Poster Session #1: UC Ballroom
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Dr. Amy Glaspey
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Communicative Sciences and Disorders
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Speech-language pathologists help children with speech sound disorders learn to say sounds like their peers. The purpose of this study is to determine how a child’s speech changes during treatment when given help. Traditionally, speech-language pathologists have only measured children’s speech sound production using assessments that provide no help. Our study is one of the first to evaluate a new assessment that measures the amount of help needed for children to be successful in producing speech sounds. We evaluated a single participant: a six-year, two-month old boy who had difficulties saying many sounds, which often were made as “t” or “d”. We assessed his progress on four sounds that he practiced over eight sessions. Sounds were selected because they were the most difficult sounds for him to say. The participant’s progress was recorded using the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology (GDAP). We evaluated his average GDAP score for all sounds before and after treatment. We also evaluated his individual GDAP scores for each of the four hard sounds targeted during treatment. To gain additional information about his progress over time, we compared his GDAP scores to his pre- and post-treatment static probe scores, an assessment in which he received no help. Our study is significant as current treatment and assessment approaches for children with speech sound disorders do not address a child’s improved, aided performance. As such, traditional assessments are unable to provide information about a child’s specific needs. However, assessments that do provide help, take into account the child’s needs in order to attain correct production. Results from our research may provide implications for treatment target selection related to the amount of progress made toward hard sounds.
Category
Social Sciences
Child Phonology: Dynamic Assessment of Speech Adaptability
Speech-language pathologists help children with speech sound disorders learn to say sounds like their peers. The purpose of this study is to determine how a child’s speech changes during treatment when given help. Traditionally, speech-language pathologists have only measured children’s speech sound production using assessments that provide no help. Our study is one of the first to evaluate a new assessment that measures the amount of help needed for children to be successful in producing speech sounds. We evaluated a single participant: a six-year, two-month old boy who had difficulties saying many sounds, which often were made as “t” or “d”. We assessed his progress on four sounds that he practiced over eight sessions. Sounds were selected because they were the most difficult sounds for him to say. The participant’s progress was recorded using the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology (GDAP). We evaluated his average GDAP score for all sounds before and after treatment. We also evaluated his individual GDAP scores for each of the four hard sounds targeted during treatment. To gain additional information about his progress over time, we compared his GDAP scores to his pre- and post-treatment static probe scores, an assessment in which he received no help. Our study is significant as current treatment and assessment approaches for children with speech sound disorders do not address a child’s improved, aided performance. As such, traditional assessments are unable to provide information about a child’s specific needs. However, assessments that do provide help, take into account the child’s needs in order to attain correct production. Results from our research may provide implications for treatment target selection related to the amount of progress made toward hard sounds.