MARCH DIGEST

This month I shared a shortish story of my Speech pathology beginnings.  Picture it, a daycare center in Detroit MI, a 12 yo boy with special needs,  articulation and language disorders, and behaviors that had gotten him ejected from other daycares. I decided to take on the challenge of providing as much care, support, and education as I could being only a high school senior.
I taught him speech sounds so he could say names and objects more clearly, talked to him about using his words instead of acting out, showed attention and praise for positive behaviors, and checked him on his negative behaviors because he wasn’t getting kicked out of my daycare (I had worked my way up to a high level position in my time there).
I was doing speech pathology-type work before I went to college and learned that it was a real job!
We formed a solid bond so that he responded well to my influence and would report other staff to me saying “I’m gonna tell Dender.” Remember I told you how I helped him say names more clearly? Well Dender was not quite Kendra but def better than how he started saying my name.
He was my young homie (friend) and I often wonder how he turned out.
{{The point is....My passion for helping people speak more clearly and with confidence started decades ago.}}

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Disorder: a condition that is not normal, unhealthy, and/or disruptive.
Difference: a state of being dissimilar, as in unique.
People have speech differences in their sound production, such as a lisp or accent.
​BUT as you are different from one, you are similar to another. It all depends on how you feel about that difference. My book will have suggestions for that.

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Accents are influenced by where you are from and your social group. ⁣
Did ya know, the midwestern region accent is the most neutral sounding accent of all of the American accents? That means that people may not hear Midwestern accent and immediately think “you sound like you are from....”, or make judgements about you based on where you are from. ⁣
​Some people really hate that they have a distinctive speaking accent. Accent speech coaching can help with that. ⁣

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STR sound Profile.
The STR blend is: said as one sound in American English, not a thing in other languages, and said like "skr" in a few American English dialects. 

Examples of STR words: stroll, straight, stream. 
You may have heard things like “across the skreet or skraight outta Compton”. ⁣

​Accents are influenced by where you are from and your social group. ⁣
A ⁣Radio personality from South Carolina has acknowledged his struggle with saying “STR” sound as this a characteristic of the South Carolinian dialect. ⁣
⁣#kendratsays Neither way is right or wrong, it’s just a difference. ⁣

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{People can learn to put on an accent using distinct speech sound patterns.}
There are so many actors who put on an American accent for work. Look for examples in my stories. ⁣
⁣Can you put on an accent? I mean, can you put on a good accent? My British accent sounds like an Irish Jamaican gal? 😂⁣ ⁣

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Fact: Dental appliances like invaslign, dentures, braces, and retainers can change your speech sound production. Really! Your L, S, Z, and TH sounds may be a little distorted because they change the setup of your lips, teeth, tongue, and jaw. ⁣

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Who makes the rules for language? We, the people, make the rules....as we go. ⁣
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Language is always evolving. First people start using a word on social media, next is Urban Dictionary, then Merriam-Webster’s, and finally Issa Word. Think “ain’t, bling, selfie, and conversate. ⁣