Intervention for bilingual speech sound disorders: A case study of an isiXhosa-English-speaking child.
Kate Rossouw, Michelle Pascoe
PMID 29781701WHAT IT FOUND
After 16 sessions of minimal pairs therapy, with English instructions, isiXhosa targets and some simple isiXhosa instructions, a single child showed better accuracy in both languages.
This is a single case, so it cannot show that the approach works for all bilingual children.
Key findings
01In English, percentage consonants correct improved from 75% to 79%, and overall inaccuracies fell from 34 to 24 instances.
02In isiXhosa, percentage consonants correct improved from 77% to 94%, and gliding instances fell from 9 to 1.
03In English, inconsistency fell from 24% to 8%.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is a single case with a before and after design, no separate comparison group and no other treatment condition, so it cannot show that the therapy caused the changes. The child received several things together: minimal pairs therapy, English instructions, isiXhosa targets and simple isiXhosa instructions, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. Typical development for isiXhosa and English bilingual children was not well established, and the researchers interpreted speech partly using monolingual norms. The child's receptive language was not age-appropriate, although it was judged adequate for therapy, so language understanding may have influenced the results. The isiXhosa PPVT-4 was a translation and was analysed descriptively, not normatively. The paper reports reassessment at 4 years and 6 months, but no longer-term follow-up is described.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the improved scores as proof that minimal pairs therapy works. The study had a single child, no separate comparison group and no other treatment condition, and the child received minimal pairs therapy, English instructions, isiXhosa targets and simple isiXhosa instructions together, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.