Accessing children's knowledge of sociolinguistic rules for speech therapy lessons

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Childhood Communication Disorders
• Sociolinguistics

Background:

• Children with misarticulation often receive clinical intervention.
• Role-playing is used in speech and language therapy.
• Understanding discourse in therapy is essential for effective treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze the discourse patterns in role-played remedial articulation lessons.
• To examine the interactional dynamics between child clinicians and child clients.
• To explore the sociolinguistic perspectives of children in speech therapy.

Main Methods:

• Videotaping of eight dyads of misarticulating school children role-playing therapy sessions.
• Transcript analysis at multiple linguistic levels: lesson management, roles, discourse contexts, communicative acts, discourse sequences, and topic introduction.
• Examination of hierarchical relationships within the discourse structure.

Main Results:

• Child clinicians managed lesson tasks and topics, mirroring adult clinician behavior.
• Child clients exhibited cooperative role-playing and typical response patterns.
• Analysis revealed a cohesive register suitable for clinical teaching, indicating structured interaction.
• Hierarchical analysis demonstrated organized communication patterns within the therapy role-play.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights the emergence of a clinical teaching register during role-played therapy.
• Children's sociolinguistic perspectives are integral to the planning and execution of speech and language interventions.
• Incorporating children's viewpoints can enhance the effectiveness of remedial articulation lessons.