title: Visualizing Syllables: Real-Time Computerized Feedback Within a Speech-Language Intervention.
abstract: Computerized technologies now offer unprecedented opportunities to provide real-time visual feedback to facilitate children's speech-language development. We employed a mixed-method design to examine the effectiveness of two speech-language interventions aimed at facilitating children's multisyllabic productions: one incorporated a novel computerized feedback system, VocSyl, while the other used a traditional noncomputerized pacing board. Eighteen children with a variety of diagnoses, all of whom were at the single word stage of development, enrolled in either one of the two explicit speech-language interventions (VocSyl or Pacing Board) or an active control group. Convergent findings between and within groups supported the effectiveness of the VocSyl condition. For the children with a clinical diagnosis of autism in particular, visual inspection of individual data on treatment versus control targets indicated positive treatment effects for both of the two children enrolled in the VocSyl condition and one of the two children enrolled in the Pacing Board condition. Although the study does not permit definitive conclusions about the effectiveness of any particular treatment tool or strategy in isolation, it offers preliminary support for the integration of real-time computerized feedback within speech-language intervention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois, 901 S. Sixth, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA. lauras@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: DeThorne
authors.affiliation: Neuroscience Program, University of Illinois, 901 S. Sixth, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aparicio Betancourt
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, 1332 Siebel Center, 201 N. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Karrie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karahalios
authors.affiliation: Department of Special Education, University of Illinois, 288 Education Building, 1310 S. Sixth, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halle
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech and Hearing Science, University of Illinois, 901 S. Sixth, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bogue
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005246:Feedback; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D007808:Language Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D013070:Speech Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted
keywords: Autism; Computerized feedback; Developmental disorders; Intervention; Language; Speech; Treatment