Investigation into the effectiveness of electropalatography in treating persisting speech sound disorders in adolescents with co-occurring developmental language disorder

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of electropalatography (EPG) intervention in targeting specific phonemes/words in seven adolescents aged 14:10–18:06 with co-occurring speech sound and language disorders. Progress on individualised targets versus controls was evaluated following intervention undertaken as part of the participants’ usual speech and language therapy provision. As a group, the participants showed significantly greater progress on their targets than controls, indicating that the EPG intervention was effective. However, performance varied between participants, targets and school terms. Factors that may have influenced the effectiveness of intervention include spending more time on targets and focusing on a specific phoneme. Overall, the results suggest EPG should be considered as an intervention approach for this client group, even in the late teenage years.

KEYWORDS:

• Electropalatography
• speech sound disorder
• developmental language disorder
• intervention
• school-aged children

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Lisa Campbell, Jemma Colclough, Lauren Bannister and Kimberley Trickey for their support in delivering the sessions reported in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors are employed by the educational provision that funded this project and where the project took place. They have no other conflicts of interest.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.