This is the story of when the speech pathologist has to deal with an articulation issue in her own child.
Ruth spoke her first word at 9 months. It was for calling her Grandma. She would curl her fingers towards herself while repeating,”Ga Ma, Gama” in a low voice. Her vocabulary and desire to talk outpaced her mouth muscles. She had difficulty with r and th , common articulation errors . But with the name Ruth Farnsworth, there was a problem.
I did not correct her but I would ask her to repeat a sentence if I didn’t understand her. I was her mother not her speech therapist.
In second grade, the school therapist put Ruth in an articulation group. She graduated in less than a year.
I believe that Ruth’s muscles matured to be able to make the correct sounds. The therapy training was to train her hearing to listen and produce the correct sounds.
The next year, one of Ruth’s classmates commented that she had lost her accent over the summer.
Like most things in raising a child, you research the options and make the best choice for your child. I felt that a different person to work with Ruth would keep her attention better than her mom.
If you have a child that has speech or language difficulties, have the child tested by a school therapist. You can work with that person as a team.
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What did you say?
Gama, Gama gesturing to come to her.
Grandmother comes running to the child.
“Gama is my best fwend,” Ruth explains.
When asked, “What is your name?”
She responds,”I’m Woof Fawoof”.
If asked again,she would repeat,”I’m Woof, Woof, Woof!”
I thought of this as I listened to her presetation on zoom.
carolaspot@aol.com
traveling up and down the blind highway 