The No-Prep Mumble-Buster: for children who mumble and mutter

“What did you say? Can you say that again?”

Mumbling and muttering are significant barriers to good communication and can have a big impact on a child’s social and academic participation. This “no-prep” program is designed to help mumbling children to speak clearly. Featuring a colourful cast of Speech Legends and various play worlds, the pack incorporates 41 pages of social stories as well as drill-play language games and fun activities designed to improve the student’s:

• awareness of mumbling and its social effects;
• ability to discriminate mumbling from clear speech;
• understanding of the key elements of clear speech, including rate, volume and good articulation;
• response to cues from therapists, teachers, parents and others; and
• general intelligibility, first in the training sessions and then out in their “real world”.

Note: this program is designed primarily for typically developing children who mumble and mutter – either all the time or intermittently. Many of the strategies in this pack may also benefit children with speech sound issues. However, children with significant speech sound disorders (e.g. speech featuring age-inappropriate phonological processes or articulation errors) should be referred to a qualified speech pathologist for assessment and treatment. You can read more about speech sound disorders and their treatment here.

To download the pack, go here. Then simply print the pack, and associated materials and go!

Speechies in Business

Speechies in Business is owned and operated by David Kinnane, a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, lawyer, writer and speaker in private practice in Sydney, Australia.  You can read more about David’s professional background, qualifications and experience here. David also co-owns and co-manages Banter Speech & Language, an independent private speech pathology clinic, and Bodkin Wood Legal & Advisory, a law firm specialising in allied health issues.