Review - Super Star Speech- by Deborah Lott

TOS Crew Review

Product - Spiral bound book - Speech Therapy Made Simple by Deborah Lott, M.Ed. in Speech Language Pathology.

Publisher - Super Star DML Publishing

Price - $18.95 for the spiral bound version. You can also choose a ring-bound version for $22.95 or an e-version for $12.95

My first four children had no trouble with speaking. But my fifth, and youngest, child (John, currently age 12) had a lot of trouble paying attention to us, and I actually thought he might be partially deaf (which he isn't). Because of this, I have to make sure I am looking right at him when I talk. I also have to speak very clearly, so I know he understands what I am saying.

John has dyslexia and it has taken years for him to understand the concept of reading and writing. We have made tremendous progress over time, but we still have plenty of work to do. One thing that has helped him is using a variety of resources - for reading, spelling, writing, etc. When I received a copy of Deborah's book, Speech Therapy Made Simple, I was delighted. The book is full of easy-to-follow ideas for improving a child's speaking skills.

First, I had John take the initial "Articulation Test." He did just fine. No problems.

Next, I read the book and started using the ideas with Amy (15) who has no speech problems. She and I had a fabulous time with the word lists. I made her say all the words as fast as she could. I found this to be an excellent tool for memory skills. I would say two or three words and have her repeat. Then we went on to the next few words and on and on through all the lists. Later, when I did this with John, I had to slow down. He was only able to handle one word at a time and could not deal with distracting noises around him.  I can see him making progress, over time, if I work with him a little bit, on a regular basis.

There are some fun games in here. I loved playing "Train Tracks" with Amy. (She is always up for something new and exciting!) I love the ideas in this game. An example is: "Pick a word to say 5 times," or "Think of 2 sentences with your sound." Each space on this game has a task for the players to do. Even if I didn't have time to play the entire game, I could always pick a couple of tasks and have a student do them on the spur of the moment, anytime during the day.

I also love the sentence practice pages in here. The student must fill in the blanks with the words they are working on. Then they must say the new sentences 3 times. I can see how  -speaking-  works together with an entire language arts education. If you can enunciate words properly, your reading, comprehension, spelling, and writing will improve. This is what helps us to communicate clearly in life and is so important!

There are pages of worksheets that look like coloring pages. They are really fun and educational. We are allowed to photocopy these, as many times as we want, for personal use. The activities in these pages are wonderful and will help a child remember words, and also get some fun practice in speaking clearly.


Overall, this is an excellent resource, whether your child has a minor speech problem or you are looking for reassurance that your child is working at their own developmental level. It is designed for parents to work with their children, at home, doing speech therapy.



To find out more about my reviews, please visit "Introduction to our Homeschool Parlor"

*I received this book, from the publisher, for review purposes through The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Crew *