A shift of treatment approach in speech language pathology services for children with speech sound disorders – a single case study of an intense intervention based on non-linear phonology and motor-learning principles

ABSTRACTEven though there are documented benefits of direct intensive intervention for children with speech sound disorders (SSDs), the intensity given at Swedish Speech Language Pathology services rarely exceeds once a week. Also, indirect therapy approaches are commonly employed.The purpose of the present case study was to investigate the effects of an intensive specialist therapy, based on non-linear phonological analysis and motor learning principles. The participant was a boy aged 4:10 years with severe SSD, who previously had received indirect therapy from age 3 with, very limited results.A single subject ABA design was used. At baseline, whole word match was 0%, Word shape CV match was 39% and PCC was 22, 7%. He had no multisyllabic words, no consonant clusters and no established coronals.Intervention was given 4 days weekly for 3 weeks in two periods with a 7-week intervening break and a post therapy assessments. Therapy was focused on establishing multisyllabic words, iambic stress pattern, clust...