Cycles Approach

Cycles Phonological Remediation

• Targets reduction of phonological patterns (or processes) - not accuracy of individual sounds

• Targets speech sound error within age appropriate and atypical error patterns

• System wide approach to phonological intervention

• Uses cycles to target patterns in pre-determined sequence

• Overall goal = to expedite intelligibility gains

• Considers phonological development to be a gradual process of increased accuracy rather than sequential mastery of individual phonemes

• Children acquire speech sounds partly by listening

• Pairing kinaesthetic and auditory sensation

 

Candidates

• Severe SSD problems

• Multiple errors/age inappropriate patterns

• Unintelligible speech (children who are highly unintelligible - 10 words per 1 hour session, must be stimulable for all sounds)

1 cycle

= 5-16 weeks, depending on number of active phonological processes

• Each active process is worked on by targeting 2 phoneme exemplars of each active process (e.g. initial /k/ and initial /g/ for velar fronting) for 60 mins (2 hours total for each process)

• Stimulable phonemes/patterns should be targeted first, then progress through rest of patterns (including liquids)

Treatment session

1. Review production practice words from last session

2. Auditory bombardment of target phoneme (20 words with target phoneme)

3. Active involvement in creating production-practice words

4. Production-practice of target words (aim for 100% success)

5. Probe for stimulability for next target phoneme

6. Auditory bombardment of target phoneme

7. Home practice (~2 mins per day of auditory bombardment and production practice)

 

Next week: either target same active process with new target sound or introduce new active process

Primary targets

only consistent and stimulable errors to begin with

Processes effecting syllable structure

• Error patterns that involve deletion of syllables or sounds

• Omissions of entire syllables/consonants (initial/final consonant deletion)

• /s/ from /s/ clusters - anterior posterior consonants

• Backed alveolars or labials, fronted velars, post-vocalic /k/ then prevocalic /k/ /g/. Prevocalic liquids, even if non-stimulable - later success, hard sounds give child exposure for future

Secondary targets

initiate after primary targets (except liquids) used in convo:

• Palatal phonemes (t͡ʃd͡ʒ)

• Medial /r/ and /r/ clusters

• Remaining singleton fricatives/clusters