What are the issues?
Children with speech sound disorders (SSD) form a heterogeneous group, with respect to etiology, proximal causes, speech error characteristics, severity, and response to treatment.
With respect to the treatment goals and the speech mechanisms addressed, treatment programs are quite transparent in their aims and approach and how they contribute to remediating specific deficits or mechanisms. The clinical challenge for SLPs is how to select the most appropriate treatment at the most appropriate time for each individual child with SSD. This requires comprehensive assessment of all relevant factors for each individual child based on which the specific underlying problem(s) can be derived and connected to a specific intervention approach and treatment target. However, in practice, clinicians do not get the time or means required for extensive speech profiling.
What does the SSD Lab offer?
The SSD lab offers comprehensive assessment of speech development. The assessment outcomes are formulated in a profile of strengths and weaknesses of the child’s speech production system. This profile is shared with the attending clinician to inform treatment planning.
- Assessment areas
- Oral-motor control
- Oral motor assessment – structural, tone, movement
- Diadochokinesis – alternate movements
- Articulation
- Speech motor planning
- Speech motor programming
- Phonology
- Phonological processing
- Auditory perception
- Self-monitoring
- Oral-motor control
Does the SSD Lab also offer treatment?
Yes! The SSD lab offers several state-of-the-art treatment approaches that are tailored to specific speech profiles.
Bio-feedback treatment with ultrasound
Who is this for?
Children with residual "r" or "s" errors.
What is it?
Ultrasound is a non-invasive therapeutic technique that provides real time visualization of movements of the tongue and the oral cavity. Most sounds are produced inside the mouth which makes it difficult for children to understand how to articulate them. Use of visual feedback through ultrasound helps children visualize the placement and movement of the articulators (i.e., tongue) for sounds like “r” and “s”. An ultrasound transducer is held under the child’s chin and the images can be analyzed in real time. This technique allows both the clinician and the child to gain a better understanding of tongue movements during sound production and helps the clinician teach strategies and provide cues to achieve accurate production of these sounds. Studies have shown that using ultrasound as a biofeedback in therapy is a viable option and helps children make significant progress in therapy.
Combined speech and music therapy
Who is this for?
Children with speech motor planning and/or programming impairment (often labelled as Childhood Apraxia of Speech)
What is it?
Music has been used in the treatment of speech sound disorders in adults and children for decades. A recently developed version is designed specifically to improve speech production for children with speech motor planning and or programming impairment. The treatment is co-administered by a Speech-Language Pathologist and a Music Therapist. New melodies are composed that support the production of personally relevant speech targets (words or sentences) and make practicing more fun (thus motivating large numbers of repetitions). The SSD lab collaborates with the developers of this treatment (the Dutch rehabilitation centre ‘Revalidatie Friesland’) in a clinical study to evaluate the treatments effectiveness. First results of a multiple single subject design indicate that the treatment leads to improved intelligibility in daily conversations and increased confidence when speaking.