Elizabeth C. Dean

Metaphon: a metalinguistic approach to the treatment of phonological disorder in children

Metaphon is a remediation procedure designed to facilitate change in phonological processing by developing and utilizing metalinguistic awareness. This paper gives an account of the approach and examines its use with phonologically disordered children. The paper is divided into four sections: the first describes the theoretical basis and the second the practical application of the procedure. The third section is an account of a set of single-case studies which were undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of this method of remediation. Some time is devoted to these studies because they provide not only justification for the use of Metaphon, but also some insight into the nature of phonological change during treatment, highlighting factors which might influence children’s responses to Metaphon therapy. In the final section of the paper response to intervention (as observed in the single-case studies) is discussed in the light of current knowledge about the auditory perceptual and speech motor abilities of children with disordered phonology.

Developing linguistic awareness: A theoretically based approach to phonological disorders

This paper provides a comprehensive therapeutic model for the treatment of phonological disorders, using linguistic and psychological theory as a basis for intervention.The intervention strategy adopts a view of the child as learning through conflict and reflection and utilises metalinguistic awareness as a therapeutic tool. The practical application of the model is described and specific treatment examples are provided. The possible advantages of the model are discussed and appraised briefly against other phonological intervention strategies.

The effectiveness of therapy for child phonological disorder: the metaphon approach

Brown, W.S. & Goldberg, D.M. (1990). An acoustic study of the intelligible utterances of the hearing impaired. Folia Phoniatrica, 42, 230-238. Kenstowicz, M. (1994). Phonology in Generative Grammar (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell). Romani, C. (1992). Are there distinct input and output buffers? Language and Cognitive Processes, 7, 133-62. Van Riper, C. (1973). The Nature of Stuttering (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall).

Increasing Metalinguistic Awareness to Assist Phonological Change

This chapter describes the search for a theoretically-based approach to the remediation of phonological disorder in children. The establishment of a theoretical framework for an intervention programme, and the process of evaluating the efficacy of the programme provide insights into the nature of phonological development.

'I think that's a noisy sound': reflection and learning in the therapeutic situation:

How the child learns in the therapeutic situation is as important as what he learns. Theories which view the child as an active participant in the learning process are believed to be particularly appropriate in this context. A remedial strategy for children with phonological disorder is described. In this two-phase approach the child is encouraged to actively reflect about language. This reflection takes place during therapeutic activities where the patient and therapist are seen as equal participants.

The competencies underlying metaphonological processing in pre‐literate children

The ability to reflect on the speech sound system of language, phonological awareness, has been shown to influence the acquisition of literacy. Previously published evidence of the nature of the linguistic and cognitive competencies underlying phonological awareness has involved primarily study of children older than 6 years. Within the United Kingdom, children enter school aged between 4 years 6 months and 5 years. There is therefore a need to investigate the variables which influence the emergence of metaphonological processing in this population of pre-school, pre-literate children. The current study involved 41 monolingual pre-literate children aged within a month of their fifth birthday. An exploratory regression analysis indicated that the most significant predictors of the metaphonological skills of 5-year-old children were phonological memory, speech output processing and non-verbal cognitive skills. The results provided additional evidence that different children employed different combinations of processing competencies in order to perform metaphonological tasks. The findings of this study have implications for the content of programmes designed to facilitate phonological awareness in pre-school children.

Functional communication in blind multiply-impaired children: a case study:

This paper reports the implementation ofa programme designed to improve functional communication skills in a small group of multiply handicapped boys. The children were aged between 12 and 14 and had significant visual and educational impairments. The paper describes the issues which had to be dealt with in setting up and running such a programme. The encouraging results gained are discussed and conclusions are drawn which will inform future work.

Linguistic awareness in young children with phonological disorder

computational model of child language data, in order to overcome the potential obstacles highlighted by both parties. The paper summarizes briefly the principles outlined by Edwards and the comments of MacWhinney & Snow, before proceeding to examine the merit of applying formal computational data modelling techniques to the field of child language data archival. We finish the paper with examples of the use of relational database modelling in restricted child language domains, in order to highlight the benefits of computational data modelling.

The implications of event theory for speech and language therapy

high prevalence (1 in 500) compared with profound ’deafness’ (1 in 4000), but relatively little is known about the factors that affect language and communication in the less impaired group. Sixteen hearing-impaired children, average age 57 (sd 16) months and average hearing level 62 (sd 25) dB were observed in a play setting with their caregiver and some gross measures of expressive language competence (e.g., MLU, size of vocabulary, rate of interaction, use of questions and the use of non-verbal

Editorial: Microcomputers and aphasia

Abstract The introduction of microtechnology to the field of aphasiology has been an interesting process. Applications have proved numerous; assessment and analysis of test results, the provision of alternative means of accessing the technology, the offering of augmentative systems of communication and the provision of therapy. However, the success of these developments has been variable and the field is one which has much potential for future study.