So You Want to Know What Speech Therapy Exercises To Use for Slurred Speech and Hope They are Simple That Works?
Spouses and Family Members Learning Simple Methods That Work |
Many Speech Therapy Approaches are Not User Friendly
One of the problems in today's speech therapy environment is that many of the solutions for better speaking are just too complex. Computers, apps, and other "materials" are often getting in the way of two people who wish to sit down, have a conversation, and figure out how to improve the act of speaking. What may happen for the family member or therapist, is the time that it takes to sit down with a computer, or app, and figure out how to use it, and then decide if the person with dysarthria or whatever speaking difficulty can even use it!
There are many people in the world today who don't like technology. Many don't even want to read or write anything! Therapists in this day and age will be at a significant loss, when they come accross a person like this.
Caregivers and Therapists Must Be Flexible and Know Speech Therapy Exercises for Slurred Speech Dysarthria That are Simple and Interactive
Let's face it there are some who don't want papers, reading materials, i pads, apps and the latest and greatest. They like things the natural way! They like to learn by being shown how, or by walking them through the method, or having them repeat after you until they get it. They like the human interaction and attention and often respond with great success to simple, non-technical methods and techniques.
Parents of young children or even toddlers may find that the traditional ways
of teaching children to talk are those
that are interactive, simple and require modeling.
Why is it that we have become a society that must use computers or complex methods to prove to others that our therapy is of value? There are many who just want it simple and easy. Like the way we all learned to talk.
The Simple and Easy Speech Therapy Exercises
The best way to help someone talk better is to make it easy, and to model, or demonstrate an example of the speech that you wish them to use. That would incorporate the number of words, speaking speed, and the amount one pauses between spoken words. It would also include the methods of when to breathe, and how loud one should speak. The problem is the person with slurred speech or dysarthria often thinks he/she is speaking correctly without a problem!
Always remember some of the basic premises of The Teaching of Talking Method which is really not all that different from the way most of us learned to talk!
1. Converse: In other words talk with the person you are treating.
2. Figure out what you can do to make the biggest improvement in speaking which is often what can you do to make it sound better or clearer.
3. Start talking to them in as few words as possible following the method that will make speaking clearer and more understandable; which is often a decrease in speed with a longer separation between words.