Estimates of the co-occurrence of phonological and grammatical difficulties range from 60 percent to 80 percent in children identified as either speech or language impaired. From an intervention perspective, relatively little is known about how to most efficiently treat deficits across the two domains of phonology and morphosyntax. The general purpose of this study is to examine the effects of three goal attack strategies for children with concomitant speech and language problems: (1) Strategy 1: isolated intervention focused only on phonological or morphosyntactic goals for half-year time blocks, with one condition beginning with a block of phonology and another beginning with a block of language intervention, (2) Strategy 2: intervention with an alternating focus on both morphosyntactic and phonological goals, and (3) Strategy 3: intervention with an integrated focus on both phonological and morphosyntactic goals. Subjects will be 40 preschoolers (3;0 to 5;11) with delays in both speech and language development. Ten children will be randomly assigned to each intervention goal attack strategy (i.e., 10 children receive each of the conditions in Strategy 1). All subjects will participate in pre- and posttesting procedures administered in their preschool at the beginning, middle and end of treatment periods. Measures obtained from analysis of conversational speech and elicited productions will be used in comparisons to determine: (1) whether an isolated or combined focus on phonological and morphosyntactic goals facilitates greater change; (2) which goal attack strategy facilitates greater gains in phonological and morphosyntactic domains; (3) the cross domain effects of language intervention on phonology and of phonological intervention on morphosyntax; and (4) if gains in phonology are correlated with gains in morphosyntax. Findings have clinical implications regarding efficient long-term sequencing of speech and language goals in pre-school intervention to prepare children with speech-language delay for school entry.
| Tyler, Ann A; Lewis, Kerry E; Welch, Carissa M (2003) Predictors of phonological change following intervention. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 12:289-98 |
| Tyler, Ann A; Lewis, Kerry E; Haskill, Allison et al. (2003) Outcomes of different speech and language goal attack strategies. J Speech Lang Hear Res 46:1077-94 |
| Tyler, Ann A; Lewis, Kerry E; Haskill, Allison et al. (2003) Effects of a cycled morphological intervention on selected suppletive BE forms. Clin Linguist Phon 17:25-42 |
