Comparing Traditional and Tablet-Based Intervention for Children With Speech Sound Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This article reports on the effectiveness of a novel tablet-based approach to phonological intervention and compares it to a traditional tabletop approach, targeting children with phonologically based speech sound disorders (SSD). Method: Twenty-two Portuguese children with phonologically based SSD were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 interventions, tabletop or tablet (11 children in each group), and received intervention based on the same activities, with the only difference being the delivery. All children were treated by the same speech-language pathologist over 2 blocks of 6 weekly sessions, for 12 sessions of intervention. Participants were assessed at 3 time points: baseline; pre-intervention, after a 3-month waiting period; and post-intervention. Outcome measures included percentage of consonants correct, percentage of vowels correct, and percentage of phonemes correct. A generalization of target sounds was also explored. Results: Both tabletop and tablet-based interventions were effective in improving percentage of consonants correct and percentage of phonemes correct scores, with an intervention effect only evident for percentage of vowels correct in the tablet group. Change scores across both interventions were significantly greater after the intervention, compared to baseline, indicating that the change was due to the intervention. High levels of generalization (60% and above for the majority of participants) were obtained across both tabletop and tablet groups. Conclusions: The software proved to be as effective as a traditional tabletop approach in treating children with phonologically based SSD. These findings provide new evidence regarding the use of digital materials in improving speech in children with SSD.