Clarity of Speech

From Kate Wilde:

Last week I worked with the most adorable three year old girl with Autism. She had blond wavy hair that she liked to shake, wore a white onesie and was so generous with her smiles and hugs. We named her fairy girl because of her looks and her beautiful spirit. She made many wonderful sounds, often spoke in long sentences, which most of the time were very musical and completely unclear.

Her challenge was clarity of speech- while working with her it became apparent that often she would not put her lips together when talking - thus it was not surprising that she was unclear. Once we knew this then we could help her be clearer by using the following Son-Rise Program techniques:

1. Explaining in detail how to and when to put her lips together to make a sound.
2. Modeling how and when we put our lips together while forming a word.
3. Celebrating her whenever she did put her lips together.

If your children are unclear take some time and watch how they are using their mouths. Do they open their mouths or just mumble without opening their mouths much? Do they touch their lips together to form the "B" or "P" sounds? Do they use their tongue at the back of their teeth or the roof of their mouths? Do they contract their lips to make an ":eee" sound - or round their lips to make a "RRR" sound? Once you know what it is that they are not doing you can then be clearer in helping them to be clearer.

With love to you all
Kate