Reviews

“’Preschool Stuttering, What Parents Can Do’ in my opinion covers it all. This is not a book only to be recommended by Speech Language Pathologists. It’s extremely parent friendly and would provide an excellent starting point for parents who are concerned about their child’s disfluencies. Preschool teachers, pediatricians, nurse practitioners, psychologists and counsellors should all be familiar with this book. It is one of the best parent information guides I’ve seen in years.”

See the rest of her review here.
-Teresa Sadowski MA/SLP-ccc

“I love the wealth of information in this book and wish it was around when I needed it. I think it’s important for parents to understand that getting help as early as possible is critical.”
-Patti Wood, Parent and National Stuttering Association Board of Directors member

“Very nicely written book. It was thorough and quite readable. I highly recommend this book to parents of preschoolers.”
-Susan Wildman, M.A., CCC-SLP, Speech Pathologist

“This book is full of information I could have used when my child was a preschooler. It is a must read book for parents of preschoolers as well as for anyone working with this age group.”
-Mary Macuga, Parent

“Mirla is very knowledgeable. I learned so much about stuttering from her and my daughter’s speech improved greatly from working with her. I highly recommend this book to any parent who has a child who stutters.”
-Ellen Douglass, Parent

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Understanding Stuttering
Introduction
In A Nutshell
Is The Child Stuttering, Stammering or Is This Just Normal Preschool Speech?
Demystifying Stuttering
What Causes Stuttering
Facts about Stuttering

Chapter Two: Viewpoints and Reactions
How Others View Children Who Stutter
How Children Who Stutter View Themselves
Different Ways Children React to Their Disfluent Speech
What Children Do When They Stutter

Chapter Three: Stuttering and Emotions
The Emotions of Parents
Taking the Time to Understand the Child Who Stutters
Helping the Child Who Stutters
How Emotions Affect the Child’s Fluency
How Parents Can Help Their Child
Chapter Four: Different Environments, Events, and People
The Home
Preschool and Daycare
Events That Can Affect Fluency
Help Others Help the Child

Chapter Five: Professional Help
Intervention May Be Needed
Paying for Therapy and Health Insurance
What to Expect When Seeking Professional Help

Chapter Six: Questions and Answers
Common Concerns and Questions
Information Records
Charts
Further Reading
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments

Reviews

By Mom in CT:
My three and a half year old daughter had been doing private speech therapy (at $100 an hour) for her lisp for about one month before we moved to German-speaking Switzerland. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find a native English speaking speech therapist in Switzerland, so I bought this book before we left the U.S. We have completed this book and it went very successfully. There are three important things to know however: (1) don’t be deceived by the “15 lessons” title. There are 15 chapters, but each “lesson” is followed by 2 or 3 practice sessions. You can only do one lesson or practice session a day. Overall I think there are over 50 days of lessons/practice sessions. (2) You must be motivated to do this. The sessions are not difficult, but you must be consistent in actually doing them on a fairly regular basis. I failed miserably at this at first until I decided to do speech therapy with my daugher every day immediately after dinner. She couldn’t get dessert until she had finished her speech therapy. (3) Even when you are done with the 50 or so sessions, your child’s speech will not be perfect yet. After we were done with the book, my daughter could correctly make the “s” sound when reminded to do it, but she couldn’t always remember to do it. You have to constantly remind your child to properly pronounce the “s” sound. The better you are about correcting your child’s speech the faster he/she will progress. Overall this book was a tremendous help to our child, and well worth the purchase price.

By CLW:
I have been meaning to review this book for years, since we used it when my son was 5 and he is now 13. The great news is that he no longer has even the slightest hint of a lisp and all it took was about one month of doing the lessons in this book 8 long years ago.

His dad had a lisp when he was small, and back then the public schools used to recognize the problem and provide speech therapy. My son’s lisp was very noticeable, especially because he has an ‘S’ in his name, but neither his preschool teachers nor his kindergarten teacher ever mentioned it. After hearing about my husband’s experience I expected it to be addressed in kindergarten but even when I brought it up to the teacher myself he didn’t seem very concerned.

I knew I was on my own, so I bought this book and it was smooth sailing from there. The lessons were so easy it didn’t feel much like work to me or my child, and he progressed so quickly we didn’t even have to spend as much time on the lessons as they recommended. Very little reminding was necessary when we were done. That might not be true for everyone but for us it was a completely painless and effective process. For that reason I recommend at least trying this program before spending hundreds or thousands on speech therapy.

By B. Leach:
My 7-yr-old’s lisp was pretty mild, and the pace of this was very easy for him, but he enjoyed having such easy success. And it is helping. It is certainly a lot easier and cheaper than going to a speech therapist regularly!

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, May 1994
This manual is complete and detailed. Materials and suggestions for activities are a nice addition and appear well planned and appropriate. This program is an asset for use as a supplement to professional speech/language treatment

Practical Homeschooling, Dec. 1995/Jan. 1996
I wish I had known about this book before spending several hundred dollars on speech therapy for my daughter. Author Mirla Raz has done parents a great service in providing them with the information allowing them to help their own children. The book contains instructions for carrying out 15 therapy sessions, practice requirements, worksheets, and trouble-shooting ideas for use when things aren’t progressing. Children are motivated with a great deal of positive reinforcement, games, prizes, and contests. Directions are clearly and concisely spelled out. You won’t need any additional materials other than some games and toys that you already have on hand. Much of what I saw in this book we experienced personally with our speech therapist

Deena Kobernick, M.A., CCC-SLP
The author has done a great job outlining treatment for a lisp for both the lay and professional person’s use. I likedthe quick outline at the beginning of each chapter. I liked the use of graphics and the frequent reminders regarding praise/positive reinforcement.

Helen Sherman-Wade , M.A., CCC-SLP
Clear, concise, and easy to follow. I would recommend this book to parents, speech aides, and speech pathologists working in the field.

Julie Budrzysky, M.A., CCC-SLP
A helpful sequential tool for remediating the “s” sound.

Comments

Daphna Gold, Mother
This program is easy to use. It was a great feeling helping my daughter correct her lisp. I’m going to use this program to correct my younger daughter’s lisp.

Katerina Leftheri, Arizona State University, speech-language pathology student
I think that anyone could use this book and see positive results by carefully following the directions. Personally, I found the structure of therapy suggested here most hdlpful. By using the basic structure and modifying the different methods, I used it to train other sounds as well!

Allen Stone, M.D.
I like this book very much. This how to book enables a parent to …treat, at home, the most common speech problem.

Jenny Bilmes, Mother
It was worth it. It was fun. I could see right away that the techniques in the book were going to work. They not only worked on the speech, but they really promoted quality time with my daughter.

Table of Contents

Prelesson
One: Tongue and Teeth Positioning
Two: Producing the RRRRR Sound
Three: Final RRRRR in Simple Syllables
Four: Initial RRRRR in Simple Syllables
Five: Final RRRRR in Simple Words
Six: Initial RRRRR in Simple Words
Seven: Pairing Initial RRRRR Simple Words
Eight: Pairing Final RRRRR Simple Words
Nine: Medial RRRRR in Simple Words
Ten: Final RRRRR in Simple Sentences
Eleven: Initial RRRRR in Simple Sentences
Twelve: Blends
Thirteen: Sentences Using Initial, Medial, and Final RRRRR and RRRRR in Blends
Fourteen: Using RRRRR While Playing
Fifteen: Using RRRRR in Conversation
Certificate of Achievement
Appendix A: Worksheets
Appendix B: Activities & Materials

Reviews

By R. Rhodes:
My husband could not pronounce the letter R, as a child and teenager. This was almost resolved with many differrent speech therapists’ input and his personal efforts. Nevertheless, a slight imperfection remained, which caused significant anxiety.
I helped him to correct his R with the help from this book and the results are absolutely perfect. He can even pronounce the double spanish RR, without any problems. He is now a transformed person, in terms of self esteem.
I would like to emphasize the following:
1. Although the book is simple and suitable for children, it is perfectly suitable for adults as well.
2. It is imperative that the “teacher” is as motivated as the “student”, and specific time is set aside for the lessons.
3. The first chapters (production of the sound R) are crucial and very well written. Please don’t do them in a hurry and pay attention to details.
4. I wish we had discovered this book earlier!

By R. Spualding:
My son couldn’t pronounce his r’s, they sounded like w’s. Looking on the internet one evening, I came across this book. I ordered it right away. We worked together daily, using the excellent program in the book. His progress was excellent. The book was well planned, each step important, and it was also enjoyable for my son. He loved looking at the pictures and proving he could make the “r” sound.
Thank you for bringing this book into the world. …it changed my son’s life.
As a former teacher and stay home mom, I fully know that many speech difficulties are outgrown with time. My son was very verbal at an early age, but had great difficulty with the R and L sounds (he replaced them with a W, saying Sawa instead of Sara or Wove instead of Love). After he turned four I decided to buy the R book.
We did a few of the lessons (no pressure) and I was pretty skeptical that it would even work. I must admit we didn’t even complete the book, and since my son is pretty little we were more flexible than the written lesson, I just tried to make it fun. That’s why I was so surprised with the change.
The tongue placement exercise changed his world. We were watching the Christmas movie with Rudolph and Herbie the elf. We had done a few lessons (without any real signs of change) and during the movie he said HerrrRbie (instead of Hewbie). I couldn’t believe it! Over the course of 3 months his R became stronger, we reminded him about ‘making a muscle’ with his tongue when he would attempt to say a word with an R.
He is now able to say the R no matter where it is in the word, beginning/middle/end (That came in stages…middle came first).
Just as I was about to buy the L book he really seemed to gain so much control over his tongue. He seemed to think about where he had to put it to mimmick sounds. He is pronouncing his L correctly and I feel that is largely due to the control he gained with our R lessons.
Thank you for saving us loads of time and money. I can’t say enough thank you’s to the author.

By L. J. Prine:
This book gave me a few additional ideas that I am using with 2 of my speech/language students who are having a difficult time achieving correct production of the /r/ sound. It also reinforces the techniques that I already use with other students working toward production and carry-over of the /r/ sound.

By M. Carter:
This book provides a step by step approach to teaching the R sound. It is simple enough to be used by a parent and also a great resource for the school based therapist.

By Knight:
Our son started going to speech over two months ago. We didn’t really notice any change at all. My husband found this book on Amazon and thought it might be a good try at helping him with his “R” sound after reading all the positive reviews. We purchased this book and he has come so far due to this book! In just two weeks it is amazing how well he can pronounce his r’s. He loves practicing with us. The book explains how to form your mouth and your tongue to say it correctly and has the person immitate you on how it should be pronounced correctly. Just the basics in the first few lessons made a world of difference. We highly recommend this book to anyone that has problems pronouncing their r’s.

By Kellie Henkel:
this book is pretty good. A little wordy for the Speech Language Pathologist, but for a parent or assistant – it is very clear cut. I wrote up a quick summary of the book for me to reference in 2 pages. It does work 🙂 I was finally able to elicit a good /r/

By Vikki Jenkins “Homeschool Mom”:
This book actually lays out a lesson plan on how to teach your child to pronounce his “r”‘s. I am most grateful. The step by step instructions make teaching this sound easy. My son for the first time is making his “r” sounds. I would recommend this book to everyone.

By K. McClung:
I am very pleased with this book! My 7 yo son was saying his R sounds by lesson 7. We’re continuing on through to the end of the book, but he is saying his R sounds perfectly now. We did this at home without the help of a speech therapist. He was very frustrated with practicing R sounds before using this book & hated practicing speech. I will be purchasing the book for S sounds next.

By Peggy K Beaulieu:
I was skeptical at the title. Remediating the R sound isn’t easy or usually that quick. However, to clarify , it is 15 LESSONS over many sessions. I ordered this for parent friendly information and hand outs and it is perfect for that. The author does stress that many children need professional help for R. I would be delighted if a parent came to me with their child using this book and wanting assistance with instruction of R and I am now using this book with the families of the R kids I have on my caseload. Once the child is mid-way thru the lessons,(Correct R at the word level) it is ideal to have more and more practice at home, especially once established that they are not practicing an incorrect R. This manual is perfect for trransistioning children from therapy to home carry-over. Thank you, from Peggy, Speech Language Pathologist.

By Rudolph:
This is something we are still working on, but has taught us a lot about using the “R” sound properly and our child is making progress. It may help you avoid getting a speech therapist, but may not. Would recommend trying it since it has a lot of very useful information.

By Cloud Nine “Deb”:
Have not completed the whole book with my daughter yet, but already she is making great progress. The book is written such that it is easy to follow and breaks down the chapters in easy manageable exercises with visible results as you go along.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, May 1997
The program is sequential, very specific, and easy to follow… Directions are written simply for a parent or layperson.

Practical Homeschooling, 1997
It’s a miwacle! At least that’s what I hope Help Me Talk Right: How to Teach a Child to Say the “R” Sound in 15 Easy Lessons will be. Renee Mathis gave a glowing recommendation to Mirla G. Raz’s earlier book, Help Me Talk Right: How to Correct a Child’s Lisp in 15 Easy Lesson. Now I see why. With very clear lessons, from tongue positioning with the “jelly spot” to practicing initial and final “r”s in single words, phrases, and sentences, any parent can use this book. With the built-in games, worksheets, and activities, any child will be happy to go along.

Sandra K. Krichbaum, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
I was especially pleased with the step-by-step instructions with exact details to correct the “r” sound… which include clear expectations at each level. The creative and fun suggestions during each lesson make this a pleasant experience for adult and child. This is a much needed book for children having difficulty with the “r” sound.

Table of Contents

Prelesson
One: Tongue Positioning
Two: Producing the LLLLL Sound
Three: Initial LLLLL in Simple Syllables
Four: Final LLLLL in Simple Syllables
Five: Initial LLLLL in Simple Words
Six: Final LLLLL in Simple Words
Seven: Pairing Initial LLLLL Simple Words
Eight: Pairing Final LLLLL Simple Words
Nine: Medial LLLLL in Simple Words
Ten: Initial LLLLL in Simple Sentences
Eleven: Final LLLLL in Simple Sentences
Twelve: LLLLL in Blends
Thirteen: Sentences Using Initial, Medial, and Final LLLLL and LLLLL in Blends
Fourteen: Using LLLLL While Playing
Fifteen: Using LLLLL in Conversation
Certificate of Achievement
Appendix A: Worksheets
Appendix B: Activities and Materials

Reviews

By G. Nielsen:
I have found this book to be helpful with my daughter, and I was able to even get email assistance from the author when I needed it, through her website.

By Mae:
This book is very helpful to me, my son and the speech therapist. We use this in conjunction with biweekly speech therapy. It is easy enough for me to understand and help my child say his r’s and l’s