Introduction: Innovations in Treatment for Children With Speech Sound Disorders

Abstract

Purpose: There is a clear need for effective and efficient interventions for children with speech sound disorder (SSD) that can be implemented in both clinical and school-based settings. Method: This forum was created for any clinician who treats SSDs. We asked the invited authors to include immediately actionable information, such as therapy activities, tips for goal writing or progress monitoring, assessment processes, and frameworks for conversations with parents. Results: We have curated nine scientifically based articles that highlight the heterogeneity of SSDs and how various subpopulations require uniquely tailored interventions. Some children with SSDs require treatment approaches that are more heavily embedded in phonological theories (e.g., maximal or multiple oppositions) or that extend beyond speech production and include speech perception and phonological awareness skills. Clinicians also need to be mindful of not only which sounds are affected, but which kinds of errors a child is making. For instance, lateral lisps and residual speech sound errors should be evaluated and treated differently from other kinds of speech sound errors. There are certainly subpopulations of children with SSDs for whom there is extremely limited data upon which speech-language pathologists can base clinical decisions, such as children under the age of 3 years or children who are multilingual. Finally, there is a crucial need to better understand the social–emotional impacts of SSDs. Tools to aid in including social–emotional data within assessment and intervention outcomes are also included in this forum. Conclusion: The traditional articulation approach is the most commonly used approach in school-based settings; however, there are many children for whom this approach is not appropriate. We hope to provide a robust resource for busy school-based speech-language pathologists who treat children with SSD—specifically, we hope clinicians embrace the opportunity to “think outside the box” of traditional articulation therapy.