The Efficacy of Utilizing Parents and Teachers as Agents of Therapy for Children with Phonological Disorders

Abstract

Two studies are reported which measured the efficacy of utilizing parents and teachers as agents of therapy for preschool children with phonological disorders. Speech-language pathologists assessed the children, planned the intervention, carried out the agent training program and assessed the children's progress. The agents attended approximately 24 hours of instruction which was designed to provide them with appropriate knowledge and skills to provide the intervention. In general, the parents proved more effective than preschool teachers in remediating the child's speech. Three of the five children with parents as agents of therapy were judged to require no further intervention at final follow-up assessment. All children with teachers as agents of therapy were referred for continuing therapy, although there was a significant improvement in terms of the percent of consonants produced correctly. The results of these two clinical trials illustrate the need for cost-efficacy evaluation of programs utilizing agents of therapy and the need for further studies to identify those factors that influence outcome.