A Survey of Speech-Language Pathologists: Influences of Severity of a Childs

Speech Sound Disorder on Approaches to Assessment and Intervention

Natalie Brickner, BSE, Maria Moritz, BS, Lauren Normoyle, BS, Erin Rutkowsky, BS, Giuliana Miolo, PhD
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Results

Introduction

Research Question

Effects of Severity on Approaches to Assessment

Mild Speech Sound Disorder

A 4K teacher tells you that a student in her class, Sally, is
having trouble pronouncing certain sounds. However, for
the most part, the teacher can understand what Sally is
trying to say.

Phonology
Articulation

40%

28.6%

66.7%

Severe Speech Sound Disorder

Assessment: A majority of
participants used a traditional
articulation approach.
Intervention: A majority of
participants used an
articulation approach to
intervention.

Assessment: A majority of
participants included a
phonology assessment in their
protocol.
Intervention: A majority of
participants used a
phonological approach to
intervention

20%
24.2%
In 2015, we found that school-based SLPs in the state of Wisconsin are beginning to
transition their approaches to assessment and intervention from a traditional
articulation approach to a phonological approach for children with severe speech
sound disorders.

Effects of Severity on Approaches to Intervention

Implications for Future Research

Percentage of Participants

100%
80%

15.9%
19.2%

60%
40%

11.1%

Phonology

51.3%

47.4%

20%

Depends on Assessment
Results
Combination

1.5%

3.8%

Articulation
4.8%

0%
Mild

Severe

Approaches to
Assessment
Approaches to
Intervention

26.2%

5.3%

Severe
Speech Sound
Disorder

References
Baker, E. (2006). Management of speech impairments in children: The journey so far and the road ahead. Advances
in Speech-Language Pathology, 8(3), 156-163. doi: 10.1080/14417040600701951

Hodson, B. (1992). CLINICAL FORUM: Phonological assessment and treatment applied phonology: Constructs,
contributions, and issues. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 23, 247-253.

SLPs Implementation of Phonological Approach

Mild
Speech Sound
Disorder

The results of this study prompted further interest regarding whether the location in
which the SLPs were practicing influenced their approaches to assessment and/or
intervention. Future research could take one of the following approaches: (1) collecting
data at the national level or (2) collecting data at the state level in a variety of different
states. The data could be compared to the Wisconsin data collected in this study.

Brumbaugh, K.M., & Smit, A.B. (2013). Treating children ages 3-6 who have speech sound disorder: A survey.
Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 44, 306-319. doi: 10.1044/0161-1461(2013/12-0029)

Severity of Speech Sound Disorder

Severe Speech Sound Disorder

A 4K teacher tells you that a student in her class, Matt, is
highly unintelligible. She also notices that he tends to
leave sounds off at the end of words. He is becoming very
frustrated because others do not understand him.

Combination

Mild
Severe
Severity of Speech Sound Disorder

Participants
294 SLPs from school districts in each of the 12 CESAs in Wisconsin

Procedure
An email was sent to SLPs with email addresses on Wisconsin school
district websites
A representative from WSHA also included a request to participate in
the study in the monthly electronic newsletter
The data was analyzed and coded by four graduate students to be
further analyzed using SPSS

40.3%

2.7%

60%

Method

Methods
12-question survey created using Qualtrics
8 questions: educational background and professional experience
4 questions: approaches to assessment and intervention

23.5%

80%

0%

Does the severity of the childs speech sound disorder influence SLPs approaches to
assessment and intervention?

Participant Recruitment
A monthly electronic newsletter sent to 700 members of WSHA
An email message sent to 647 SLPs whose email addresses were
published on Wisconsin school district websites

Mild Speech Sound Disorder

100%

Percentage of Participants

Speech-language pathologists (SLP) caseloads consist of high numbers of

children with speech sound disorders (Brumbaugh & Smit, 2013), and research
suggests that a traditional articulation approach to assessment and intervention is
more commonly implemented for children with speech sound disorders of all severities
(Baker, 2006). However, a phonological approach to intervention is more effective for
children with severe speech sound disorders (Baker, 2006).
Despite the amount of research supporting the efficacy of the phonological
approach to assessment and intervention, surveys show that SLPs are not using this
approach. According to Hodson (1992), less than 10% of SLPs were using a phonological
approach to assessment and/or intervention. Later, Brumbaugh & Smit (2013) stated
approximately 33% of SLPs were using a phonological approach to assessment and/or
intervention.

Discussion

Statistical
Analyses

68.9%

2 (4, N=238) = 45.569,

p < 0.001

62.4%

2 (9, N=183) = 25.687,

p = 0.002

Klein, E. (1996). Phonological/traditional approaches to articulation therapy: A retrospective group comparison.

Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 27, 314-322.

Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the Wisconsin Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
Association for distributing our survey, as well as the speech-language pathologists who took the
time to complete it. We are grateful for their contributions to our study and to the field of speechlanguage pathology.