Speech Therapy at Home: More Than You Ever Needed to Know

Several people have asked me what I do with Everett to improve his articulation. It's true; he has made a huge amount of progress in a short amount of time, but I really think it has everything to do with him maturing and very little to do with my help.

That being said, I am not deterred from doing what I can to help him practice better skills. I think he enjoys these things because I try to structure everything like a game or an activity. I know there are a few speech pathologists/audiologists who read this blog, so if any of you notice that I'm doing something wrong, please let me know! I am new at this and we're just figuring things out as we go.

1. If Everett asks me something unintelligibly but I still know what he wants, I repeat what he said and ask him to say it again, sometimes more slowly. Sometimes I have to break it up into individual words or syllables, and after he hits each one I'll have him string them all back together. No, this doesn't work all of the time--it is highly dependent on his mood and cooperation level. I just try to have the rule that he must use words to ask for what he wants.

2. Everett mixes up a lot of his starting consonant sounds with later consonant sounds in the words he says. I have found that if I say "T-t-t-t-t-toothpaste" (repeating the first sound and then using it in the word) then he will imitate the first sound correctly and generally get it into the word the right way.

3. I have mentioned this before, but we use drinking straws a lot for eating. This was suggested by the speech therapist as a jaw-strengthener. We use it for applesauce, yogurt, or most of the time when he drinks. I went out and got cups with lids and sturdy plastic straws, and I have fallen in love with them. I don't have to worry about spilling, and it makes it easy for Everett to have a healthy snack. I try to give him either yogurt or applesauce in it every day, as well as a few drinks.

4. We have started playing lots of "tongue games". Everett's evaluation for preschool indicated that he has a hard time differentiating between his jaw movement and his tongue movement. He cannot move his tongue from one corner of his lips to the other, so I decided to start "exercising" with him. All he knows is that we play silly movement games with our tongue--he especially likes the ones where we pretend to be animals (a snake flicking its tongue out, etc.). I hope this will make a difference, but I don't know if it will. Ashley enjoys these games, too.

5. We have been working on letters. Every time Everett recognizes a letter, I ask him what sound it makes (he gets this wrong 80% of the time, but I'm not concerned about that), and then we practice words that start with that sound. I don't care that he memorizes any of this; all that matters to me is that it gets us practicing lots of sounds every day.

6. I discovered that Everett likes repeating me. I also discovered that if I say things in a sing-song voice, Everett jumps in and says it right back to me. So, as we go about our day, I'll "narrate" what we're doing in sing-song phrases, and he says them back.

7. We practice a lot of sound effects. Everett is particularly thrilled with roaring, but we try to make sound effects with alternating vowel sounds or consonant sounds (wee-ooh, wee-ooh for a fire truck, etc.). We made masking tape train tracks on the floor a few days ago, and it was great for this kind of activity. He would go across the tracks and yell out a particular sound effect. Ashley loved this game, too.

8. The other thing I do is use Ashley as a motivation for Everett. If I tell him to ask her something or show her how to say or do something, he is more likely to do it than if he just does it for himself. It must be that older sibling stuff coming out in him.

9. When we are playing together, I say the action words in repetition. (ie, "dip, dip, dip" "blow, blow, blow") I rarely ask him to say it back, but he always does. This is actually perfect for Ashley's age right now. She can understand everything I say, but she doesn't say anything herself. I think by saying things like "goat in" in a descending tone when we put a goat piece in the puzzle, it helps her to connect the words with the action. I might be completely missing the mark on this one. Maybe I'd better go back and get a degree in all this!

10. We play a lot of "blowing" games. We rarely blow bubbles, but we blow scraps of paper off our hands, or feathers, or fabric, or anything we can think of that might float away. Everett loves doing this.

11. Finally, when Everett is engaging in free play and creating little fantasies, I have him narrate what he is doing by asking questions. (Is the monster scary or nice? What do the dogs want to do now? What made the dinosaur sad?) I also ask him to report what happened during the day. For instance, when we pick up Joel I have Everett tell him what he did today. Or, I'll ask him about events that happened throughout the day. It is a good way for Everett to be able to think about how to say what he is thinking and to be able to learn to put his memories into words. Plus, let's be honest here, I just like hearing what he makes of everything.


I am sure I'm making a lot of mistakes and leaving things out that we should be doing. For instance, I know we need to be better at talking in front of a mirror. We need to sing more songs with actions. I need to be more patient with him.

But the learning process is what makes all of this fun; I have found that I stay more interested in what I'm doing if I am learning along the way. I'm hoping that I can get Everett up to age level by kindergarten so he doesn't have to focus on talking. I'm hoping that Ashley won't have speech problems, but if she does, we're better prepared this time around. The next kid will probably need me to learn something completely different, but I think that is one of the best things about being a mother.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Am I doing anything wrong (you won't hurt my feelings, I promise)? I am still trying to figure things out.