Blog 2 Spring Semester '08

This second blog is also about my client, G., who is a four year old female who is rapidly approaching her completion of articulation therapy. Like I stated in the previous blog, she has received multiple opposition therapy for multiple articulation errors and now is at the conversation level on all her age- appropriate sounds. The challenge is eliciting the conversation. Most of the conversation is still elicited through play-therapy. However, we have recently introduced using Webkinz online site to elicit conversation and that has worked wonderfully. It is an activity she is excited about and eager to explain. G. has opened up considerably this semester and has really come out of her shell so to speak. She has an animated personality all her own. She is still doing excellent with her target sounds (most are at 100%). Before she is released from our therapy we wanted to do some formalized articulation testing. The Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation-2 is what I used. You must always read the directions fully before giving any standardized test. I made the mistake of thinking that I knew what I was doing without doing any practicing. So, learn from my mistake! After reading the instructions, the GFTA-2 is actually a very straight-forward, simple test to give. It worked really well, because it was quick and G. hates to do testing. I would recommend using this test to examine articulation errors and norms in any client who needs articulation assessment and does not want to sit through a long testing session. I was able to administer the test in about 10-15 minutes (that was with a little chatting about the pictures she was interested in). The following sited article compared the results of the GFTA-2 and a more time consuming articulation test and found similar enough results to determine the GFTA-2 is accurate, despite the short length! So, I would definitely recommend using it.
“Two Method Comparison: Determining Speech Accuracy in Children with Cleft.” 18 Nov.2005. Retrieved April 7, 2008 from asha.org. http://search.asha.org/db/convention.html?col=conv&tb=Paper&trackingid=11040&ConventionYear=2005&charset=iso-8859-1-0.2KB-2002-2007

Blog 1 Spring Semester '08

My client, G., is a four year old female who is in the last stages of her articulation therapy. She has received therapy for multiple articulation errors and now is at the conversation level on all her age- appropriate sounds. The challenge is eliciting the conversation. Most of the conversation is elicited through play-therapy. However, last session we had a show and tell session. She brought in some of her favorite things from home in addition to a book to read to me. She chatted easily about her favorite toys, then we played with them. She read me her book she borrowed from her day school as well. This produced the most conversation of any of our sessions and it was something G. really enjoyed. She is doing excellent with her target sounds (most are at 100%). However, there is concern that she is not being understood or talking as much as school. So, making G. comfortable using her sounds in spontaneous conversation is the goal this semester (probably her final one at the speech clinic). The play therapy is working wonders in eliciting her conversation and correct use of the target phonemes. Free play is one approach used in the article cited below. If that does not produce language samples/utterances, conversation (which I also use), or story generation can be used.
Southwood, F., Russell, A.F. (2004). Comparison of Conversation, Freeplay,and Story Generation as Methods of Language Sample Elicitation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 366-376.
http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/reprint/47/2/366