Advanced technology has limitations in the application of telehealth. Technological adversities were not reported as the cause of discontinuation of telehealth services by the practitioner or the individual. Audio and visual disturbances were primarily associated with videoconferencing. Supplemental asynchronous technology was widely reported as a solution to real-time instabilities.
The development and implementation of the VTP as a novel platform for the delivery of voice therapy home practice sessions were effective. We found that a versatile individual, who can work with all project staff (speak the language of both SLPs and information technologists), is essential to the development process. Once the website was established, participants and SLPs effectively utilized the web-based VTP. They found it feasible and useful for needed in-between care and reinforcement of therapeutic exercises.
Speech-language pathologists rely primarily on their perceptual judgments when evaluating whether children have made progress in speech sound therapy. Speech sound perception in normal listeners has been characterized as largely categorical, such that slight articulatory changes may go unnoticed unless they reach a specific acoustic signature assigned to a different category. While perception may be categorical, acoustic phenomena are largely measured in continuous units, meaning that there is a potential mismatch between the two methods of recording change. Clinicians, using perceptual categorization, commonly report that some children make no progress in therapy, yet acoustically, the children’s productions may be shifting toward acceptable acoustic characteristics. Using subtle changes in the acoustic signal during therapy could potentially prevent these clients from being discharged due to a perceived lack of progress. This poster evaluates acoustic changes compared to perceptual changes in children’s productions of the American English phoneme /r/ after receiving speech therapy using ultrasound supplemented with telepractice home practice. Preliminary data indicate that there are significant differences between participants’ acoustic values of /r/ and perceptual ratings by clinicians.
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