Premium
The use of facilitative vowel contexts in the treatment of post‐alveolar fronting: a case study
Author(s) -
Stokes Stephanie F.,
Griffiths Rebecca
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of language and communication disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.101
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1460-6984
pISSN - 1368-2822
DOI - 10.3109/13682820903094737
Subject(s) - psychology , articulation (sociology) , vowel , checklist , speech therapy , psychological intervention , test (biology) , generalization , phonology , audiology , developmental psychology , linguistics , cognitive psychology , medicine , psychiatry , paleontology , mathematical analysis , philosophy , mathematics , politics , political science , law , biology
Background : School‐aged children with persisting speech sound disorders (SSDs) may show little improvement in speech accuracy following phonological or articulation therapy. Aims : To determine the effects of establishing consonant production in facilitative vowel contexts for a 7‐year‐old boy (CD) with persisting post‐alveolar fronting. CD had received phonological awareness therapy and traditional articulation therapy as part of a community caseload. However, his post‐alveolar fronting showed resistance to therapy. Methods & Procedures : CD received individual therapy for nine 45–55‐min sessions. A checklist of quality indicators for single‐subject research was used to explore the likelihood that a community clinic could meet quality indicators. Fifteen test words in each of target, generalization and control sets were measured at five times pre‐, during and post‐therapy. A trend analysis was used to measure the statistical significance of the results and to demonstrate the efficacy of therapy. Outcomes & Results : Therapy was successful. Gains on treatment and generalization test items were rapid and significantly higher than gains on control test items. Only three of 21 single‐subject research quality indicators were not met in this research. Conclusions & Implications : Targeting facilitative vowel contexts was successful for this 7‐year‐old boy with persisting post‐alveolar fronting which had been resistant to other therapy techniques. Speech and language therapists are encouraged to ensure that quality indicators for single‐subject interventions are built into regular practice.