Treating Articulation and Language Disorders in Groups

Speech-language pathologists (SLP’s) who work in schools have a high caseload and high workload (ASHA, 2016c). Due to increased caseload sizes, SLPs can be forced to combine children with articulation and language disorders into the same small group to accommodate teaching schedules, special classes, and other special education services (Mullen and Schooling, 2010). A curriculum designed to target both articulation and language goals would allow SLP’s to treat children with various disorders within the same therapy session. To assist SLPs in meeting the needs of children with both articulation and language disorders in the same therapy group, fifty-two lessons focusing on the later eight sounds in initial, medial, and final positions of words have been created. These lessons provide a high treatment intensity for children working on articulation goals. Additionally, corresponding comprehension questions are made available for students who have language goals. Words containing each of the eight sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions are written in paragraph form at two Lexile® levels to accommodate children at different reading levels. Lessons have been reviewed and piloted by speech-language pathologists currently working in a school-based setting.