Effect of Integrated Phonological Awareness Intervention for Children with Speech Sound Disorders

Objectives: Some children with speech sound disorders (SSD) are likely to have difficulty with phonological awareness skills and develop reading problems when they reach school age. This study aimed to examine the effect of the integrated phonological awareness intervention for children with SSD.Methods: Three children with SSD participated in the intervention study. All of them were 5 years old and showed consonant accuracy of about 50-80% in word levels of the Assessment of Phonology and Articulation for Children (APAC) test. They had no previous experience in speech therapy or specific phonological awareness training. Integrated phonological awareness which emphasized production practices for target phonemes as well as phonological awareness tasks were provided to the three children for approximately 12 weeks within a multiple baseline and AB design.Results: All the three children showed improvements in consonant accuracy of spontaneous speech as well as all target phonemes. Also, they showed progress in phonological awareness skills at syllable and body-coda levels. The intervention effects were maintained after the intervention phases were completed.Conclusion: This study confirmed that integrated phonological awareness intervention was effective in improving articulation and phonological awareness skills for children with SSD. It is expected that the intervention would prevent them from showing reading difficulties.