The importance of sound identification training in phonological intervention

Little is known about the relevance of sound identification training in phonological intervention. Some treatment approaches incorporate sound identification training; others do not. The purpose of the present study was to compare articulatory improvement following treatment with and without sound identification training. Nine preschool children with severe phonological disorders were randomly assigned to 2 groups for the treatment of stimulable sound errors: (a) mixed training with concurrent production and sound identification training and (b) production-only training. Articulatory improvement was evaluated as a function of treatment type and pretraining sound identification scores. No overall difference was found between the 2 treatment types except for sounds that had been poorly identified. Articulatory errors with low identification scores made greater progress after receiving mixed training with both production and sound identification training. For error sounds receiving production training, significant relationships were found between both pre- and posttraining identification scores and articulatory improvement, suggesting (a) that perception of error sounds prior to treatment may affect degree of improvement and (b) that production training may improve perception of error sounds. Different views exist with regard to the targeting of stimulable error sounds for treatment. Results of the present study suggest that sound identification in addition to stimulability may be an important consideration in target selection as well as treatment mode.