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| updated July 18, 2008 |
For any of you wondering what we actually do in speech class, we learn how to correctly say sounds. A lot of times, a child may not be able to produce the sound/sounds correctly and therefore his/her speech may be difficult to understand.
To begin speech, a teacher must first refer the student to the speech therapist for screening. The student is shown a variety of pictures with sounds at the beginning, middle and ending position of words. If the student is found to not be able to produce the sound/s correctly for his age level, the parents are contacted.
Once the parents are contacted, a meeting is set up and the parents must give permission for their child to be tested for speech. If the parents give permission, the child/student is given a hearing test (to determine that a hearing loss is not present which could be preventing correct sound pronounciation). An orofacial examination is also done--this is just looking at the inside of the students mouth, looking at the palate and teeth--just to make sure that nothing is preventing correct speech production--no poking and prodding--we leave that to a dentist....The student is given an articulation test--this is a picture test where the student just names pictures and retells a picture story. Sounds are tested in the initial, medial and final positions of words. Lastly, a student is given an Intelligence test which lets us know the mental age a student is at, to determine if the student does have the mental ability to correctly produce sounds.
A report is then written and a meeting is held with the parents to determine if the student is eligible to receive services. If so, the parents must sign permission for the student to begin receiving speech services. An IEP (Individualized Education Plan) is written with the parents for the child and this is the service plan that will be used in therapy. The student will have an Annual (long-term) goal and several short term goals that will be worked on in speech. The student will be eligible to receive services for 3 years, but may be d/c'ed when goals are met.
In speech, we work on the students individual sounds. First we work on producing the sound in isolation (the sound), in syllables (sound and a vowel), in words, phrases, sentences, conversation and oral reading. Usually to make therapy more fun, the student gets to play a game or do some type of fun activity while practicing their sounds. Ex--the student will say their sound 4/5 times then take a turn at the game. As the student progresses in speech, sometimes the computer is used to implement good speech.
We don't just play, we are LEARNING. Ex-If a student is playing I SPY on the computer, they have to name what they are looking for and use that word in a sentence.
The students have a lot of fun in speech class and often don't even realize that they are learning something but they are learning to speak correctly where they can achieve higher success in the classroom and in everyday life.
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Myrtle Attendance Center
Pam Bramlitt
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