Helping kids speak out

Deirdre Newman

Speech pathologist Sharon Mayer picked up Max the puppet and started

moving his tongue around to demonstrate lip popper sounds like Bs and Ps

to student Abby Worden.

Then, she used a model of a mouth to demonstrate the “K” sound. When

Abby had trouble making the sounds, Mayer used a grape tongue depressor

to help her keep her tongue down.

These unique tools, which arrived at the school two-and-a-half weeks

ago, are courtesy of the Fountain for Youth, a consortium of six southern

Rotary Clubs. The organization donated $1,500 worth of equipment,

assessments and training materials to Mayer’s five special education

classes for preschool students with speech and language difficulties.

Students from all over the district attends Mayer’s classes at Paularino

Elementary in Costa Mesa.

The donation enabled Mayer to purchase equipment that is uniquely

suited to her students.

“The [equipment] is very specific to what our needs are,” Mayer said.

“They’re a lot of fun. We want it to be something the willingly

participate in.”

The equipment includes Max, the puppet with a movable tongue; asample

mouth with a movable tongue; fruit-flavored tongue depressors; and a

crocodile flashlight so Mayer can peek inside the students’ mouths.

The money for the donation came from coins tossed into the fountain at

Fashion Island. The idea for donating the equipment to Mayer started with

Pam Morris of the Newport-Irvine Rotary Club.Morris’ daughter, Gina, is

in the class since she suffers from epilepsy that has caused significant

speech and language problems.

“Watching my daughter in speech therapy outside of school, they had

this equipment and the school didn’t,” Morris said. “When I told [Mayer]

about the donation, her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.”

Morris said the actual value of the equipment is closer to $1,800

since she was able to score some discounts with the supplier. She said

she has noticed a marked improvement in her daughter’s speech since Mayer

has been using the new tools.

“The kids come home saying letters they couldn’t before. This stuff

just helps,” Morris said.

-- Deirdre Newman covers education. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at o7 deirdre.newman@latimes.comf7 .