Super Star Speech Review

The TOS Homeschool Crew members were recently given the opportunity to use and review some products from Super Star Speech:  Speech Therapy Made Simple.  My oldest child has autism and is totally non-verbal, although she does attend speech therapy to help her learn alternate ways of communicating.  My other two children (ages 13 and 7) don't have any speech problems at all.  They have always been very articulate and have always had good vocabularies too.  For these reasons, I got permission for my sister to use a product from Super Star Speech with her daughter, age 7, who has apraxia and therefore has some significant articulation problems. 

My sister is really enjoying using the speech book that she received with her 7-year-old daughter, Sarah.  She chose the book that concentrates on all of the consonant sounds because Sarah's consonants are the main problem for her.  Actually, Melissa (my sister) explained that the book doesn't include all of the consonant sounds, but it does include the main ones that children have problems pronouncing. 

She explained that the book has 4 basic parts.  One part covers directions for how to properly make each consonant sound.  Another part has lists of words that contain each specific sound that is being practiced.  Another part contains pictures the names of which contain the specific sound.  The final part contains games that are sound specific as well. 

Melissa explained that the book seems most suited to younger children--perhaps for preschool children or younger elementary children.  The games are very simple and would probably be lots of fun for these younger ages but perhaps not for children who are a little older. 

She mentioned several things that she really likes about the Super Star Speech book.  She said that the introduction to the book gives some very good information about what to look for in a child's speech development/intelligibility, and it gives general ideas about what's ok and what's not ok.  Although this information is very general (for example, it might say that a certain sound or skill should be developed during the "toddler years"), she found it helpful. 

She also likes the fact that there are pre-tests included along with specific directions for giving the tests.  These tests are meant to be given before beginning to work on any speech sounds.  The results of the tests should help parents know if the child does or does not need speech therapy.  (Of course if there is any significant problem, it is a good idea to have the child seen in person by a professional.) 

Another good thing about these speech materials is that a "therapy plan" sheet is included.  This sheet will help the parent to set goals and make a plan for reaching those goals.  Finally, the book includes lesson plan examples and blank lesson plan sheets.

One drawback my sister noticed was that, in her opinion, there wasn't quite enough emphasis on the fact that a child needs to be able to use a word or make a sound correctly in conversation--not just as an isolated sound or word.  She said this is mentioned, though.  Because my sister is an audiologist, she would pay more attention to that sort of thing than most "average" folks like me, though!  She also mentioned that some moms might be a bit intimidated by the tests at first.  She did say, though, that the instructions for giving the tests are well done, and that a parent who was willing to carefully read the instructions and pay close attention should be perfectly capable of doing a good job giving the test. 

Overall, she feels like the speech book she is using is a really good book.  She said she would certainly recommend it to parents whose children have mild speech problems and who cannot pay for speech therapy or who simply want to try whatever they can at home before paying for speech therapy. 

The book that Melissa reviewed, Super Star Speech:  Speech Therapy Made Simple, sells for $22.95 for the ring bound version.  The spiral bound version sells for $18.95.  The ebook version can be found at Curr Click  for $12.95.  You may want to see all of the products offered on the Super Star Speech website, and you can read the reviews of other Crew members here. 

NOTE:  I received Super Star Speech:  Speech Therapy Made Simple free in order to write this review.  I did not receive any other compensation.  The opinions expressed in this review are my own.