Speech impediment...

[~melibita]

Alright I was hoping I could get some information through here through someone who knows more about this than I do. I work in a middle school and do mostly tutoring. I am working with a boy who has a moderate stuttering problem but today I met a new girl who will be in the program. She is 11 or so and has severe trouble speaking. She doesn't move her tongue up to the front of her mouth enough so her speech comes out very blurred. She needs help with words that have "l" in them, like blue and black. My boss has told me I am in charge of this girl and I am to stay with her all the time and help her with her speech. Any advice of how I am to help this girl, because frankly I don't know how.

[test]

Hmmm, well, I am a teacher. Have either been referred for speech at school? One of the classroom teachers would refer the students for an assessment and an IEP ( Individualized Education Plan) even if neither qualifies for speech. That's how we do it at my school.

Tell her to put her tongue up against the back of her teeth, and drop your mouth slightly. Show her how to do it. Have her watch you as you say a word very, very, exaggerated. I would also take her to a mirror to show her how her mouth will look when it is correctly shaped. That may help.

It sounds like they want you to do something that you are qualified to do. I do NOT mean that in a negative way. They want you to fix her speech and yet you aren't trained in speech pathology. Are they going to give you some sort of training in how to help these students?

[~melibita]

Well no. The thing is that this is the LAUSD, and considering you are a teacher, you understand. They gave my boss this girl who is in Special Ed (the school I mean) and she said I was best for the job. I want to be more informed so I can do the best I can for this girl.

[test]

Sigh! Well, it's going to be tricky. Just model the correct tongue placement and praise her when she says a word correctly. Do you know if the girl is going to speech? If she is, maybe you can speak with the speech teacher and ask for some sort of cues to use. I can ask my speech teacher for tricks on l's.

[~Efreak]

I've seen this sort of thing, being in health care for 15+ years. This is a tricky situation, so please don't beat yourself up *if* you aren't able to help. My advice, though, would be this:
Direction by example, with plenty of 1 on 1, and patience. Show her how to move her tongue to the front of her mouth by doing it yourself, as she observes. If you have access to tongue depressors, you could hand her one, and teach her how to hold her tongue to the front while she tries to mouth the "L". (Make sure she does it -- not you.) Start with vocal excercises, like la la la la la la la la la... (In music scales.) I hope this helps. It worked for a client of mine, and she was in her mid-20's; so she had been suffering from this for a much longer period of time. It takes time, but with patience; all things are at least possible.
Good luck to you, and your student.
Best,
Jamie

[~melibita]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I was thinking of speaking to a speech teacher who would be able to give me some sort of training for this. I will try to meet her teachers.

[test]

Good luck to you! :) You may want to do a search online. You may be able to find something helpful.

[~melibita]

I was looking at things online and there wasn't much help, only a few sites about stuttering. Thanks anyay, I will try to talk to her teachers. :D

[test]

I'll try to talk to our speech teacher. She's a dM fan and an iris fan, so she's pretty easy to talk to. heh!

[~melibita]

Ah cool, thanks for the help. Now if only I knew some more people personally at school who liked dM and Iris.

[test]

The funny thing is, the speech teacher looks like the LAST one who would like those bands.

[7red7]

All's I gotta say is god bless all of you for diligently working with children, and wanting to enrich their lives, and help them so much...

Really, You deserve a reward IMHO :)

DAN

[~melibita]

I am thinking of leaving the job. The boss is very unprofessional and is messing around with our hours. I might leave next month. I like the kids but the stress with the boss is getting to me too much. :(

[test]

I don't want to come across as being rude, but maybe it is a good thing that you do leave that job. They are asking you to do something that you aren't trained for. They are asking you to do something that does have legal ramifications if the parents decide to sue the school district. Your boss is putting you in harm's way and you don't need that. Find another school to work at. There are plenty of them out there. :)

Good luck to you! :)

[~conditioner]

my little bro is a hardcore stutterer and has been ever since I can remember. now it's gotten way better, and he's one of the coolest and well spoken blokes I know. But it's a fuccckked situation.
We both studied theatre for years, and warm-ups in speech definetely improve the condition of stuttering and many other speech impediments. Tongue twisters help quite a bit. most important is breathing. Try some breathing exercises, (you can find them anywhere on-line) easy ones, too. They won't take long and can be fun. good luck!

[~melibita]

Well I do not want to get into why she made me do this when I am not trained for it (long story, all I want to do is forget I ever started working there), but the parents of every child sign an agreement stating we are there to help their children have a good time and help them on homework. The parents of the special ed kids know we are not trained for anything but for their own personal reasons put their children in the program. Not that I am disagreeing with you though, Stephanie. You are exactly right about me not having the proper training. It is stressful for me knowing every special ed child that comes in I will have to take care of and I cannot give them all the things they need, though I try.

[test]

I am glad that the parents signed some document not holding you responsible. That makes me feel very relieved. Special Ed is an area that is kind of tricky. Parents are given copies of their rights and aren't hesitant to sue. I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you. :) I was worried for you. I know you try the best you can. We hire aides but don't train them properly. This is for Special Ed as well as other types of aides. It's not an isolated thing. sigh! It's very frustrating!!!!

[~melibita]

Yeah I know what you mean about aides for the special ed people not getting training. My good friend and co-worker who is 20 recently got 2 new jobs dealing with tutoring one 15 year old boy and tutoring another guy who is about 20 (he goes to PCC). I would not mind getting a job like that with proper training, but I don't have time with school and my dead-end job.