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We live in a society that is inundated with the lives of celebrities. We see them on tv and in movies, in magazines, newspapers, and hear them on the radio. Thanks to twitter and facebook, we are able to learn more about celebrity living than ever before. One thing we do not hear much about is celebrities that have difficulty or have had difficulty speaking. Fluency in speech is important for everyone who is a verbal communicator. When you are in the public eye and make your livelihood based on how you talk, fluency becomes even more important.

Sugarland, a Grammy-winning country music band, has been touring all over the country this year.  When they performed in Washington, D.C., one of my friends went to the concert and was disappointed in the fact that they only played for about an hour.  Her friend pointed out that it might be due to the fact that earlier this summer, Jennifer Nettles, the lead singer for Sugarland, was put on vocal rest, and therefore had to cancel several concerts.  This got me thinking about the importance of good vocal hygiene and wondering if other singers or performers have had similiar co

As a speech and language pathologist, one of my jobs is to know the milestones for speech development, specifically when children should acquire certain sounds. Parents often ask me if their child is developing appropriately based on the sounds their child uses in speech and the content of their utterances. In an effort to help parents and caregivers decide if they should seek speech therapy, below you will find the sound acquisition norms used by many speech therapists including myself when determining if a child is delayed in their speech development.