Electropalatography in home training of retracted articulation in a Swedish child with cleft palate: effect on articulation pattern and speech.
The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of electropalatography (EPG) in home training of persistent articulation errors in an 11-year-old Swedish girl born with isolated cleft palate. The /t/ and /s/ sounds were trained in a single subject design across behaviours during an eight month period using a portable training unit (PTU). Both EPG analysis and perceptual analysis showed an improvement in the production of /t/ and /s/ in words and sentences after therapy. Analysis of tongue-contact patterns showed that the participant had more normal articulatory patterns of /t/ and /s/ after just 2 months (after approximately 8 hours of training) respectively. No statistically significant transfer by means of intelligibility in connected speech was found. The present results show that EPG home training can be a sufficient method for treating persistent speech disorders associated with cleft palate. Methods for transfer from function (articulation) to activity (intelligibility) need to be explored.
Lohmander
Anette
A
Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technique, Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. anette.Lohmander@ki.se
Henriksson
Cecilia
C
Havstam
Christina
C
D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002648:Child; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000601:surgery; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013070:Speech Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013548:Sweden; D014059:Tongue / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome