This is the fourth in a series of semi-regular monthly newsletters suggesting helpful tips for remediation of articulation/phonology disorders.  If you missed previous newsletters, they are on my website: https://satpac.com/newsletter.

This issue of the newsletter will focus on another element of my approach which is natural prosody.  The SATPAC Approach is based on the idea that when we as SLPs work to remediate sounds/phonological processes, the therapy should be as close to conversational speech as possible and to include the elements that we use in conversational speech (i.e., coarticulation, normal rate, natural prosody, etc.).

If you listen to normal conversation, there is emphasis on certain words to provide meaning.  For example, if I say I didn’t say that it means someone else said it.  If I say I didn’t say that it means denial, or I didn’t say that means I said something else.

If you listen to most speech therapy, the emphasis is invariably on the target sound (and it’s often lengthened in duration.  For example, The SSSOCK is white or The boy is SSSICK.

SATPAC uses contrastive stress sentences to take the emphasis off the target sound as we do in conversational speech.  For example in List 5 from the Practice Phase, The student’s sentence is,The boy bought a new beetseet (with /s/ as the target).  We ask questions like, I bought a new beetseet? and the student responds, No, a BOY bought a new beetseet. We follow up with A boySOLD a new beetseet? and the student says, No a boy BOUGHT a new beetseet. This continues through 5 different sentences and 20 different questions from the SLP taking emphasis off the target.

With the student practicing at a normal rate and putting stress on other sounds instead of the target sound, you will find that transfer to conversation happens much more quickly!

Stephen Sacks

SATPAC Speech