Enhancing the development of phonological patterns in a 2-year-old child

Paper presented to the 6th Annual Symposium on Graduate Research and Scholarly Projects (GRASP) held at the Hughes Metropolitan Complex, Wichita State University, April 23, 2010.Research completed at the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, College of Health ProfessionsMost 2-year olds use many words and are understood at least 50% of the time. The child in this case study (age 2 years; 1 month) experienced difficulty communicating because of word omissions and a limited speech sounds repertoire. She often refused to attempt talking. It was hypothesized that Focused Auditory Input (FAI), which involved auditory stimulation of Primary Phonological Patterns during parallel play, would be the first semester’s optimal intervention.Throughout treatment, the child increased willingness to talk to the clinician. The next semester, focus shifted to phonological patterns productions that were still deficient. The client was willing and able to produce target patterns in carefully selected words. Remarkable phonological system gains were found at the second term’s end