The Role of Prosody in the Rehabilitation of Speech Disorders Associated with Hearing Impairment

The purpose of this paper is to encourage discussion concerning the effectiveness of treatment techniques for developmental speech and language disorders associated with hearing impairment. The paper summarises the development of prelinguistic or suprasegmental skills in normally hearing children as well as the impact of hearing impairment on this developmental pattern. Limitations of traditional approaches to the treatment of speech disorders are highlighted. The fact that prosodic skills are not generally targeted in speech remediation programmes is discussed. An alternative conceptual approach to the treatment of speech disorders associated with hearing impairment is outlined. This approach highlights the developmental progression of segmentation skills as a prerequisite to the normal development of speech production and perception.