Identifying phonological patterns and projecting remediation cycles: Expediting intelligibility gains of a 7 year old Australian child

Abstract

The primary purpose of this case study was to analyse phonological deviations of a 7 year old with highly unintelligible speech in order to (a) identify deficient phonological patterns, (b) determine the severity of his phonological impairment, (c) identify optimal target patterns for treatment, and (d) obtain baseline data to be used for comparison following treatment. The method involved analysing transcriptions of 50 phonological assessment words for occurrences of (a) syllable/word structure omissions, (b) consonant category deficiencies, and (c) substitutions and other strategies. The total occurrences of major phonological deviations placed this client's performance in the profound range of phonological impairment. Primary target patterns for the first cycle of intervention include: (a) final consonants, (b) /s/ clusters, (c) velars, and (d) liquids. Potential optimal phoneme targets to enhance the phonological patterns were projected for cycle one (approximately 16 contact hours). In addition, potential secondary target patterns for later cycles were discussed.

Keywords:

• Cycles approach
• phonological assessment
• phonological intervention
• phonological pattern
• unintelligible speech

Notes

1 Transcriptions for productions of two of the 50 HAPP-3 stimulus words (jumping and crayons) were not provided in Holm (2005). Transcriptions for these two words were extrapolated from productions of words obtained for other protocols. Jump had been transcribed as [jΛm] for another assessment protocol, and productions of ‘ing’ for fishing and swimming were both realized as []. Thus, the transcription [] was hypothesized for jumping. Productions for cry and crawl had substitutions of /w/ for /r/ and omissions of /k/. Syllable/word-final nasals were produced for a number of words on the various assessment protocols. The transcription extrapolated for crayons was [].

2 We did target strident singletons /s/ and /f/ before /s/ clusters during our first 18 months at the University of Illinois experimental phonology clinic in 1975 – 76, but after realizing the difficulties children with highly unintelligible speech were experiencing when we started with /s/ singleton productions, we hypothesized that /s/ clusters might be more successful, and indeed they were. Moreover, intelligibility increased dramatically when children began producing /s/ clusters in their spontaneous utterances.

3 Typically children experience greater initial success with word-final /k/ than word-initial velars. We would not target word-final // because we have found that voiced word-final obstruents are inappropriate targets (see Hodson, 2006 for further explanation).