The Tale of the Turtle and the Rabbit

I have felt guilty about neglecting this blog this year. In previous years, I’d have a spare moment from time to time to update ideas about speech, my family, or a rhyming thought.

This year has been nuts. Like ‘pull your hair and run for cover’ nuts. No budget. Increased case load. Dramatically increased number of students with significant needs. Decreased staff/assistance to help with increased case load and increased number of students with significant needs. Nuts. Crazy. Loco. Batty.*

*Currently teaching the idiom “driving me batty” to a few students.

This year I am working with two boys with significant fluency issues (stuttering). Because I learn better in story, here is my adapted “turtle and the hare” story we created to help them remember to breathe through their bumpy speech:

Once upon a time, there was a turtle and a rabbit.

The turtle was very slow and steady. He always said, “Slow and steady wins the race.” He also had huge lungs that allowed to swim underwater for long periods of time.

Rabbit, however, was fast and bumpy-jumpy. He thought that he was the fastest in the forest. Rabbit challenged turtle to a race.

On the day of the big race, all the forest animals gathered. The winner would be the first animal to deliver an important message to bear.

At the sound of the horn, they were off! Rabbit, did his bumpy jumps quickly into the woods. Turtle followed slow and steady.

After some time, rabbit saw he was clearly in the lead. He said, “I’m tired. I will take a little rest by this pond.” He soon fell asleep.

Meanwhile, turtle continued on. Slow and steady. He passed rabbit and approached bear at the finish line.

Rabbit woke up with a start. He began jumping to catch up. Just as he was to about to catch up, turtle used his enormous lungs to bloooooooooooooooow rabbit away from the finish line. Turtle crossed the finish line, delivered the message to bear, and won the race.

Moral of the story: Slow and steady gets the message across first. Not bumpy-jumpy.