Interventions for pre‐school children with co‐occurring phonological speech sound disorder and expressive language difficulties: A scoping review

Abstract

Background Recent evidence suggests that pre‐school children with co‐occurring phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) and expressive language difficulties are at a higher risk of ongoing communication and literacy needs in comparison with children with these difficulties in isolation. However, to date there has been no systematic or scoping review of the literature specific to interventions for children with this dual profile. Aims To explore the evidence regarding interventions for pre‐school children with co‐occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties, including the content/delivery of such interventions, areas of speech and language targeted, and a broad overview of study quality. Methods & Procedures A scoping review methodology was used in accordance with the guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Following a systematic search of Ovid Medline, Ovid Emcare, OVID Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo and ERIC, 11 studies were included in the review. A researcher‐developed data extraction form was used to extract specific information about each intervention, with the JBI appraisal tools used to provide a broad overview of the quality of each study. Main contribution Included papers consisted of six randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two cohort studies, two case studies and one case series. Interventions fell into two main categories: (1) integrated interventions that combined content for both speech and language targets and/or explicitly used the same type of technique to improve both domains; and (2) single‐domain interventions that explicitly included content to target speech or language only, but also aimed to improve the other domain indirectly. Study quality varied, with detail on the content, context and delivery of interventions often underspecified, hampering the replication and clinical applicability of findings. Conclusions & Implications Early emerging evidence was identified to support both integrated speech and language interventions as well as single‐domain interventions. However, caution should be exercised due to the variation in the quality and level of detail reported for the interventions. Future intervention studies may seek to address this by reporting in accordance with Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) reporting guidelines. This approach would enable clinicians to consider the applicability of the intervention to individual children within differing settings. What this paper adds What is already known on the subject Pre‐school children with co‐occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties frequently present within speech and language therapy services. These children are at a higher risk of long‐term communication and literacy difficulties compared with children with these needs in isolation. Some emerging evidence suggests that interventions for children with this co‐occurring profile may exist within the literature; however, this evidence may not be known to clinicians in everyday practice. What this paper adds to e...

Artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of speech disorders in preschool and primary school children

“…Children did not improve the pronunciation of sounds. Similar problems were identified by other scholars on the use of speech therapy methods (Beukes et al, 2016;Rodgers et al, 2022;Vismara et al, 2018). The research found that to correct the pronunciation of sounds, it was important to introduce other techniques in computer programs and make use of standard speech therapy methods (Brown & Woods, 2015).…”

“…Most scholars underline that children with poor visual-spatial skills and understanding of space designations have some specific factors: a low level of understanding and wrong ideas about space (Rodgers et al, 2022). This leads to delays in speech development and affects the quality of learning (Law et al, 2019).…”

Shared characteristics of intervention techniques for oral vocabulary and speech comprehensibility in preschool children with co-occurring features of developmental language disorder and a phonological speech sound disorder: protocol for a systematic review with narrative synthesis

“…The search will be conducted in Ovid Emcare, MEDLINE Complete, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, ERIC and Communication Source. These sources have been selected as they encompass the fields of health (medical, nursing and allied health professions), speech and language therapy, education and psychology and have been successfully used in previous reviews in the field 26 40. To support literature saturation, supplementary search methods will be employed; this includes screening the reference lists from prominent reviews in the field post 2012 41 42.…”

“…Although this overlap exists between DLD and phonological SSDs, there is currently a paucity of theoretically informed interventions which have been specifically developed for this group 26. Additionally, intervention studies within existence primarily target morphosyntactic aspects of expressive language, alongside accuracy of speech sound production 26 27.…”

“…Although this overlap exists between DLD and phonological SSDs, there is currently a paucity of theoretically informed interventions which have been specifically developed for this group 26. Additionally, intervention studies within existence primarily target morphosyntactic aspects of expressive language, alongside accuracy of speech sound production 26 27. However, for younger children with this profile, and children whose features of DLD are more severe, building vocabulary is typically targeted in speech and language therapy prior to morphosyntax 28…”