Extending Complexity to Word-Final Position via Telepractice: Intervention Effects for English-Speaking Children With Speech Sound Disorder.

purposePhonologically complex targets (e.g., [pl-]) are understood to facilitate widespread gains following speech sound intervention, and yet, available research largely features word-

methodEight English-speaking children with speech sound disorder (SSD; 3;3-6;9 [years;months]) participated in 18 one-on-one intervention sessions. Intervention was completed via telepractice, as were all pre- and post-intervention assessments. Intervention targets were word-final two-element consonant clusters that were unknown to the child prior to intervention. Targets were presented in verbs that were either monomorphemic (i.e., [-ks];

resultsAll participants demonstrated change across multiple phonological measures. More stringently, six of eight participants demonstrated generalization to untreated sounds and untreated words immediately following intervention, including four of four children with monomorphemic targets. Importantly, positive changes for children with both target types were observed following a relatively short course of intervention (18 sessions over 6 weeks), and mastery of the target cluster was not required for phonological growth to occur.

conclusionsResults align with available work featuring word-initial complex targets and indicate that word-final consonant clusters are feasible, effective targets for English-speaking children with SSD. Findings similarly affirm the use of telepractice to deliver research-based interventions. Speech-language pathologists may thus integrate these findings with their clinical judgment and client perspectives to implement such targets in clinical practice.