The space between
Author: Aubrey Nunes
Magazine issue: Summer 06
Page numbers: 4-6
Date: 29 May 2006
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Linguist and one-time speech and language therapist Aubrey Nunes explains the background to his ‘feature prosodic therapy’ for children with speech disorders. This involves taking a word a child can’t say, changing it to something they can say – a nonsense but ‘possible’ word - and gradually moving closer to the target until the child can say it correctly. Dr Nunes argues this provides a basis for more efficient, effective and targeted therapy that has the goal of normal speech. The children experience non-stop success and, in exploring the space between what they can say and what they can’t, discover how features and prosody interact. Dr Nunes considers the theoretical evidence for this approach and acknowledges the contribution of therapy pioneers William Holder, John Thelwall and Alexander Melville Bell.
