From Stutter to Superstar: Megan Washington’s Story

From Stutter to Superstar: Megan Washington’s Story

News
Megan Washington

Award-winning singer/songwriter Megan Washington suffers from a stutter. Image Courtesy of ABC.

A multi-platinum singer, two-time ARIA Award winner, and guest judge on The Voice, do you know Megan Washington? As one of Australia’s most famous singer/songwriters, “Washington” as she’s called, is setting stages on fire all across the world. But, did you know that Megan Washington has suffered from a debilitating stutter since she was five years old?  If you have not seen her TEDx presentation, you may have never heard Megan Washington stutter, nor guessed that public speaking was her greatest fear. Her experience, as with many, was that singing therapy for stuttering brought “sweet relief” from her speech impediment. It was the only time she felt her speech was fluent. Washington’s story recently became headline news as she revealed her long-time secret at a TEDx conference in Sydney earlier this year.

“To me, language and music are inextricably linked through one thing. And that thing is I have a stutter.”

Continue reading

4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

4 Easy Articulation Activities at Home

At Home Ideas Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Therapy Techniques
Articulation Therapy Cartoon

Articulation Activities at Home Image source: Pinterest.com

Articulation. What exactly does that mean? Articulation is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs (the articulators) in order to make speech sounds. It is considered an articulation disorder when there are problems making the sounds. Sounds can be substituted, left off, added, or even changed. Often, it is young children who make speech sound errors. They may say “wabbit” instead of “rabbit”, or leave out certain parts of a word such as “nana” for banana. If these errors continue past a certain age without improvement, your child may have an articulation disorder. Are articulation disorders treatable? Absolutely. And you can work on improving articulation skills at home. Here are four easy articulation activities that you can do at home.
Continue reading

What Happens In Speech Therapy?

What Happens In Speech Therapy?

Language Development Parents' Corner School Speech Disorders Speech Therapist Speech Therapy Techniques
What to expect during speech therapy

What to Expect During Speech Therapy. Source: thetherapyvillage.com

What happens when your child visits a speech-language pathologist? What exactly will the SLP do? These are questions that many parents ask when their child has been recommended to start a speech therapy program. In order for you to set your expectations (and your child’s), here are the basics of what to expect from a speech therapy program. Of course, each course of therapy is tailored personally to your child’s particular speech disorder, or speech impairment. This should serve as a general guideline about the entire process.

Continue reading

Tips For Teaching the “th” Sound

At Home Ideas Parents' Corner Pronunciation & Lisps Speech Disorders Speech Therapy Techniques
The "th" Sound

Tips for Teaching the “th” Sound

Often, we are asked for suggestions on how to teach the sound of “th.” While Speech Buddies offers tools to help overcome many speech difficulties and articulation disorders, we do not have a tool for the sound of “th.”  This is what we offer parents who are looking for help teaching their children to correctly pronounce the “th” sound. Continue reading

Will My Child Outgrow His Speech Challenge?

Will My Child Outgrow His Speech Challenge?

Speech Therapist
Gordy Rogers

Gordy Rogers, M.S. CCC-SLP, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Speech Buddies.

This week’s post comes to us from our own Gordy Rogers, M.S. CCC-SLP, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Speech Buddies, Inc., the makers of Speech Buddies Tools, as well as the owner of Brooklyn Speech Solutions, PLLC, a private practice in Brooklyn, New York.

Will my child outgrow his speech challenge? This question not only nags at all parents who are faced with addressing a child’s speech challenge, but is one that speech-language pathologists (SLPs) must seriously consider before beginning treatment.  This post aims to shed some light on this often murky question and to arm parents with better information so that they may be more informed partners in the treatment decision-making process.

Continue reading