Biomedical subjects

Ann A Tyler

Publications and source records attributed to Ann A Tyler.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Commentary on "treatment decisions for children with speech-sound disorders": revisiting the past in EBP.

PURPOSE: This commentary, written in response to Alan Kamhi's paper, "Treatment Decisions for Children with Speech-Sound Disorders," further considers the "what" or goal selection process of decision making with the aim of efficiency-getting the most change in the shortest time. METHOD: My comments reflect a focus on the client values piece of the evidence-based practice (EBP) triad through validating treatment decisions for individual clients using generalization data. Such data are ideal for demonstrating change according to specific benchmarks and suggesting that treatment was responsible for this change. Consideration is also given to deficit profiles and their implications for long-term outcomes when validating the effects of treatment. CONCLUSION: Although the abundance of evidence suggests that a variety of treatment approaches are effective for children with speech-sound disorders, less is known about which are most efficient as compared to one another or for which specific children. Practitioners, however, are embracing EBP when they select a treatment by matching the research evidence with a client's profile, collect systematic data, and use those data to demonstrate that change is attributable to treatment.

Articulation Disorders↗

PubMed2006

Error consistency and the evaluation of treatment outcomes.

The consistency/variability of error substitution patterns may hold important implications for subgrouping children with speech disorders, as well as for relationships between learning and generalization patterns. There is a need to quantify and examine the range of consistency/variability within the speech disordered population as it relates to system-wide change. This investigation compared two groups of preschool children (N = 10 each) differing in the consistency/variability of errors on a variety of pre-treatment and treatment outcome measures. The Error Consistency Index (ECI), a measure of error variability across the entire phonological system, was used to identify groups at the extreme ends of the ECI distribution from a larger participant pool. Each participant was treated on three target singletons from among obstruents /s, z, f, integral, tintegral, k, g/ and liquids /l, r/ and change on these targets, as well as their generalization to untrained positions was assessed. Although there were significant differences between the variable and consistent groups on all pre-treatment measures, there were no significant group differences in target and generalization learning or in per cent consonants correct (PCC) change. These findings provide evidence to suggest that relationships observed between error variability for individual phonemes and learning of those targets may differ from those observed when consistency/variability is quantified for the entire system and change across a number of phonemes, and the system as a whole, is examined.

Child Language↗

PubMed2003

Predictors of phonological change following intervention.

To date, predictor variables strongly associated with phonological change as a result of intervention have not been identified. The purpose of this study was to determine the best predictor or combination of predictors of change in percentage of consonants correct (PCC; L. D. Shriberg and J. Kwiatkowski, 1982) as a result of speech-language intervention for a group of 20 participants and to replicate this procedure with a second group of 20. Participants were preschool children, ages 3;0 (years;months) to 5;11, with impairments in phonology and morphosyntax who received intervention focused on both phonology and morphosyntax in different goal attack configurations. The relationship of predictor variables chronological age, inventory size, error consistency, and expressive language to the criterion variable, change in PCC, was investigated. In both the initial study and the replication, the mean change in PCC following a 24-week intervention period was 13.1%. In the initial study, error consistency and a finite morpheme composite (FMC; L. M. Bedore and L. B. Leonard, 1998) accounted for 52% of the variance for the criterion variable. Error consistency at the first step in the regression accounted for 31.6% of the variance. In the replication, error consistency was the only variable related to PCC change, again accounting for 31% of the variance. Further research examining overall error consistency is warranted.

Articulation Disorders↗

PubMed2003

Outcomes of different speech and language goal attack strategies.

The purpose of this study was to assess phonological and morphosyntactic change in children with co-occurring speech and language impairments using different goal attack strategies. Participants included 47 preschoolers, ages 3;0 (years;months) to 5;11, with impairments in both speech and language: 40 children in the experimental group and 7 in a no-treatment control group. Children in the experimental group were assigned at random to each of 4 different goal attack strategies: (a) in the phonology first condition, children received a 12-week block of phonological intervention followed by 12 weeks of work on morphosyntax; (b) the morphosyntax first condition was the same as phonology first, with the order of interventions reversed; (c) the alternating condition involved intervention on phonology and morphosyntax goals that alternated domains weekly; and (d) the simultaneous condition addressed phonological and morphosyntactic goals each session. Data were collected pretreatment, after the first intervention block, and posttreatment (after 24 weeks). For the control group, data were collected at the beginning and end of a period equivalent to 1 intervention block. Change in a finite morpheme composite and target generalization phoneme composite was assessed. Results showed that morphosyntactic change was greatest for children receiving the alternating strategy after 24 weeks of intervention. No single goal attack strategy was superior in facilitating gains in phonological performance. These results provide preliminary evidence that alternating phonological and morphosyntactic goals may be preferable when children have co-occurring deficits in these domains; further research regarding cross-domain intervention outcomes is necessary.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2002

Language-based intervention for phonological disorders.

Children with phonological disorders often display difficulty in other domains of language. Language-based approaches focus on all aspects of language; therefore, little attention may be drawn to sound errors and these may not be specific targets of intervention. These approaches involve a variety of naturalistic, conversationally based techniques such as focused stimulation in the form of expansions and recasts, scaffolding narratives, and elicited production devices such as forced choice questions, cloze tasks, and preparatory sets. Results from well-controlled group studies are inconclusive regarding the cross-domain effects of morphosyntax approaches on phonology. There are, however, individual children whose phonology improves with a language-based approach. Preliminary evidence suggests that such an approach may be an appropriate choice for children with both speech and language impairments whose phonological systems are highly inconsistent. One advantage of a language-based approach is that it may lead to simultaneous improvements in both speech and language for children with difficulty in both these domains. It is also a viable option when service delivery dictates classroom and collaborative settings. When a language-based approach is chosen for children with phonological disorders, it is imperative that the practitioner monitor phonological progress closely to ensure its effectiveness.

Child↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of a cycled morphological intervention on selected suppletive BE forms.

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the efficacy of a cycled morphological intervention involving copula is, by comparison to a control group, and to examine the effectiveness of this intervention in producing change in untreated auxiliary is and am. Twenty-two preschool children, who produced copula is but no other suppletive forms of BE as targets, received six sessions of naturalistic intervention cycled over 24 weeks. Production accuracy levels for treated copula and untreated auxiliary is and am were obtained from spontaneous language samples elicited after 12 and 24 weeks of intervention. The cycled intervention resulted in significant improvement in copula is in comparison to the no-treatment control group at the 12 week sampling point; similar gains were observed for the untreated auxiliary is, but not am. After 24 weeks, however, gains in untreated am were significantly greater than for copula is, providing new data to suggest that generalization may also be observed for the suppletive am.

Child↗