40 Chapter 2
Nicole, Yonkel, Tara, and James Robert particularly look forward to this week’s group activities
with their speech teacher. They are excited because next week is Christmas break and cele bration
of all of the winter holidays. The speech teacher has decorated the therapy room with pictures
of snowy sleigh rides, festive family feasts, menorah operas, reindeer, frosty snowmen, and sleds
shooting down urban hills. Because the children are working on the /k/ and /g/ phonemes, the
winter holiday themes focus on those sounds.
During circle, the children discuss the pictures on the wall. Nicole happily describes a
picture of red- cheeked children riding in a sleigh being pulled through the snow by a high-
stepping white horse. Yonkel describes the menorah, the significance of eight candles, and the
miracle of oil lasting for 8 days. In cele bration of Chanukah, he talks about potato pancakes,
choco late money, and the game in which children spin a four- sided top. Tara recalls her family’s
Thanksgiving dinner, including all of the fixings— a huge turkey, dressing, potatoes, salads, and
pumpkin pies— and Tara recalls her grandparents traveling from Iowa for the dinner. James
Robert, or “Jim Bob” as his family calls him, talks at length about a mechanical toy Santa will
doubtless bring him. As the children talk, the speech- language pathologist cues them to pay
par tic u lar attention to the /k/ and /g/ words. After every one has had an opportunity to talk in
circle, the therapist has them say the following words: Yonkel, candles, Chanukah, pancakes,
Thanksgiving, Christmas, turkey, cheek, pumpkins, gold, choco late, game, dressing. The speech
sounds are made correctly by all of the children.
After circle, the children read the special story prepared by the speech- language pathologist. A
computer program structures the story and the colorful illustrations. The story involves a magical
snowman built by boys and girls after the first snowfall. To add interest for the speech students,
the clinician has included the names Nicole, Yonkel, Tara, and James Robert in the story; it is as
if they had created Frosty on that cold winter’s day. The therapist reads the story, and the children
describe the pictures, using /k/ and /g/ phonemes appropriately and accurately.
The clinician has created a “speech club” with all of the children as members. To exit the ses-
sion and return to the classroom, each child must whisper a passage of secret words to the speech-
language pathologist. Of course, the words must be articulated properly or the teacher will not
open the door. Each child correctly whispers the passage and returns to the classroom. To protect
the secrecy of the group, the passage cannot be divulged; however, it is rumored that it contains
several words with the /k/ and /g/ phonemes.
Case Study 2-6: Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Devices for Two Children With Oral- Facial Paralysis
For Jodie, seeing only preschoolers is just fine. In fact, she prefers to work with very young
children, having spent nearly two de cades working in a hospital as a speech- language pathologist.
In the hospital setting, she worked primarily with adults, often geriatric patients. Jodie found the
work challenging, exciting, and, much too often, very stressful. In the medical setting, she spent
most of her workday helping people with strokes, progressive neurological diseases, brain tumors,
and traumatic brain injuries. She fi nally deci ded that she needed a change, and when the position