Elemental Treatment for All Disorders of Communication

Abstract

Abstract Clinical literature in speech-language pathology highlights the multiplicity of treatment procedures. Clinicians tend to believe that each disorder of communication is treated with a unique set of procedures that are not applicable to other disorders. However, a critical examination of treatment programs and treatment research reports reveals only a few effective treatment procedures: (1) instructions, (2) models, (3) prompts, (4) shaping, (5) fading, and (6) response-contingent consequences. These are the elemental treatment procedures effective in treating all disorders of communication. The same treatment elements are also evaluated in all treatment efficacy research studies. Furthermore, regardless of diagnostic categories, there are only four categories of treatment target behaviors: (1) speech sound production, (2) language production, (3) vocal and resonance characteristics, and (4) fluency. Each of the four categories has multiple subtargets.