Speech therapy for children with unclear speech: use better systems, get better outcomes
The big picture:
Therapy time to support young clients with unclear speech is limited – and may get scarcer with NDIS reforms. Don’t waste time messing about with things that don’t make a difference.
A good speech therapy session:
- is pre-planned and structured;
- executes a proven approach, backed by peer-reviewed research;
- targets and measures functional improvements, like increased intelligibility and confidence;
- engages the client, but stays focused on speech (not games or crafts);
- targets whole words, sentences and/or connected speech (not sounds or syllables);
- elicits 100+ attempts at the target from the client;
- includes pictures, written words, and models;
- supplies families with the training, materials, and confidence to practice at home; and
- promotes the transfer of clinic gains to the client’s real world.
Friction point:
Even just 5 years ago, during the COVID pandemic, we were all sick of wasting time:
- scrapping together lots of different, sometimes inconsistent, resources;
- apologising to families for outdated, babyish, amateur, fiddly, and/or non-Australian materials; and
- making bespoke recordings to support families each session.
Wish list:
We wanted:
- cohesive, curated word and sentence lists;
- age-neutral visuals with written words and sentences;
- audio recordings of target words and sentences in an Australian accent; and
- flexibility to support a range of evidence-based approaches, based on the needs of each client and family.
What we built:
- A digital speech sounds consonants library: every consonant in developmental order, with video demonstrations, functional words lists and ready-to-use sentences with audio recordings.
- A digital consonant cluster library: every cluster,, ordered from from most complex to least complex (based on sonority differences), with word and sentence audio files for each target in an Australian accent.
- A motor speech story library: for older students with ongoing challenges with speech movements in discourse.
More from us:
Lifting the lid on speech therapy: How we assess and treat children with unclear speech
Tools to try:
Check out our digital speech sound systems, and to get instant access to what we use to support clients and families.
Hi there, I’m David Kinnane.
Principal Speech Pathologist, Banter Speech & Language
Our talented team of certified practising speech pathologists provide unhurried, personalised and evidence-based speech pathology care to children and adults in the Inner West of Sydney and beyond, both in our clinic and via telehealth.
