It is used to improve the quick lip and tongue movement required to produce clear speech.

Speech Intelligibility: This is how well a person's speech can be understood. If your "speech intelligibility" is good, that means the words you are speaking are clear and can be understood most or all of the time. Speaking rate: How fast or slowly you speak. Dysarthria: A reduction in strength and coordination in the muscles associated with speech. Simply put; weak oral muscles. Verbal Apraxia: Not being able to perform coordinated oral muscle movements. However, there is no paralysis or muscle damage involved. This means that the person's oral muscles are fine, but the messages sent from the brain to move those muscles are being interrupted. Dysphagia: A condition which causes difficulty swallowing liquids and food. Dysphagia requires very specialized speech therapy and should be carried out with a qualified therapist oneon-one. Aspiration: Most everyone has done this without knowing there is a name for it. Have you ever drunk or eaten something that went down the wrong pipe? That is called, "aspiration." This is usually followed by coughing which clears the wind pipe (trachea). However, some people with swallowing disorders aspirate frequently and may not be able to cough the food or liquid back into their throat. This condition also requires specialized speech therapy. Range of Motion: The distance you can move your tongue and/or lips in and out, back and forth, up and down, or side to side. Compensatory Strategies: Learning new ways to complete a task. For example, if you are having difficulty saying long sentences then you can "compensate" by saying several shorter sentences instead. Saying two or three short sentences instead of one long sentence is a compensatory strategy. Prosody: Intonation, rhythm, and vocal stress in speech. You're probably saying, "Great, but what do all those things mean? Don't worry, we thought of that too ...

Intonation: The rising and falling of your voice (also known as pitch). Using a "high" pitch or a "low" pitch to add meaning to your message. Have you ever heard someone speak in a monotone voice? They speak without any changes in their pitch. It's like one long, unchanging sound. Intonation puts passion and spark into our speech! Rhythm: The proper timing between pauses and spoken words in your speech. If your rhythm is "off" your pauses may be too long or too short between words.