Question
Regarding service delivery for children with speech sound disorders, what are the recommendations for using pull out, pull aside or embedded interventions in the classroom?
Answer
The implication of different service delivery models for SSD has to do with the phase of treatment the child happens to be in. If you consider specificity of learning, clearly having practice occur in the context the child is going to use the skill is preferable. However, sometimes we are not able to efficiently do the initial teaching with the child in that context so we have to do some type of pull out model. But specificity of learning would suggest that if we can have the practice occur in the context in which the skill is to be used, we should get more efficient results in terms of learning. So you must consider what are the needs of the child? What kind of instructional needs in terms of speech therapy does the child need? Then move the treatment - if you are not able to practice, for example, in the classroom - into a more natural, typical setting.
Steven Skelton is an associate professor of speech-language pathology a California State University, Fresno. He holds a Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has published research in the area of treatment of speech sound disorders in children and has made numerous presentations at local, state, and national venues.
