Investigating Generalization Patterns in Children with Residual Speech Sound Disorders
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Advisor
Elaine Hitchcock
Access Type
Event
Start Date
26-4-2023 9:45 AM
End Date
26-4-2023 10:44 AM
Description
It is commonly known that generalization of newly acquired speech sounds is a challenging task in speech intervention, particularly for school-aged children with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD). It is also widely accepted that children will establish and generalize a newly acquired phoneme if 90% accuracy is achieved in spontaneously generated sentence-level utterances (Hodson & Paden, 1991). However, many RSSD treatment studies document lower than 90% accuracy post-treatment suggesting the potential for regression in the absence of ongoing treatment. A subset of studies using visual biofeedback intervention to establish/generalize target phonemes at the word and sentence level report probe measures post-treatment and at a 1-2 month follow-up session. The inclusion of a follow-up probe offers the opportunity to examine accuracy when intervention is discontinued prior to achieving 90% accuracy in novel contexts. Examining the trajectory of generalization provides clinically relevant data that may support clinicians in determining discharge criteria. This retrospective analysis of selected treatment studies includes post-treatment data and a pre-determined follow-up session for 9 children, ages 6;10-11;2. Inclusionary criteria consisted of a standardized speech, language, and hearing evaluation. Participants were excluded if they demonstrated more than three speech sound errors (/r/, /l/, /s/). Preliminary findings suggest gains as small as 10% in untreated probe measures are maintained or lead to spontaneous improvement in accuracy during the follow-up period. Importantly, meaningful differences in accuracy gains were observed across participants suggesting generalization is a multifaceted process of learning.
Investigating Generalization Patterns in Children with Residual Speech Sound Disorders
It is commonly known that generalization of newly acquired speech sounds is a challenging task in speech intervention, particularly for school-aged children with residual speech sound disorder (RSSD). It is also widely accepted that children will establish and generalize a newly acquired phoneme if 90% accuracy is achieved in spontaneously generated sentence-level utterances (Hodson & Paden, 1991). However, many RSSD treatment studies document lower than 90% accuracy post-treatment suggesting the potential for regression in the absence of ongoing treatment. A subset of studies using visual biofeedback intervention to establish/generalize target phonemes at the word and sentence level report probe measures post-treatment and at a 1-2 month follow-up session. The inclusion of a follow-up probe offers the opportunity to examine accuracy when intervention is discontinued prior to achieving 90% accuracy in novel contexts. Examining the trajectory of generalization provides clinically relevant data that may support clinicians in determining discharge criteria. This retrospective analysis of selected treatment studies includes post-treatment data and a pre-determined follow-up session for 9 children, ages 6;10-11;2. Inclusionary criteria consisted of a standardized speech, language, and hearing evaluation. Participants were excluded if they demonstrated more than three speech sound errors (/r/, /l/, /s/). Preliminary findings suggest gains as small as 10% in untreated probe measures are maintained or lead to spontaneous improvement in accuracy during the follow-up period. Importantly, meaningful differences in accuracy gains were observed across participants suggesting generalization is a multifaceted process of learning.