The Effect of a Timed Correct Sound Production Task on Carryover

Abstract

This study investigated the effect, on conversational speech, of a training task that included correct sound production of words as a subject read a word list at increasing rates of speed. Five children participated in a 10-day program designed to automatize articulation of a target souncf. The /s/ was the target for three children and the /r/ for two. At each training session a subject was required to read a list of 60 words, 25 times. The child was rewarded each time he read the list within a prescribed time period while producing every target sound correctly. Probes of conversational speech were recorded each day in school, at home, and in a third setting at the conclusion of the program. Analyses of these tapes indicated that four of the five children showed varying degrees of carryover. Complete carryover, however, was not achieved. Subjects who made the greatest improvement tended to have the highest number of correct readings, as well as the most rapid readings of the word list. Recordings made in the home, school, and in a third environment reflected similar trends of carryover.