic Breakdown

• Bilabial: /b/-4, /p/-3, /m/-4, /w/-4
• Alveolar: /t/-4, /d/-3, /n/-4, /s/-3, /z/-2
• Velar: /k/-2, /g/-2
• Palatal: /sh/-4, /ch/-1

How to Use the Word Flips book

• Simple repetitions. Choose target sounds that are appropriate for the child and practice them in repetitions of three. Work on sounds that share articulatory placement, or if increased difficulty is appropriate, alternate between different areas of placement.
• Alternating sets of three.
  
  • Same consonant, different vowel. Ex. "boo, bee, bee; boo, boo, bee; bee, bee, boo; boo, bee, boo; boo, bee, bye; etc..."
  • Same vowel, different consonant (same placement). Ex. "bye, bye, pie; bye, pie, bye; pie, bye, bye; bye, pie, bye; etc..."
  • Same vowel, different consonant (different placement). Ex. "pay, pay, day; pay, day, pay; day, day, pay, etc..."
• Random variation. Ex. "pay, key, show"
• Combine CV words to make CVCV words. Ex. "sew + pea = soapy" The book includes a list of CVCV words you can make this way from the CV words in the book.
  
  
  
• Combine CV words into short phrases. Ex. "Go zoo." The book also includes a list of phrase suggestions.
  
  
  

Pros and Cons of the Word Flips book

• Pros:
• The Word Flips book is compact and easy to carry around.
• The Word Flips book includes a fair amount of variety using real words at a very simple, CV level. You get 13 phonemes. All phonemes except /ch/ are paired with multiple vowels. This makes it a great book for working with apraxic children.
• The flip book format allows you to do many repetitions of the same CV syllable or many repetitions of alternating syllables. Again, this is a great format for approaching therapy with apraxic children from a motor planning standpoint.
  
• The book is sturdy and has a built in easel.
• The illustrations are well done and appealing to children at a wide variety of ages.
• Cons:
I really only see one con here. Overall, I like this resource a lot for children with a severe delay. The Word Flips book does not go into any one phoneme at great depth. So, for example, if you have a child who can only produce one or two phonemes, this book may not provide enough stimuli for an entire session of work. You might look into my free articulation cards which include 30 CV or CVC words for each phoneme if you need additional depth for a specific early emerging phoneme.

Bottom Line:

This book is great for children with a severe expressive delay who need work at the CV syllable level. The only caveat is that you don't get a lot of depth with any one phoneme.

You might also be interested in the following products:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Phrase Flips

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Phrase Flips

Therapy Materials Review: Phrase Flips - Flips for Learning Intelligible Production of Speech

This is a review of Phrase Flips. This flip book is published by Super Duper Publications. The flip book is designed to let you easily address target sounds at an easy level (single syllable) level, moderate level (2-3 syllables), and advanced level (4-5 syllables).

Target Audience

The target audience for the Phrase Flips will usually be children ages 3 and up although I can imagine using the easy level with even younger children. The pictures on the cards are appealing to children. This book would work well for children using a traditional articulation approach to therapy. In skilled hands, this book would also be useful for variety working with clients needing intense practice using a motor speech approach to articulation however the book isn't really designed with that approach in mind.

Description of Phrase Flips

This product is a 11 inch by 4.5 inch spiral bound book with hard covers. The book has a built in easel so you can stand it upright. Inside you'll find three sets of picture cards divided by tabs into sections according to place of articulation (bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, palatal, and velar). The set of cards on the left are easy (single syllable). The middle set are moderate (2-3 syllables). The set on the right are advanced (4-5 syllables).

Phonemic Breakdown
The main focus is on initial and, at the multi-syllable level, functional medial productions of these sounds. In general, the easy level introduces 4 single-syllable words for each phoneme. The moderate level introduces a second word or syllable targeting that phoneme and the advanced level introduces a third. That gives you a total of 12 words per phoneme most in initial position.

• Bilabial (/p, b, m, w)
• Labiodental (/f/)
• Alveolar (/p, d, s, n, l)
• Palatal (/sh, ch, J, r)
• Velar (/k, g)

How to Use the Phrase Flip book

In a traditional articulation framework this book would be a great set of stimulus materials to practice phonemes in initial and medial position at increasing difficulty levels. The book would also be useful for generalization and practice for children with motor speech articulation problems (such as Childhood Apraxia of Speech) for specific phonemes that have already been taught and established at the single word or syllable level, but need additional drill at multi-syllable levels.

Pros and Cons of the Phrase Flips book

Pros:

• The Phrase Flips book is compact and easy to carry around.
• The Phrase Flips book covers a lot of territory. It has 16 phonemes in initial and medial position at three increasing difficulty levels. It will not help you get into great depth on any given phoneme, but if you need to carry something with you that covers a lot of territory, this might fit the bill.
• The book is sturdy and has a built in easel.
• The illustrations are well done and appealing to children at a wide variety of ages.

Cons:

• The Phrase Flips book does not focus on phonemes in final position.
• The Phrase Flips book does not go into any one phoneme at great depth.
• The flip format is something of a gimmick in this particular book. I cannot see a huge therapeutic reason to address one phoneme at the easy level, a different phoneme at the moderate level, and a third phoneme at an advanced level simultaneously. The only advantage is that you can take a level completely out of play by turning the entire set over so that a blank card shows at that level.

Bottom Line:

Nice resource for a SLP who typically needs to address articulation targets at multiple levels of difficulty just be aware that the book focuses mostly on initial and medial productions and doesn't provide a great deal of depth on any one phoneme.

You might also be interested in the following products:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

Therapy Materials Review: Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This is a review of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book. The book was developed by Nancy Kaufman, MA, CCC-SLP. Nancy Kaufman is a nationally acclaimed expert in apraxia who has developed assessment and treatment materials in the area of apraxia. The book is 127 pages and is a 9" x 13" spiral-bound hardcover book. This book contains 16 different motor-speech "workouts" and some great resource pages in the beginning of the book on a variety of useful topics. Just like with the Kaufman Kit Level 1, the Workout Book focuses primarily on the consonants /m, p, b, t, d, n, and h/.

Target Audience

The target audience for the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book will usually be children between the ages of two and six. The pictures in the book were designed with those ages in mind. The book will be most useful for children who are struggling with producing simple syllable shapes and need to focus on the early emerging consonants /p, b, m, t, d, n, h/.

Description of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This is a 9" by 13" spiral-bound hard back book with 127 pages. The book begins with resource pages on a variety of topics followed by 16 different types of activity pages. An SLP could pick up this book and use it with clients with very little advance preparation. I believe this book would also be useful to parents for home practice.

• Introductory Pages and Resources
  The book begins with some great explanations and resources:
  
  • Description of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol
  • Treatment Tips for Establishing First Words
  • Introduction to the Mutt Family (characters used both in the workout book and the treatment kit)
  • Explanation of Word Approximations
  • Discussion of Vowels
  • Pictorial Guide to Hand Signal Cues for Vowels
  • Vowel Workout
  • Pictorial Guide to Hand Signal Cues for Consonants
  • Discussion of Other Cueing Techniques
  These resource pages are very well done and are written in a way that is easy to understand and very useful. These first 26 pages add significant value to the person trying to use this book to help children with severe speech delays.
  
  Here is an example of one of the resource pages:
  
  
  
  
• Workouts
  The next section of the book consists of 16 "workouts". These workouts are exercises designed to easily elicit many practice productions of specific motor-speech combinations. Each workout begins with an explanation of the targeted skill (for the SLP) and is followed by activity pages that are well designed and engaging even for very young children. The workouts address the following topics:
  
  • Reduplication (CVCV)
  • Consonant Vowel (CV)
  • Same Initial Consonant Pivot Phrases with CV
  • Pivot Phrase "Open"
  • Naming Function: Noun-Verb-Object
  • "I Want" Pivot Phrases to Request Objects
  • "I Want To (Verb)" to Request Actions
  • Final Consonant Inclusion of /p, t, k/
  • Simple Bisyllabics (C1V1C2V2) plus CVC
  • Naming Action: Noun-Verb-Object
  • Sequence Stories: Noun-Verb-Object
  • Present Progressive Structure
  • Short Stories
  • Scripting Functional Language
  • Click here to see sample pages. (You may have to reload page after it opens.)

How to Use the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

This book is a wonderful resource for any SLP. The early workouts are perfect for beginning work with children with severe speech delays. The later workouts are great for generalization of speech skills and are also great for working on expressive language skills as well. The book is compact, portable, and reproducible. It is a great investment.

Pros and Cons of the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol Workout Book

• Pros:
  This book is sturdy, has great reference information, and has 16+ ready-to-go activities that are appealing and useful for a wide variety of speech and language students. The book takes you from eliciting single consonants and vowels to generalizing early emerging sounds in phrases and short sentences.
• Cons: The book is expensive. It only addresses early emerging consonants.

Bottom Line:

This is a great investment. The cost is high, but not completely inaccessible and worth every penny. You get a product that is educational for you, includes ready-to-go activities, is appealing to children, and is useful for a fairly wide variety of clients. It is also accessible and useful for parents that want to do extra practice at home for children with severe speech delays or expressive language delays.

You might also be interested in the following articles:

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Kaufman Speech Praxis Kit 1 (Basic Level)

Apraxia Therapy Materials: The Big Book of Exclamations

Apraxia Therapy Materials: Webber Jumbo Articulation Drill Book

Initial H: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

These articulation picture card sets are designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for these sets are young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with sounds at a one-syllable level or simple two-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in these sets. (Scroll down to preview sets.)

Key Features

• Initial and Final sets include 30 one-syllable words that begin or end with the target sound.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
• Combines the target sound with all possible vowel sounds at least once.
• Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.
• Describes the progression from most intense prompts to least intense.
• Provides a simple carrier phrase for every word.
• A gestural prompt for the target sound is explained.
• A list of therapy activities is included.
• Includes 30 therapy cards with the target word and a picture on the front,
  and the difficulty level and the carrier phrase printed on the back.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute these card sets provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses the word sets. Let me know if there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

Instructions for printing and using the cards are included in the set.

Final N: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

These articulation picture card sets are designed to be more comprehensive than the typical sets you might find elsewhere. The target audience for these sets are young children or children with more severe speech delays that need intensive practice with sounds at a one-syllable level or simple two-syllable level. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in these sets. (Scroll down to preview sets.)

Key Features

• Initial and Final sets include 30 one-syllable words that begin or end with the target sound.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.
• Combines the target sound with all possible vowel sounds at least once.
• Words are sorted by difficulty level for an easy progression from easy to hard.
• Describes the progression from most intense prompts to least intense.
• Provides a simple carrier phrase for every word.
• A gestural prompt for the target sound is explained.
• A list of therapy activities is included.
• Includes 30 therapy cards with the target word and a picture on the front,
  and the difficulty level and the carrier phrase printed on the back.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute these card sets provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses the word sets. Let me know if there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

Instructions for printing and using the cards are included in the set.