Treating children ages 3-6 who have speech sound disorder: a survey

Abstract

Purpose: In a national survey, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) were asked about service delivery and interventions they use with children ages 3-6 who have speech sound disorder (SSD).

Method: The survey was e-mailed to 2,084 SLPs who worked in pre-elementary settings across the United States. Of these, 24% completed part or all of the survey, with 18% completing the entire survey.

Results: SLPs reported that they provided children ages 3-6 who had SSD with 30 or 60 min of treatment time weekly, regardless of group or individual setting. More SLPs indicated that they used traditional intervention than other types of intervention. However, many SLPs also reported using aspects of phonological interventions and providing phonological awareness training. Fewer SLPs indicated that they used nonspeech oral motor exercises than in a previous survey ( Lof & Watson, 2008). Recently graduated SLPs were no more familiar with recent advances in phonological intervention than were their more experienced colleagues. Discussion This study confirms previous findings ( Mullen & Schooling, 2010) about the amount of service provided to children ages 3-6 who have SSD. Issues related to the use of traditional and phonological intervention with children who have phonological disorder are discussed, along with concerns related to evidence-based practice and research needs.

Keywords: children; intervention; service delivery; speech sound disorder.