Turkish stimulability treatment program for children with speech sound disorders: a preliminary study

The objective of this study was to create a stimulability treatment program in Turkish language that targets Turkish consonants and vowels and to present the preliminary findings of the effectiveness of the program in a small group of Turkish children with speech sound disorder (SSD).

Twenty-two children with SSD participated in the study. The Turkish Articulation and Phonology Test (SST) was used in the assessment of children. Intelligibility ratings were completed by their caregivers through the Turkish version of Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS), and the stimulability assessments were completed. Stimulability intervention were given for a total of 12 sessions. Comparisons were made between the pre- and post-test results of children, and the preliminary data of treatment efficacy were collected.

The data analysis showed a significant difference in the total number of articulation errors of children between Time 1 and Time 2 (p < .0001), a statistically significant difference in auditory discrimination scores between the two measurements, (p < .05), and an increase in stimulability ratings from Time 1 to Time 2.

These findings provide initial data on the positive effect of the Turkish stimulability treatment program for children with SSD. This preliminary study would contribute toward designing the main trial for an evidence-based study for the Turkish stimulability treatment program, thereby leading to better practices in SSD.