K-SLP Basics

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a speaking event featuring Nancy Kaufman, the speech therapist known around the world for her work with children diagnosed with severe Apraxia of Speech, and who developed the K-SLP method of treating severe speech delays.

I LOVE this lady! She definitely knows how to treat apraxia, and we attended a speech and occupational therapy boot camp at her center in Michigan in 2015. I blogged about the experience here.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures or videos at the lecture, so will just cover 3 main points from her presentation.

1. Make it FUN and REPETITIVE!!!! This is one thing I loved about Nancy when we visited her in 2015. She had a room packed with toys and games and used them constantly in her sessions. There was almost zero quiet time, and it wasn't Nancy talking, it was high reps from the child!

2. Use PIVOT PHRASES!!! This is the way Nancy would get literally hundreds of words out of Chelsea in a half hour session- by using pivot phrases like "Go down _____" and have elmo, nemo, Minnie mouse, puppy, etc. go down a slide. They would all take turns.

Other pivot phrases might be: "_____ go ni-night" or "I like ______" or "_____ is nice". Keep it simple, and something motivating for the child!

3. Approximations are OKAY!!!! What I learned that is pure gold is teaching a consonant-vowel combo first INSTEAD of the consonant alone. Nancy uses these cards to give ideas for developmentally-appropriate sounds:

Meaning: If a child came to you and said a simple "Buh", you might think they want a ball, bus, book, bed, bottle... No limit of options! BUT if they correctly say "Boo", you would probably (correctly) guess "Book".

So teach "Ca...t" instead of "C...at" like most people think, like pictured here

Get the words out there in high volume, articulation will follow (with LOTS of speech therapy for our kiddos to get there, but it will come!)