Treatment FAQ

how many treatment targets should i choose for articulation and phonological disorders

by Marian Hansen Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

on an articulation test (e.g., Goldman-Fristoe Test of Artic- ulation) and at least five to seven target English sounds excluded from their phonemic inventories.

Full Answer

What is the complexity approach to phonological treatment of 3-to 7-year-old children?

Taken together, when applying the complexity approach to phonological treatment of 3- to 7-year-old children with phonological disorders, a clinician should prioritize selection of (a) late-acquired, (b) implicationally marked (see Table 1 ), (c) least-knowledge, and (d) nonstimulable targets to produce broad, system-wide change in phonology.

What are phonetic and phonological target selection options?

Per the flowchart below, target selection options can be classified into either Phonetic (or Articulatory) or Phonemic (Phonological) to describe the traditional, complexity and distance metric approaches: The difference between the phonetic and phonemic perspectives is sound learning versus system shifting.

Is articulation or phonology therapy best for my child?

Usually articulation is best if there is just one sound that the child is having trouble with! I like your comment on how phonology therapy can be useful for people who have problems with entire classes of sound. I would imagine that if your child struggles with a broad range of problems this would be helpful.

How do late-acquired and marked targets affect phonology?

Research suggests that treatment of late-acquired, marked (based on implicational universals), low-accuracy, or nonstimulable targets can trigger broad, system-wide change in phonology.

How do you choose articulation targets?

8 Traditional Target Selection CriteriaWork in developmental sequence. ... Prioritise targets that are 'important' ... Choose targets that are stimulable. ... Use words that can be minimally contrasted. ... Choose unfamiliar words as therapy stimuli. ... Target sounds the child sometimes says correctly.More items...•

How do you select phonological targets?

Selecting speech targets for phonological and articulation interventionCaregivers' Expectations. ... Functionality. ... Frequency of Phoneme Occurrence in Main Spoken Language. ... Ease of Production. ... (Typical) Developmental Sequence. ... Most Impact on Speech Intelligibility. ... Non-Stimulable Phonemes. ... Atypical Phonological Processes.

What is the treatment for phonological disorder?

Metaphon therapy is designed to teach metaphonological awareness—that is, the awareness of the phonological structure of language. This approach assumes that children with phonological disorders have failed to acquire the rules of the phonological system. The focus is on sound properties that need to be contrasted.

What are the three goals of therapy to correct articulation problems?

First: Establish a volitional production of a target sound (usually at syllable or word level) Next: Generalize production from syllables to words to phrases and finally to connected speech at the conversational level. Last: Maintain progress over time.

What is target selection in speech therapy?

Using this target selection strategy, SLPs prioritize targeting sounds or sound classes in error that have a high frequency of occurrence in the child's predominant language (e.g., General American English) in an effort to maximize impact on the child's speech intelligibility.

How do you choose targets for complexity?

Within a complexity approach, targets are selected for treatment based on characteristics of the targets (e.g., developmental norms, implicational universals) and characteristics of children's knowledge of the targets (e.g., accuracy, stimulability).

How do you treat articulation disorders?

Practice revision daily. Revision is a technique in which you repeat what your child has just said, but with the correct pronunciation. ... Avoid imitating your child's errors. ... Read, read, read to your child. ... Incorporate Modeling into Play. ... Narrate daily routines. ... Practice successful words.

How is articulation disorder treated?

Treatment for articulation includes:Showing how to make sounds correctly.Helping your child recognize which sounds are correct and incorrect.Having your child practice sounds in different words.

How do you do articulation therapy?

The Seven Steps of Articulation Therapy: A Guide for ParentsStep 1: Isolate. The first step in articulation therapy is practising saying the sound on its own/in isolation. ... Step 2: Syllables. ... Step 3: Words. ... Step 4: Phrases and Sentences. ... Step 5: Stories. ... Step 6: Conversation. ... Step 7: Generalisation.

What is the difference between articulation disorder and phonological disorder?

A child with an articulation disorder has problems forming speech sounds properly. A child with a phonological disorder can produce the sounds correctly, but may use them in the wrong place.

What are three types of articulation disorders?

What Are Speech Sound (Articulation) DisordersOrganic speech sound disorder. ... Functional speech disorder. ... Developmental phonological disorder. ... Developmental apraxia of speech. ... Developmental dysarthria.

What are the four types of articulation errors?

A child can make the following articulation errors when producing speech sounds: Substitutions, Omissions, Distortions, and/or Additions.

What is the prevalence of speech sound disorders?

The prevalence of speech sound disorders refers to the number of children who are living with speech problems in a given time period. Estimated prevalence rates of speech sound disorders vary greatly due to the inconsistent classifications of the disorders and the variance of ages studied.

What is phonemic and allophonic variation?

phonemic and allophonic variations of the language (s) and/or dialect (s) used in the community and how those variations affect determination of a disorder or a difference and. differences among speech sound disorders, accents, dialects, and patterns of transfer from one language to another.

What is speech sound disorder?

Speech sound disorders is an umbrella term referring to any difficulty or combination of difficulties with perception, motor production, or phonological representation of speech sounds and speech segments— including phonotactic rules governing permissible speech sound sequences in a language.

What are organic speech disorders?

Organic speech sound disorders include those resulting from motor/neurological disorders (e.g., childhood apraxia of speech and dysarthria), structural abnormalities (e.g., cleft lip/palate and other structural deficits or anomalies), and sensory/perceptual disorders (e.g., hearing impairment).

What is functional speech?

Functional speech sound disorders include those related to the motor production of speech sounds and those related to the linguistic aspects of speech production. Historically, these disorders are referred to as articulation disorders and phonological disorders, respectively.

Therapy for Speech Sounds

It can be very difficult to figure out what type of speech sound therapy to do with a child. Today, I’m going to walk you through the four main types of therapy and when to use them. Plus, I’ll touch on some of the less common types of speech sound therapy in case you’ve tried all of the mainstream approaches with no success.

Types of Speech Sound Therapy

For children working on a single sound error or substitution that is not part of a whole class of sounds

How to Choose an Approach

Download the free flow chart that will help you decide which method to use:

More Resources for Speech-Language Pathologists

Looking for more therapy ideas and resources to help you provide the BEST services to your clients? Join us in The SLP Solution, our membership program for speech-language professionals! Inside the membership, you’ll find:

What are the factors that influence the target selection of intervention 3?

Over time, clinicians have used a number of factors in target selection for intervention 3, including: Age of the child. Developmental level of the target sound. Effect on overall intelligibility.

What is the difference between phonetic and phonemic perspectives?

The difference between the phonetic and phonemic perspectives is sound learning versus system shifting. That is, the traditional approach results in the child learning the target sound more easily because it is an earlier developing, stimulable sound. In contrast, the phonological approach should result in a system-wide change.

What is the Williams research focus?

Williams’ research focus is primarily with children with speech sound disorders, with corollaries of this research interest that address emergent literacy skills for children living in poverty, the impact of communication disabilities on children’s life activities, and social and cultural aspects of communication disorders in children.

What is a broad articulation test?

Most clinicians probably use a broad test of articulation as part of their assessment battery for children with phonological disorders. A broad test samples a wide range of targets in the native language but typically in a small number of words or contexts.

What is stimulability in phonology?

Stimulability is a type of dynamic assessment for phonology. Usually, targets that are produced with low accuracy in a static assessment are examined further (see Powell & Miccio, 1996, for a review). Although there are a variety of approaches to stimulabiltiy testing ( Powell & Miccio, 1996 ), in general, the child is given an accurate model to imitate and sounds are targeted in a variety of potentially facilitative contexts. That is, usually, the child is asked to imitate the target in isolation, in multiple word positions (initial, medial, and final), and with various vowels that may help facilitate correct production. For example, a common approach to stimulability testing for /r/ would require the child to produce the following stimuli in imitation: r,ri,iri,ir,ra,ara,ar,ru,uru, and ur ( Miccio, 2002 ). A target is categorized as stimulable if the child accurately imitates the target three or more times ( Miccio, 2002 ), with some variability across studies in the exact number of correct imitation attempts required ( Miccio, Elbert, & Forrest, 1999; Powell, Elbert, & Dinnsen, 1991 ). If the child only accurately imitates the target fewer times than required (e.g., zero to two), then the target is categorized as nonstimulable. Powell and colleagues (1991) taught six children (age = 4;11–5;6) with phonological disorders /r/ and one other target. The stimulability of all targets of the phonetic inventory was classified (i.e., one or more correct productions on a stimulability task = stimulable, 0 correct productions = nonstimulable). Powell and colleagues observed that, if a child was taught a stimulable target, he or she tended to learn that target and its cognate. In contrast, if a child was taught a nonstimulable target, he or she tended to learn that target and other stimulable sounds. In general, Powell and colleagues concluded that stimulable targets are more likely to be learned on their own without treatment or regardless of the treatment target, whereas nonstimulable targets are unlikely to become accurately produced in the absence of treatment, a conclusion echoed by Miccio and colleagues (1999). Thus, treatment of nonstimulable targets is prioritized within the complexity approach.

What is singleton in phonology?

A singleton is a sound that occupies a syllable position in isolation (e. g., “bake” contain s two singleton consonants: /b/ in the syllable onset and /k/ in the syllable coda). Implicational universals describe patterns that are observed across the world's languages and across individual speakers learning a language. In the case of phonology, implicational universals describe patterns of co-occurrences of sounds ( Gierut, 2007 ). For example, one observation is that “if a language has fricatives, then it will also have stops.” This is based on the observed patterns that languages can have (a) neither stops nor fricatives, (b) stops only, or (c) stops and fricatives. However, a language with only fricatives and no stops has not been observed. In this case, the sound class that can occur alone (e.g., stops) is referred to as unmarked, whereas the sound class that cannot occur alone (e.g., fricatives) is referred to as marked. The unmarked sound is assumed to be less complex (both phonologically and motorically), and the marked sound is assumed to be more complex (both phonologically and motorically). Table 1 shows the marked and unmarked classes for singletons (and clusters).

What are the three cases in ScholarWorks?

Three cases are provided in the ScholarWorks supplement. Each case includes an Excel file, which is the completed 1. All_ScoreWorkSheets, and a video showing how the 1. All_ScoreWorkSheets was completed. The cases are based on three children who were seen as part of a research study. Child 1 has a complete phonological battery that includes the singleton and cluster probes as well as stimulability for both singletons and clusters. Child 2 includes the singleton and cluster probes but not stimulability testing because the child did not qualify for the research study. Consequently, the full battery was not administered. Child 3 was seen before the development of these materials but was administered a comprehensive singleton probe as well as stimulability for singletons. Thus, his partial data focusing on singletons could be used to illustrate selection of singleton treatment targets. Children 2 and 3 demonstrate that clinicians can choose which components of the provided materials they use. That is, it is not required that all provided materials be administered to every child. Table 3 may be useful in weighing the cost (in time) of using each item.

What is a consonant cluster?

Consonant Clusters. There also are relevant implicational universals for consonant clusters: one or more sounds that occupy a syllable position in tandem (e.g., “brake” contains one cluster /br/ in the syllable onset). First, clusters are more marked than singletons.

What are the barriers to complexity?

Even with an understanding of the tenets of the complexity approach, there are at least two likely barriers to implementation. A first potential barrier is that production accuracy and stimulability need to be obtained for each child, and this may or may not be a part of each clinician's standard assessment battery. A second likely barrier is the need to apply and integrate the four pieces of information corresponding to the tenets of the complexity approach: age-of-acquisition, implicational universals, production accuracy, and stimulability. This is a lot of information to keep track of for a potentially large number of targets, especially when singletons and clusters are both considered viable options for treatment. These tasks must be accomplished by a clinician in the context of a potentially large existing workload, where minimal protected time is available for comprehensive assessment and intervention planning.

How to increase the likelihood of a student producing final consonants?

To increase the likelihood a student will produce final consonants, I begin with words that include lax vowels and the same consonant in initial and final —for example, pop, kick and dad. Consider frequency and density. Words that children use frequently in everyday interactions make good targets.

How many consonants does Ryan have?

Ryan is a preschooler who produces only five different consonants and relies on gestures to communicate. Marcos is a second-grader whose speech production is affected by gliding, stopping of fricatives and cluster reduction.

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