Accent Modification Therapy Services

“I’ve worked hard on improving my English, but people still say they have a hard time understanding me! What should I do next?”

ACCENT MODIFICATION THERAPY, otherwise known as Accent Reduction Therapy, could be the next step for you and Anderson Therapy Services is here to help!

This type of speech-language therapy targets specific areas of the English language to take your existing knowledge to the next level. Anderson Therapy Services is able to offer you Accent Modification Therapy both in-office and on-line. An assessment will be needed to observe and analyse your abilities in areas such as: intonation patterns, vowel sound production, and consonant sound production.

Intonation refers to the musical quality of language; specifically the pitch, stress and rate we use to communicate meaning in addition to the words. You have likely already acquired a large English vocabulary along with some sounds that are not in your native/first language and you have probably studied many English grammatical rules which you can apply. So why do people have trouble understanding what you are saying? Did you know that approximately 70% of our message is sent via the intonation we use? I’m certain that you were able to tell the difference between a statement and a question even when you understood very little English by the rising tone at the end of many questions! I’m also sure you are already able to apply some of the English intonation patterns to your speech without even thinking about it. For example, listen to the change in your pitch when asking “Are you going?” versus when stating “You are going.” Our program will help develop the use of the finer points of intonation so that you are understood the first time; without communication breakdowns.

Did you know that although English has only 5 printed vowel letters, they make more than 15 different vowel sounds (depending on where you live)! On top of which, English spelling is far from phonetic when it comes to vowels as each vowel sound usually has two to three ways of spelling that sound! This leads to many pronunciation errors when learning English. Unlike most consonants, vowel sounds are difficult to see, and feel as they are made using various tongue, lip, and jaw positions within the mouth without points of contact for reference. Accent Modification Therapy will help you hone your skills so that you hit the proverbial bullseye of the vowel sounds which you find difficult to produce!

Another area we address during sessions are the consonant sounds of English. Similar to vowels, spelling with consonants is not always phonetic. However, unlike vowels, consonants are easier to see and feel, and can be more easily classified into different types of sounds depending on the place of contact in the mouth, the way the air escapes the mouth, and whether we use our vocal folds or not. The 21 printed consonant letters in the English alphabet translate to the 24 sounds we produce.

In order to learn the vowels and consonants of a language, it is helpful to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet. Knowing how to interpret the information represented in a dictionary is imperative to learning how novel words are pronounced. Learning how to pronounce the vocabulary of your field is also an important part of therapy along with learning about idioms/expressions of speech used in everyday conversations.

Accent Modification Therapy, whether in-office or on-line, will teach you how to apply your new found skills when tackling how to pronounce a novel word or when engaging in conversations with colleagues and friends.

Contact Anderson Therapy Services to see if Accent Modification Therapy is right for you!