The Mindful SLP: Peaceful Speech - Ep. 019

This week’s podcast features Christopher, a former client of mine, and his mother Holly. Tune in and hear them describe his struggles and triumphs while learning to say R. Listen to Christopher describe a breakthrough moment at the 7:45 minute mark. 

*** Show Notes ***

Episode 18: More Than Tips and Tricks

Episode 17: Foundations of R

Episode 3: Impossible R Made Possible

Impossible R Made Possible Course

Music: Simple Gifts performed by Ted Yoder, used with permission

Transcript

Denise: Welcome to The Mindful SLP, the show that explores simple but powerful therapy techniques for optimal outcomes. I'm your host, Denise, and today I have two guests with me, Holly Galbreath and her son Christopher. They are here to tell their story about Christopher's speech therapy. Hi, Holly. Hi, Christopher. Thanks for being with us here today.

Now for the past month, we've been focusing on R therapy a lot on The Mindful SLP, and that's something that can give SLPs a little bit of heartburn. Hearing Christopher's story and Holly's perspective as a parent is a wonderful way to wrap up our focus on R. Now, if you take my video course, the Impossible R Made Possible, then you will know Christopher by the pseudonym of Jordan. And yes, Holly is my sister and Christopher is my nephew. And because of that, I get a sort of behind the scenes look at Christopher's journey. There are three points we're going to cover today. Christopher's speech therapy background, how working with Christopher helped me develop my R techniques, and Christopher's perspective on his struggle, and Holly's part in helping him overcome it. Let's start with the background. Holly, when did Christopher begin speech therapy?

Holly: So we noticed Christopher had speech issues when he was two and he was trying to speak and nobody could understand him. So we got him tested probably about two and a half, but he couldn't actually start any therapy until he was actually three years old, well, at least free therapy through the school district. And so since yeah, we were students, we waited until that three-year-old threshold to start therapy.

Denise: And so at what point did it come down to Christopher working on just R and L because I know at the very end those were the two sounds that he had left to work on.

Holly: Right. So, um, in preschool, he, the ma- the major focus was S and W I believe. And then once he got into kindergarten through third grade, they added a couple of other letters. They might've started R late second grade, third grade.

Denise: So, and just a little tidbit here for the speech therapist listening, although Christopher, when I began working with him, was working on R and L we're just going to talk about R, just know that when his R was resolved, as L was resolved, but for simplicity, we're just going to refer to R. Christopher, you were in speech therapy how long for R?

Christopher: Well, I started in second grade and I think I went up till my sophomore year in high school.

Denise: So what did it feel like to be in speech therapy that long?

Christopher: It was actually pretty hard all my friends thought I sounded funny and I didn't want to participate in my class discussions because I knew I sounded funny to my classmates. So it was just a constant struggle throughout middle school and even starting high school.

Holly: Well, and can I just jump in is also when he was still doing therapy through the school district in junior high or middle school. Uh, sixth and seventh grade, he was being pulled out of classes and it was a negative stigma, you know, to have other students see him be pulled out. And he just felt like he wasn't able to experience the full experience of middle school. And he was missing out on some of his favorite classes, science. He really hated still being in therapy when he was in middle school.

Denise: And that's why it's my mission to resolve these Rs early, which we can do. Part of why I created this course and Possible R Made Possible because it might've started to feel sort of impossible. 'Man, I've been working on this since second grade.' Were you able to notice improvements in your speech?

Christopher: In middle school, I started being able to recognize the difference between what sounded well, what was a correct R sound, and was an incorrect R sound. But in common speech as I was just talking, normally it, I often didn't make a correct R sound, and it took me maybe till my sophomore year in high school and after working with my aunt Denise to fully be able to apply that correct R sound in normal conversation.

Holly: The therapist that he worked with up until second or third grade, it was pretty consistent. He had some good therapy going on, but then after that, there was this change-over in the district, and there seemed like there was therapists coming in now, the door and there wasn't a consistent plan with the same person to work towards goals. And every time I'd go for an IEP there was a new counselor I was working with and it became frustrating. I think that was part of the lack of progression at that point.

Denise: Yeah, lack of consistency. Yes. With a therapist. Let's move on to where I come into the picture more fully. Now when you were in upper elementary schools, I only saw you guys occasionally because of the distance between us, but Holly and I would pull you aside into a room. I don't know if you remember this, I've listened to your Rs, and I tried to give some tips for Holly to help him. But as I mentioned in my last podcast, which I called More Than Tips and Tricks, a tip without a thorough understanding of the foundation of R can never be more than a tip. And it won't help someone who has a considerable struggle with R, which is what you had, Christopher. So those really didn't help. But when you were in junior high, we came to visit you and we stayed overnight.

And I was like, oh my goodness. My nephew, Christopher is not using R at all in conversation. And that's happening with L a lot too. And I just, I couldn't picture going on to high school with that situation. So I told you, Holly, just let me work with him, we'll do teletherapy, see what we can do and I actually advise you to pull them out of speech therapy at school, because I just didn't think it was going to, well, be as effective.

Holly: And even at that point, by the time we, he was in middle school, the therapy got less consistent. The therapist didn't meet with him on a weekly basis. And again, pulling them out of certain classes which he really enjoyed was a real negative thing for him.

Denise: And this is the thing that really surprised me. So when, after we'd made that determination, again, I took you into a room to listen to your Rs and you could say all the vocalic Rs, the err, the air, the ayr, the orr, all of them, just when I said, just say err, just say air, just say orr by themselves. So it's like, okay, kudos to your previous speech therapist, 'cause that's not an easy thing to do, but it just wasn't transferring over into any kind of conversation.

So, let me take a moment and remind our listeners that the three pillars of R therapy, which I've covered in the last two podcasts, there's stability and mobility, precise placement, and relaxed production. So Christopher, you have that precise placement in isolation. You knew how to make that really good R sound. My job was to figure out where's the breakdown. And it was while working with you, Christopher. I discovered the principle of relaxed production, which is so awesome.

Hey, speech therapist, this is Denise. You know that feeling you have when your R clients are not progressing? I've had it. Had a client who just can't elicit R, no matter what? I've been there, but I'm not there anymore. And I want you to get there too. Join me for a free master class, and I'll teach you one technique that can quickly elicit an R in about 30% of your clients. It's my favorite go-to with new R clients. Go to SLP proadvisor.com/masterclass to reserve your spot now. Spend a little time with me and we will get your clients moving. Visit SLP proadvisor.com/masterclass to sign up. That's SLP proadvisor.com/masterclass. Now back to the show.

So this is how it happened. We were doing it over teletherapy, and I suddenly realized that your voice seemed a little bit higher pitch than I would expect. And so I said, oh, just lower your voice a little bit. And when you did, wow. Oh my goodness. It made such a difference in how your R sounded. I asked you how you felt. Now, do you remember what you said?

Christopher: I remember this. I um, I felt really excited cause I felt like I had this big breakthrough and I felt that I wouldn't actually be able to overcome my Rs, my R impediment. So I just remember being super excited and my mom was also in the same room and, uh, I expressed that excitement to my mom.

Holly: Yeah. And I just remember thinking, that was so easy. That was one little thing that was so easy that immediately gave him some confidence. The other things, other methods and techniques that he'd been trying were a lot harder to grasp and to do, but that one thing, he can do that. And he can do that without having to put too much effort into it.

Denise: And the three words you said to me were magical. You said 'it feels peaceful.' I love that answer. When you use that word peaceful, I suddenly clued into the fact that without knowing it, you had been using too much tension to say R, you've probably been doing that for years and years, but we can't carry that tension with us all the time. Unless you get rid of the tension with the R, you're not going to say R in conversation, that's too hard to carry the extra attention. That was just mind blown for me. I was like, okay. In fact, the name of this podcast by the way is Peaceful Speech, because that's just how I think of it. How I think of your answer.

And now that sent me on the path to discovering techniques, to reduce tension in R therapy, because this is a case where a lot of kiddos that I work with. To go onto our third and final point, even with this relaxed speech, helping your Rs so much, it still wasn't locked in. You had definitely improved. In fact, I remember you telling me that a lot of people didn't ask you any more if you were from England, because we used to get that question because you sounded like you had an accent, but you still had some errors in your conversation, which I was trying to figure out. Hmm, how am I going to get him to realize that these errors are happening? So Christopher, I've got a question for you. Did you know that you weren't saying those Rs in conversation?

Christopher: So when I was really conscious and really thinking about it, I could tell when I was saying it correctly or incorrectly, but sometimes I got excited and then got into the conversation, I forget everything I learned in the speech therapy and just roll with the conversation. For me, it, the biggest thing was trying to make it a habit of focusing on saying the Rs correctly, and being really conscious of it throughout my normal conversations throughout the day,

Denise: you wrote an essay for college entrance. You describe your struggle, and I love that. I loved how you talk about how you had some anxiety associated with forcing yourself to use R in conversation. I love how you talked about you couldn't always hear it. And you relied somewhat on the feeling of where your tongue was. Do you want to tell us about that?

Christopher: I used to not be able to tell what was the difference between a W sound and, and an R sound. But to start to distinguish the two, I would have run my tongue along the back of my teeth, to my molars. And there I would rest my tongue there, and I just practicing the R sound with my tongue in that position. At that point, I couldn't quite hear the difference between what sounded correctly or incorrectly, but as I practiced that over several years, I was able to start to hear the two different sounds of what sounded correct. And what sounded incorrect.

Denise: And was there some anxiety associated with doing that?

Christopher: Yes, 100%. So to really focus on my Rs and say them correctly, I'd really have to slow down my speech a ton. And in my mind, I sounded even more funnier, um, saying it what I was focusing on my Rs, then just having my Rs being correct. So by focusing in on my Rs, I felt more exposed to my speech impediments.

Denise: And I think that is so interesting. I think that's a perspective speech therapists need to hear, because I remember we were doing this over teletherapy and I remember thinking in my mind, okay, I think what would really help him is if he recorded himself and we listened back and he could tell me what was right and what was wrong. And I do all sorts of these activities now, but back then, I couldn't figure out how to do that over teletherapy. So I would suggest that you do it, and I felt like there was this little bit of, okay, okay, I'll do it, but you didn't do it.

And I think there was anxiety that I didn't realize and maybe a little bit of avoidance of, 'I don't want to listen to myself.' Is that true? Is that...

Christopher: Yeah, I definitely feel embarrassed hearing myself in recordings and I just wanted to not pay attention to it, pretend it didn't exist and just try, avoid all Rs in all conversations, and continue on with my life the best as, the best I could,

Denise: but you didn't go that route. You were so brave. So Holly, tell us what you told Christopher. He wrote about it in this essay.

Holly: Yeah, we had many conversations, Christopher and I, about how his progression was going and if it was good enough, If you could live with this handicap. And I said, at one point, you're young, if you don't conquer this right now, when you're young, then you will never be able to overcome it. Now is the time you have to grasp this opportunity right now to try and change.

Denise: When did that sink in Christopher?

Christopher: Well, it really started sinking in when I got into high school, and throughout middle school and elementary school, I had other friends who were also participating with me in my speech therapy, and I saw that they were able to get the Rs down and they were able to progress and leave speech therapy, but I was still in it. And I stayed in until high school and it really started to dawn on me that this problem was not just going to go away.

I had to really apply myself and overcome it now or live with it for the rest of my life.

Denise: What I find so interesting is people who stutter have similar anxieties at which we call it avoidance. I might have someone who stutters and you say, go home and practice this. And then as a speech therapist, you're confused that they don't do it.

Well. They don't want to hear themselves. It produces anxiety. They don't like how they sound. And it's easier to just take the old route because it's known, even if it's a stutter. So there's a lot of similarities in all the things we do as speech therapists, and I just find that very interesting. Okay, listeners. I know I told you that all you needed for R therapy were the three pillars, stability, mobility, precise placement, and relaxed production.

And that's true, but we can reach a point that I call the messy middle, where things like auditory discrimination and anxiety come in. And that's what you experienced, Christopher. Um, not really be able to hear whether the R was really there and then the anxieties. Those things can interfere with progress, and I have a whole section on that in the video course that addresses these issues in the messy middle, because guess what? Christopher isn't the only one to experience these. Thank you so much for joining Christopher, Holly and me. I know that your time is valuable. We focused on R pretty heavily lately. And if you're tired of it, don't worry. Next week, we're moving on to talking about AAC, talk to you next week and remember when you master the simple, the complex takes care of itself.

Dan: Thank you for listening to The Mindful SLP. We hope you found some simple tools that will have optimal outcomes in your practice. This podcast is sponsored by SLP pro-advisor. Visit SLP pro-advisor dot com for more tools, including Impossible R Made Possible, Denise's highly effective course for treating those troublesome Rs.

A link is in the show notes. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and tell your fellow SLPs. And please let us know what you think. Join the conversation at SLP ProAdvisor dot com.