Eikeseth, S., & Nesset, R. (2003).
Behavioral treatment of children with phonological disorder: The efficacy of vocal imitation and sufficient-response-exemplar training.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis,
36, 325-337.
This study examined whether sufficient-response-exemplar training
of vocal imitation would result in improved articulation in
children with phonological disorder, and whether improved
articulation established in the context of vocal imitation would
transfer to other verbal classes such as object naming and
conversational speech. Participant 1 was 6 years old and attended
first grade in a regular public school. Participant 2 was 5 years
4 months old and attended a public kindergarten. Both
participants had normal hearing and no additional handicaps. A
multiple baseline design across behaviors (target sounds or
blends) was employed to examine whether the vocal imitation
training resulted in improved articulation. Results showed that
both participants improved articulation once training was
implemented, and that the improved articulation transferred from
vocal imitation to more natural speech such as object naming and
conversational speech. Improvement established during training
was maintained posttraining and at a 6-month follow-up.
DESCRIPTORS: _generalization, phonological disorder, sufficient
response exemplars, transfer, verbal imitation, vocal imitation