Stopping Negative Practice

Full transcript

Hi, Nicole and Sarah, coming in from the NYU Motor Speech Lab. Today we're coming in to talk about negative practice and how to stop it in your motor speech therapy sessions.

So what is negative practice? It's when the child goes to say the target word incorrectly. We do not want them to do that. We want to almost stop them in their tracks, so that we rework the wiring and get them to say the target word correctly, or at least get them thinking about accurate placement of the articulators.

But what does this look like in treatment? I have recruited Sarah here to help me out and show you. We're going to do two target words, "me" and "pajamas," which are actually current target words I'm working on with some of our research participants, so I can show you what it looks like.

Okay, so Sarah, can you say "me"? I want you to really bring your lips together. Look at me. Do you feel any of your lips? No, say it with me: "Me." Excellent job, Sarah.

And then, okay, Sarah, can you say "pajamas"? "Puh. Puh." Just like this: "Puh." Right? I want you to really think about "pajamas." Do it with me: "Pajamas." Try again: "Pajamas." Good job, Sarah.

So what you saw there was I just stopped her immediately, so that she didn't continue with the incorrect production. And I gave her the feedback to really think about what the movement feels like, so that she can get it accurately next time, hopefully.