Teaching Rhyme in Phonological Therapy: Clinical Implications
Margaret Hilliard, B.A., Grace Strube, B.S., Janet Gooch, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Truman State University
ASHA Convention 2011
Background
Results
Implications
Each participant’s performance was analyzed as a single-case study due to:
"!!!Small sample size (n=6)
"! Varying participant characteristics including age, production abilities, and behaviors
Minimal Pairs
! "!!!Frequently used in phonological therapy to establish sound contrasts
!"!!!Differ by only one phoneme, when the difference is in the initial sound in the words, the minimal pairs rhyme
!!"!!!Value lies in their demonstration that sounds change the meaning of words
Participant 2
Participant 1
Phonological Awareness
Experimental group
" Foundation to many communication skills
"!!!Children with communication disorders often have poor phonological awareness skills (Schuele & Boudreau, 2008)
" Phonological awareness can be improved with intervention (Schuele & Boudreau, 2008; Gillon, 2000)
"!!!#$%&'()*!$+,%*-!'%./01&23!4%2$!5$6*6&6-%0+&!+4+()*)77!$+,)!'%./01&23!&)+(*%*-!26!()+'!890$1)&)!:!;61'()+1<!=>>?@
Experimental group
Characteristics
3;5
Moderate phonological delay
Mild conductive hearing loss
100%
Characteristics
90%
3;3
Severe phonological delay
Difficulties attending to tasks
Exhibited challenging behaviors
Abnormal tympanometry results
80%
70%
60%
50%
Gliding of Liquids
Palatal Fronting
40%
Rhyme
Voicing
30%
Results
No change in speech sound production skills
Improvement in ability to identify non-rhyming words
20%
10%
0%
" An early developing phonological awareness skill (Reynolds, Callihan, & Browning, 2003)
! " Advantages of rhyme
" Focuses child’s attention to the structure of words that naturally occur in their books, songs, and games
" Positive effect on development of phonological awareness skills
" Explicit teaching of rhyme was effective in improving rhyming abilities of children as young as 37 months (Reynolds, Callihan, & Browning, 2003)
Results
Slight increase in speech sound production skills
Improvement in rhyme ability
Participant 3
Explicit Instruction
Experimental group
!!!!" Recent research on an explicit teaching approach (Finestack & Fey, 2009) supports future studies’ use of explicit instruction to teach phonological
Participant 4
Characteristics
4;11
Severe phonological delay
No behavior problems
Able to identify letters and their corresponding sounds.
Control group
Characteristics
3;9
Moderate phonological delay
Unwilling to practice targets during first half of intervention period
awareness
!!!!"!!!A%*)72+0B!:!A)3!8=>>C@!17)'!+*!)D5&%0%2!+55(6+0$!26!2)+0$!-(+EE+2%0+&!%*F)02%6*7!26!0$%&'()*!4%2$!&+*-1+-)!%E5+%(E)*27
!!" Two groups received language intervention using explicit or implicit principles
80%
90%
70%
80%
70%
60%
60%
50%
40%
Gliding of Liquids
50%
Velar Fronting
Cluster Reduction
40%
Stopping of Fricatives
Labials
30%
20%
10%
!!"!!!;62$!-(6157!E+')!-+%*7G!$64),)(<!0$%&'()*!)D567)'!26!)D5&%0%2!5(%*0%5&)7!E+')!7%-*%/0+*2&3!-()+2)(!-+%*7
Cluster Reduction
Love of /h/
30%
0%
Limitations of the Study
" Small sample size
"! Heterogeneity of the group (age, behavior, varying degree of severity)
"!! Participation and attendance
100%
90%
100%
"!!!Results support the idea that explicit rhyme training impacts rhyme abilities and speech production.
"! Integrating explicit rhyme training into phonological therapy can have a positive effect on both rhyme ability and speech sound production skills.
" Need to examine phonological awareness skills along with phonological production skills to determine how to incorporate these skills into therapy.
"! Rhyme training and sound-letter correspondence training can help concepts of phonology be more accessible to a child.
"! Explicit training in rhyme results in different degrees of improvement based on rhyme tasks
!!!!"!!!H$3E)!%')*2%/0+2%6*!6001(7!E6()!*+21(+&&3!%*!0$%&'()*I7!-+E)7<!76*-7<!+*'!J66B7K
!" Rhyme oddity coincides less with the natural use of rhyme in children’s activities.
" Teaching rhyme in the context of minimal pairs is effective.
!!"! Minimal pairs are often rhyming words.
!!!"! Teaching rhyme provides another context to access information about phonology and phonological awareness.
"! Client characteristics to consider when choosing to train rhyming skills
!!!"!! Age of clients
!"!!!9B%&&7!2$+2!)*$+*0)!&)+(*%*-!8&)22)(!%')*2%/0+2%6*<!&)22)(L761*'!06(()756*')*0)@
"! Additional factors (client behavior, hearing loss)
20%
Recommendations
10%
0%
Results
Substantial gains in speech sound production skills and rhyme abilities
"! Consider the context that minimal pairs provide to teach rhyme
" Effective instruction includes:
"!!!Prior to intervention, identify target speech sounds and phonological awareness abilities
"!!!Marget rhyme and phonological production skills through sound contrasts
"!! Use explicit instruction about rhyme in the context of teaching minmal pairs
Results
Substantial gains in speech sound production skills and rhyme abilities
Methodology
Research Question
Does explicit rhyme instruction during
participation in a phonological intervention
program using minimal pairs improve
rhyme ability and speech production in
children with phonological impairments?
Intervention Timeline
(n=6, ages 3;3-5;0)
Pre-test Battery
GTFA-2
KLPA-2
Literacy
Test of rhyming skills
Phonological
Awareness
Identification of 14
minimal pair targets
and testing of productions
Hearing screening
Oral peripheral exam
Rhyming
Phonological
Disorders
Control group
Therapy Intervention
(9 weeks, 2 sessions/week for 50 minutes)
4;3
Severe phonological delay
Multiple phoneme collapses
100%
80%
80%
70%
70%
60%
Experimental and Control
Large Group Therapy:
(30 minutes)
Traditional phonological therapy utilizing
metaphon treatment approaches
Experimental
Small Group
Therapy:
(20 minutes)
Control
Small Group
Therapy:
(20 minutes)
Training of 7 minimal
pairs with explicit
rhyme training
Training of 7 minimal
pairs with no explicit
rhyme training
Test of rhyming
skills
40%
30%
20%
60%
Velar Fronting
50%
Cluster Reductions
40%
Stopping of Fricatives/Affricates
10%
30%
0%
20%
Palatals
Gliding of Liquids
10%
Testing of 14
minimal pair target
productions
7 trained,
7 untrained
References
90%
90%
Post-test Battery
Control group
5;0
Mild phonological delay
Able to identify letters and their corresponding sounds
Behavior challenges
100%
50%
Test of receptive
language ability
Research question
Participant 5
Participant 6
Characteristics
Characteristics
0%
Results
No improvement in speech sounds production skills or rhyme abilities
Results
Improvements in speech sound production skills and rhyme abilities
Comparisons of pre- and post-testing results revealed positive implications for the use of explicit rhyme instruction in phonological intervention. Greater
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Experimental Group
" Participants 2 and 3 showed improvement in speech sound production abilities.
"!! Participant 1 showed minimal improvement.
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Control Group
" Participants 4 and 6 showed improvement in speech sound production abilities.
"! Participant 5 showed minimal improvement.
" All participants showed improvement in rhyming abilities in at least one area of rhyme.
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impairment. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18, 289-302.
R%&&6*<!RKMK!8=>>>@K!M$)!)./0+03!6.!5$6*6&6-%0+&!+4+()*)77!%*2)(,)*2%6*!.6(!0$%&'()*!4%2$!756B)*!&+*-1+-)!%E5+%(E)*2K!Language,
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Schuele, C.M., & Boudreau, D. (2008). Phonological awareness intervention: Beyond the basics. Language, Speech, and Hearing
Services in Schools, 39, 3-20.
van Kleeck, A., Gillam, R.B., & McFadden, T.U. (1998). A study of classroom-based phonological awareness training for preschoolers
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