P-A-C-E Yourself. Or Just Your Speech.

Did your mother ever tell you to pace yourself? My mom certainly did.

I find myself telling my kids to slow down when they are eating, going down the stairs, and even when they are trying to recall something that happened during the day. Often, the race to talk comes from competition for talk time (for those with siblings), competition for a parent's attention or just excitement.

Just in time for the weekend, when we should, as families, be slowing down but are instead sometimes speeding up to get all of the chores, errands, birthday parties and whatever else done.

When it comes to slowing down a child's speech, telling them to "slow down" doesn't often help. Either because their slowed down speech doesn't last of because they don't really understand what they should be slowing down. So I'll share one of my most trusted tools for kids who's goal is to pace themselves. It's easy to make on your own, travel with and model for your kids. It's a pacing board.

Here is a list of the ways I use pacing boards in therapy:

- To pace out sentences such as "I-want-milk-please."
- To help slow down fast talkers. I demonstrate how to slow down their speech with use of a pacing board and let them imitate me.
- To help kids who are omitting sounds or words. A pacing board can help model to them that they need to say every sound in a word.

Here is a picture of a pacing board. I show the kids I treat how to tap a flower for each word or syllable. You can also place a doll on a flower for each word,  drive a car onto the board, or put a cracker. The possibilities are endless.

 

For those of you with Thomas the Tank Engine trains, you can do similar activities with the separate cars. Here's a picture from a parent of a child I treat. She used soft blocks which her daughter squeezed for each sound they were trying to articulate. 

How do you slow down?

Michelle Lachman
Schedule your free consultation today: 1.408.365.4423 / mlachman.speech@gmail.com