Programming rapid generalization of correct articulation through self-monitoring procedures

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a self-monitoring activity in the clinical and natural environment as a method of promoting rapid generalization of a target speech sound to beyond-treatment conditions. The subjects were 13 children who lateralized /s/ and /z/, substituted /theta/ for /s/ and /delta/ for /z/, and/or substituted /w/ for /r/. The children attended public school speech therapy, individually or in small groups, twice weekly for 15- to 20-min sessions throughout the entire study. The investigation was conducted in the context of a multiple baseline research design replicated across subjects and behaviors (for 1 subject). The results demonstrated that when the self-monitoring activity was implemented, the children began to generalize the use of the correct speech sound to their spontaneous speech outside of the treatment setting. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for generalization issues and in relation to their applied value for clinicians with large case loads or otherwise limited amounts of time to spend with individual clients.