Although articulation errors are common among the preschool population, they can affect a child's relationship with peers and adults by an inability to express clearly ideas and needs. To address hypotonia in the lips, cheeks, and tongue of a 4.8 year old Spanish-dominant male who presents with very poor speech intelligibility, an oral sensory…

This article discusses the role of stimulability in the assessment and treatment of phonological disorders in Spanish-speaking children and applies principles of stimulability to the evaluation and treatment of a phonological disorder in a three-year-old Spanish-speaking child. The case study demonstrated that use of stimulability resulted in…

Reports on a single subject research study conducted by a speech clinician in a public school setting and describes the experience of the dual role of clinician and investigator. Although the two students' correct articulation efforts in the regular classroom dramatically improved during the intervention, the rate at follow-up was similar to that…

This article focuses on the speech language pathologist's (SLP) role as a member of a collaborative team in identifying patterns of strengths and challenges in communication in children with autism and in providing social, behavioral, and communication supports. It presents two case studies of boys (ages 10-12) with autism. (Contains references.)…

Cognitive mechanisms that may account for the phenomena of whole-word phonology and phonological templates in children are described and strategies for identifying whole-word phonological patterns in normal and disordered phonologies are proposed. Intervention strategies that draw on these same mechanisms as a way to overcome their inappropriate…

Fifty hearing-impaired students, aged 8-12 and 15-19, who used an auditory, visual, or tactile aid in speech training made more progress than controls who received speech training without sensory aids. A visual display was more effective for conveying appropriate average pitch, while the "Portapitch" was useful for conveying dynamic…

A survey of 775 early childhood intervention professionals examined their perceptions toward the integration of special services into regular classrooms. Results showed that special educators were most likely to use and favor integrated services, followed by occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, and physical therapists.…

This study compared reading gains of low-socioeconomic status, at-risk kindergarten students within two curricula collaboratively written by classroom teachers and speech-language pathologists. Compared to the alphabet-based curriculum, the whole-language curriculum showed greater gains in the use of print to represent meaning and similar gains in…

A multisensory sound lab has been developed at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (District of Columbia). A special floor allows vibrations to be felt, and a spectrum analyzer displays frequencies and harmonics visually. The lab is used for science education, auditory training, speech therapy, music and dance instruction, and relaxation…

A behavioral-cognitive treatment program for adults who stutter was evaluated. Treatment combines computer-assisted biofeedback for reducing stuttering and a relapse management program for counseling and attitude change. Three adults in their early twenties reduced disfluencies to below three percent stuttered syllables and maintained these…

Total communication is the simultaneous use of speech and manual signs. This article presents a literature review regarding language disabilities of children with Down's syndrome and a case study concerning the effectiveness of the use of total communication with an infant with Down's syndrome. (Author/BB)

This paper emphasizes the importance of listening to the feelings of the adolescent with a voice disorder before beginning an action-oriented approach to creating voice changes. Use of a "behavioral contract" between therapist and student to reduce vocal abuse and excessive vocal use is suggested. (JDD)

Outlines a four-phase process for forming therapeutic alliances between speech/language professionals and families. Methods from the family therapy literature are superimposed onto speech-language therapy techniques. Adaptations to meet the needs of young children with communication difficulties and their families are described. Case study dialogs…

Twenty pediatric users of cochlear implants were administered three tests of speech intelligibility. Correlational analyses showed significant correlations among overall scores for contrast perception intelligibility, contrast production intelligibility, and production sentence intelligibility, however, relationships were more tenuous at finer…

This paper describes the approach to speech training used with a young congenitally deaf adult. Two tactile aids (Tactaid VII and Tactaid 2000+) were used to provide feedback on speech production. Following a one-year training period, listeners with normal hearing were able to understand about 90 percent of the subject's words in an…