American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology Vol.19 34-50 February 2010. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2009/08-0047)
© American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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Research

Clinical Implications of Dynamic Systems Theory for Phonological Development

Susan Rvachew
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Barbara May Bernhardt
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Contact author: Susan Rvachew, McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 1266 Pine Avenue, West Montreal, Quebec H3G 1A8, Canada. E-mail: susan.rvachew{at}mcgill.ca.

Purpose: To examine treatment outcomes in relation to the complexity of treatment goals for children with speech sound disorders.

Method: The clinical implications of dynamic systems theory in contrast with learnability theory are discussed, especially in the context of target selection decisions for children with speech sound disorders. Detailed phonological analyses of pre-and posttreatment speech samples are provided for 6 children who received treatment in a previously published randomized controlled trial of contrasting approaches to target selection (Rvachew & Nowak, 2001). Three children received treatment for simple target phonemes that did not introduce any new feature contrasts into the children's phonological systems. Three children received treatment for complex targets that represented feature contrasts that were absent from the children's phonological systems.

Results: Children who received treatment for simple targets made more progress toward the acquisition of the target sounds and demonstrated emergence of complex untreated segments and feature contrasts. Children who received treatment for complex targets made little measurable gain in phonological development.

Conclusions: Treatment outcomes will be enhanced if the clinician selects treatment targets at the segmental and prosodic levels of the phonological system in such a way as to stabilize the child's knowledge of subcomponents that form the foundation for the emergence of more complex phoneme contrasts.

Key Words: speech sound disorders, intervention, phonological acquisition, treatment efficacy, randomized controlled trial


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