Treatment Targets for Co-Occurring Speech-Language Impairment: A Case Study

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Childhood Communication Disorders

Background:

• Combined speech and language impairments are understudied, with limited research on effective interventions.
• Optimal treatment targets for children with co-occurring phonological and morphosyntactic deficits remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To discuss existing literature on interventions for combined speech and language deficits.
• To present a case study on using a complex treatment target in word-final position for co-occurring impairments.

Main Methods:

• A 5-year-old child with phonological disorder and developmental language disorder received treatment.
• Treatment focused on a complex consonant cluster in word-final position with third-person singular morphology.

Main Results:

• Training complex phonology in word-final position led to generalization to untreated consonants and clusters.
• Consistent generalization of morphological skills was not observed across all measures.

Conclusions:

• Training complex phonology in word-final position may promote generalization of untreated phonological targets.
• Limited morphological improvement necessitates careful monitoring of cross-domain outcomes.
• Further research is needed to identify effective treatment approaches for co-occurring speech and language impairments.