Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Confessions of a Bad SLP




I’m a bad SLP. We Speech Language Pathologists tell parents to avoid baby talk. “Always model the correct pronunciations. That’s how children learn speak properly.” But I have been a traitor to my profession lately.


HM and MT have very good articulation for their ages. (whew, maybe all of that clinical training hasn’t gone to waste!) But naturally, there are some sounds they still have difficulty with. I won’t geek out on phonological processes, but there are some common error patterns that are age appropriate and expected. So I don’t worry about them. Instead, I find them horribly cute.

“Mama, tiss it. TISS IT!” This is MT’s common request anytime she hurts herself. So of course I do. How can you not with a request like that? But I’ve found myself incapable of using the proper /k/ sound in that context. I can only “tiss” things. I’m incapable of kissing them. (we won’t go into the matter of what this does to my love life.)

“Tamon, tennel!” is usually followed up by “Tamon, doh doh!” (translation:  “Cameron, kennel! Go go!”) And he apparently is fluent in toddler. Tamon dohs.

“Mama, NO DO DAT!” The grammar isn’t correct, but is just too adorable to correct. And I’ve started to adopt this grammatical form in that context. 

So I confess this boldly, hoping ASHA and the MA licensure board won’t come demanding to take back their certifications. But as I state in my bio, I’m only a part-time SLP, and a full-time mom. Moms are supposed to find these things cute. Right?

7 comments:

  1. I'm unclear as to what HM and MT mean. I understand not putting their names in, but I can't deduce which one you're referring to...is MT the older or younger adorable child?

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  2. well, I'm not an SLP, but I do know what "I love you" is supposed to sound like when said correctly. But how can I correct elias when he yells "LUVUU, MOM-MIE" or "mook, peese?" and "poose obah" ("milk, please", and "push over" for those that don't speak elias). It's too cute. so I usually say it right back to him. Consider me perpetuating the problem. At least the national association of social workers doesn't care if my kids can speak correctly. they only care if they're fed, clothed and reasonably well-cared for. ha!

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    1. I should have chosen my profession more wisely.

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  3. Brandi, check out my "Cast of Characters" page for a translation. I'm attempting to allow for plausible deniability when the girls get a little old. And displaying ridiculous optimism that enough people will ever read my blog that it will actually matter.

    But the initials HM stand for "Hey Mama!" and MT is short for "Me Too!". Older and younger, respectively.

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  4. Before Simon could make the s sound he would say Nuggle instead of snuggle! I thought it was the cutest thing ever! Even though he says snuggle perfectly now I still ask if he wants to "Nuggle". Norah (who pretty much came out speaking in paragraphs) has always corrected his pronunciation and his misuse of grammar. I just find these mistakes cute!

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    1. Ah, but Abby, if he held his fork wrong in a really cute way, would you try to fix it? What if he held his crayon funny? Would that trigger an OT/Mommy conflict?

      But I would prefer Nuggle, too. I might start using that one...

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  5. Love the speech transcription! And no, you're not a bad SLP; you'll grow out of it, just like she will. :)

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