Megan Tunnell

Treatments for Speech Disorders

Our world is lacking speech and language pathologists, so some people don't have access

to speech therapists. Parent-led home practice is a common thing for people to partake in,

because it gives the student more practice time and the family might not be able to go to a speech

therapist. However, parent-led home practice is not succeeding. For this reason computer-based

programs have been created. The real question researchers have been wondering was if the

computer-based programs for speech disorders are beneficial, easier, faster, and do they help all

types of speech disorders. Speech disorders are when a person is not able to make correct speech

sounds or they have problems with their voice (ASHA, 2017, para. 1). Examples of speech

disorders are stuttering, apraxia, dyslalia, dyslexia and dysarthria (ASHA, 2017, para. 1).

Speech and language pathologists listen to their patients to determine their treatment

(ASHA, 2017, para. 2). Speech therapists diagnose them, then they assess and help treat their

speech disorder (ASHA, 2017, para. 1). The speech therapist also helps with swallowing

disorders and helps prevent them in children and adults (ASHA, 2017, para. 3). This research is

important to people with speech disorders by familiarizing them with another option for speech

therapy if they don't have access to speech therapists, and it advertises the fact that these

programs could help the patient's improvement. Also, this research will make it easier for speech

therapists to diagnose their patients, and they can evaluate their progress. This interest me

because I eventually want to become a speech and language pathologist and I want to know what

is and is not working for therapy methods. I also want to know what could help my patients

improve faster and make it easier for me to track their performance.

 Computer-based programs for speech disorders have been developed through the years to

help improve speech therapy for people who have been suffering from different types of speech

disorders. Computer-based programs have many benefits for the people using them for speech

therapy. Reports have stated that these programs increase the patient's motivation, attention to

the tasks on the program, and it helps improve language and social skills (Nordness &

Beukelman, 2010). The programs save the progress of each patient and they change the exercises

depending on the patient's level which allows the therapy to go by quicker (Tobolcea &

Danubianu, 2010) . The program records the patient practice their speech and the patient gets

instant feedback and can look at their results (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). With the instant

feedback, patient’s feel better about themselves when they see a visual reward such as bright

colors (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010).

The programs also include a 3D model that shows the patient the correct position of the lips,

tongue and teeth for the correct sound ( Pentiuc, Schipor, & Schipor, 2008). The other

advantages for the patients are it provides more therapy time and it goes through the results with

the patients ( Pentiuc et al., (2008). Since its a computer the patient’s curiosity and interest in the

activities increase, because images are a combination of affection and knowledge (Tobolcea &

Danubianu, 2010).

Computer-based programs don’t have a lot of cons, but there are a few. Since its

technology there is plenty of room for confusion. The new technology can confuse more of the

older patients who would have to be taught how to operate the system. Also the patients who are

very young might need constant help from their parents to operate the system as well. There are

many research experiments that were done to find the answer to if computer-based programs for

speech disorders are beneficial in speech therapy. In Speech Practice Patterns of Children with
Speech Sound Disorders: The Impact of Parental Record Keeping and Computer-led Practice,

they conducted an experiment testing to see the differences between parent-led practice and

computer-based practice (Nordness & Beukelman, 2010). At the end of the experiment they had

the children and parents take a survey and they discovered that the parents and children preferred

computer-based programs, because they stated that it helped increase confidence, independence,

and it made it more motivating. These findings support the idea that computer-based programs

support people with speech disorders.

Parent-led practice for speech disorders was the only type of speech therapy people could

do at their own house before computer-based programs existed. In parent-led practice, the speech

therapist shows the parent activities, techniques, and strategies to improve their kid’s speech and

when they are home the parent is suppose to practice those activities with their child to help

improve their speech when they’re not with the speech therapist (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010).

Parent-led practice does not have as much benefits as computer-based programs do, but they do

have some. This practice increases patients overall practice time (Nordness & Beukelman, 2010).

Also families are willing to partake in a 5 minute practice session twice a day if it means their

child is going to improve (Nordness & Beukelman, 2010).

In parent-led practice studies found that there are cons to this practice. Some cons are that

the parents would let their children get away with unacceptable performances and parents have

limited time for helping their kids at home therapy (Nordness & Beukelman, 2010). Since the

parents might not be taking the time to help their children with their therapy, the children will not

be increasing their improvement which will make their therapy time go a lot longer. In Speech

Practice Patterns of Children with Speech Sound Disorders: The Impact of Parental Record

Keeping and Computer-led Practice, Bowen & Cupples (2004) have reported that 10 out of 13
families take part in homework tasks. Also, the experiment in this article had results that 100%

of the participants that did the parent-led practice increased their overall time.

The computer-based programs do give a lot of benefits to the patients, but they also give

a lot to the speech therapist as well. The computer-based programs record everything the patient

does, so the speech therapist will have everything on file (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). The

programs helps the speech therapist diagnose the patient by testing the patient first and it tells the

speech therapist what the patient is having trouble with and what they’re not ( Pentiuc, Schipor,

& Schipor, 2008). It also makes it easier for the therapist to make decisions on what the next step

for the patient is ( Pentiuc et al., 2008). The program clearly lays out the results of the patients

performances and progresses so it makes it easy for the speech therapist to understand and read (

Pentiuc et al., 2008). When the patient goes to the speech therapist for their therapy the therapist

will already know what to work on with the patient, because the program sends all the

information the therapist will need to know. The speech therapist can focus more on the therapy,

because the program can make all the exercises for the patient ( Pentiuc et al., 2008). Since its a

computer program it gets rid of any human errors from the speech therapist. Some people might

worry that these programs are taking the jobs of the speech and language pathologist, but they

aren’t ( Pentiuc et al., 2008). The programs need the speech therapist to operate and the program

helps the speech therapist treat the patient ( Pentiuc et al., 2008).

There are many options on what you can do on these computer-based programs for

speech disorders. It includes information of the patient like their full name, date of birth, and

their medical records (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). The programs can adjust to any kind of

speech disorder so it suits the patient better (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). It also adjusts the

level and context for each patient (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). It answers the questions: how
frequent should the training sessions be, how long should each session take, and what type of

exercises should be used and what content should they have ( Pentiuc et al., 2008). The program

has video voice, which is the program talking through things like what you did wrong and how to

fix it, what you did right, goes through the activities and explain them to you, and more ( Pentiuc

et al., 2008). It also allows the patient to record themselves talking so they can hear how their

voice sounds and can compare it to how it's supposed to sound (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010).

Some programs have a 3D model on the screen which can show the patient on where they

need to change a position of something to make the correct sound ( Pentiuc et al., 2008). There

are many different activities set in these programs. The program gives the patients sentences and

they will attempt to imitate it, and it also includes sound matching games (Tobolcea &

Danubianu, 2010). It has many different tests for the patient including; sound pronunciation with

direct and reverted syllables, sound pronunciation within sentences and paronyms, and more

(Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). It examines the patient's phone-articulator system, body

structure, breathing system, and personality (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010). At the end of the

therapy the computer compares the beginning and then end to show how much the patient has

improved (Tobolcea & Danubianu, 2010).

In the first article Speech Practice Patterns of Children with Speech Sound Disorders:

The Impact of Parental Record Keeping and Computer-led Practice, the researchers found that

patients in both computer-based programs and parent-led practice increased their practice time,

but the patients in parent-led practice increased more than the patients in computer-based

programs. At the end of the experiment both the parents and children preferred the computer-

based programs. In the second article Computer-based Programs in Speech Therapy of Dyslalia

and Dyslexia-Dysgraphia, the researchers found that the dyslexic children in the experimental
group improved significantly with the computer-based programs and the control group ( the kids

who were using classical therapy) did not improve that significantly (Tobolcea & Danubianu,

2010). Comparing the two different home speech therapies, it's pretty obvious that computer-

based programs have much more benefits and patients and speech therapist seem to like it a lot

more than parent-based practice. Computer-based programs would be a great option for people

who don't have access to speech and language pathologists or for the parents that don't

necessarily have the time to be at their child's side the whole time during the therapy. Parent-led

practice would be a better option for patients who have someone that lives with them and who

are also dedicated to helping the patient with their speech disorder. The results and research are

important to both the patients and the speech therapist, because it helps the patients choose which

therapy is best for them and for the speech therapist it shows them the new technology and what

it can do for them.

Through the whole experiment the research shows it was proven that computer-based

programs do benefit the patients and the speech therapist. It was discovered that the parent-led

practice isn't the ideal therapy method, but in some cases it can work. My concerns on the

experiments is that they didn't have any patients that were adults, so we couldn't see if the results

would have been different if there were adults. I didn't see anything to add in the experiments

besides that they should have used adults. This influences my future career by making it a faster

process for both the patient and the therapist in a positive way. It makes the therapist's part a lot

easier and less stressful so the therapist can focus on the therapy and not any of the filing or

creating new exercises for their patient because the program will automatically do the job.
 References

Nordness, A. & Beukelman, D. (2010). Speech practice patterns of children with speech

sound disorders: The impact of parental record keeping and computer-led practice.

Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology, 19(4), 104-108. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288559663.
Schipor, O., Pentiuc, M. & Schipor, M. (2008). Improving computer based speech

therapy using a fuzzy expert system. Computing and Informatics, 22(2003), 1001-1016.

Retrieved from http://www.cai.sk/ojs/index.php/cai/article/viewFile/85/69.

Tobolcea, I. & Danubianu, M. (2010). Computer-based programs in speech therapy of

dyslalia and dyslexia-dysgraphia. BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and

Neuroscience, 1(2), 52-63. Retrieved from

http://www.edusoft.ro/brain/index.php/brain/article/view/42.

ASHA. (2017). Speech and Language Disorders. Retrieved November 15, 2017, from

https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders