Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2001

Thesis Director

Lynn Calvert

Thesis Committee Member

Rebecca M. Throneburg

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the improvement of articulation skills of children who received speech services through collaborative classroom-based intervention versus those who were provided services through traditional pull-out therapy. Nine children in first and second grades were treated using a collaborative classroom-based model and eleven first and second grade children were provided treatment in a pull-out setting. All twenty students were assessed using the Secord Contextual Articulation Tests (S-CAT) (Secord & Shine, 1997) at the beginning and end of the study. Children treated in the classroom setting weekly received 30 minutes of intervention time from the SLP and their respective classroom teacher as well as an additional 10 minutes (total of 40 minutes of intervention) of individual treatment, which was conducted within the classroom setting. Children participating in the pull-out model received two 20-minute sessions of intervention each week. Results revealed that children who participated in collaborative classroom-based intervention made significantly greater gains in their percent accuracy on IEP goal phonemes produced in words and story telling tasks than children who participated in the traditional pull-out model of intervention. The significantly greater mean gains recognized by the collaborative classroom-based group may have been a result of peer and teacher influence and child practice in a natural setting throughout the school year. The regular classroom environment may be the least restrictive environment for treating some early elementary children with mild to moderate articulation deficits.

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