| Abstract: |
The remediation of /r/ articulation errors in school-age children often poses a challenge for speech-language pathologists. This study was designed to investigate whether an appliance placed in the maxillary arch would facilitate production of /r/, whether intervention with or without a direct auditory model and with or without the appliance would have a significant effect on treatment success, and whether the appliance would be a feasible treatment adjunct for speech-language pathologists who treat school-age children. Thirty-six school-age subjects were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups. Each subject was seen individually for 15 minutes twice weekly for a period of 6 weeks. Results of the study indicated that the R-appliance was considered to be a useful clinical tool by the speech-language pathologists. Statistically significant differences in favor of the children who used the R-appliance, with either the treatment model, were noted at all levels of production - sound, word and spontaneous speech, the R-appliance combined with the direct auditory model treatment yielded significantly better results that the R-appliance combined with the non-auditory model. |
