The application of nonlinear phonological theory to intervention with one phonologically disordered child

Speech-language pathologists gain opportunities to search for more effective assessment and intervention methodologies by deriving implications of significant developments within linguistics. This paper describes the application of some tenets of nonlinear phonology to the planning and execution of a phonological intervention programme with one child. The nonlinear analyses provided independent phonological therapy goals for both segmental and syllable structure (prosodic tier structure) development. Higher and lower level features in the feature hierarchy were contrasted in intervention. Prosodic constituents derived from moraic and onset-rime syllable theories were contrasted as facilitators in the attainment of syllable structure goals. A detailed analysis of the changes in the childs speech over two 6-week intervention blocks shows that the goals derived from the nonlinear analyses were logical and attainable. The data demonstrate a faster rate of acquisition for syllable structure (prosodic) goals in the first time block, some predictability for acquisition based on the feature hierarchy, and similarity of effectiveness of the use of different types of prosodic constituent stimuli.