The Technological Age has Impacted how Children Overcome Speech Disorders as well as Methods that Speech Therapists Use to Instruct Students in the United States

• Research shows that there has been improvement in children's speech production in therapy sessions when using recent technology.
• Applications on I-Touches have encouraged more patients to work towards their goals of bettering speech.
• New technology has enabled speech pathologists to quickly specify disorders to better assist patients. 
• Speech disorders are common in young children however, it is extremely important to work with a speech pathologist early to combat the problem. 

In recent years, there has been a significant technological shift that has impacted all sorts of job fields, educational institutions, and individual lifestyles. In speech pathology and therapy sessions, there has been a dramatic, yet influential adjustment to new technology. 

Applications on I-Touches have helped and encouraged students to stay attentive and focused on speech tasks while in a therapy session.

All children are different in the way that they learn and focus on subject matter. Tracy Sippl, a certified speech pathologist, wrote an article for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association about various students using technology, in order to overcome speech disorders that they currently suffer from. One student that Sippl works with, is described as easily distracted by surroundings and constantly needing to move from one activity to another. Using an I-touch helps to maintain the attention of the child and focus on the therapy method presented.

Sippl's patients suffering from articulation errors often used the Pocket SLP application on an I-touch in order to perfect specific speech sounds.  Many patients also enjoy using the Oral Motor application as a warm up task. This app will provide the children with five exercises that strengthen the oral muscles needed for the articulation practice that is ahead in the session.

Of course, the I-pod is not the only method that Sippl will use in order to help the highly distracted students. Speech Pathologists will often mix between the use of flash cards, one to one interaction, and the technological applications. The implement of technology allows for another outlet to utilize when students get frustrated with a task.

Dr. Yi Tang Huang is a professor in the University of Maryland Hearing and Speech Sciences department. She received her doctorate in developmental psychology and primarily researches childhood language acquisition and psycholinguistics. Huang discusses how we can integrate the old and new therapy practices in order to build off of one another and help children succeed.

                                                

Along with I-touch technology, there have been studies conducted at New York University that have shown specific emerging treatment options for /r/ sounds. Pronouncing /r/ sounds is a common disorder that children experience as they substitute the sound for a /w/; as in "rabbit" turns to "wabbit".  Speech pathologists are beginning to use ultra sound probes to help correct these errors. This innovation allows for children to see the misplacement in articulators, like the tongue, and readily correct the problem. This is an interactive tool that allows the speech pathologist to instruct patients on what to fix and then the children can clearly witness the improvements that they are making.

New therapy applications are enabling students to work more efficiently toward their goal of bettering their speech production.

An interesting characteristic that comes along with the technological device is that it will keep track of improvements and progress in therapy. Ultimately this feature motivates students to keep working on their speech and continue to progress in the right direction. Going through speech pathology as a young child is not always desired and unfortunately can be a longer process than most expect. It often requires many sessions to try and improve speech. However, if applications can offer instant gratification and show possible development as a speaker, immediately, children show a greater motivation in working towards their goals. Sippl has seen more advancement in children working with these therapy
techniques in recent years than the standard flashcards that would be used in therapy sessions in the past.

Technology has become essential to Speech Language Pathologists attempting to determine specific problems. 

In addition to new technology helping children to overcome speech disorders, advancements have also enabled speech pathologists to move further ahead in research and specialize treatment with patients.  Huang discusses how recent technology has changed the way in which we discover the current vocabulary that children have acquired.

New technology will ultimately allow Speech Language Pathologists to pinpoint what problems are occurring with the child quickly and more efficiently. Professionals can also be more accurate and specific in their research. Then, intervention can begin in order to attempt to combat speech errors earlier in a child's language development.

There is flexibility in adding new applications or switching between them in order to treat patients on their specific disorder. 

No one disorder is exactly alike and each child has a different way of learning or coping with their speech disorder. Some children want to play with flashcards and can focus for hours on one task. Others need to be constantly switching between methods in order to improve speech and feel as though they are improving immediately.

Sippl makes an interesting point when she discusses the abilities that applications provide to patients and ultimately allow her to better carry out her job. Apps on the I-Touch offers Sippl the opportunity to adhere to all of her students needs in an efficient manner. There is the capability of adding more apps if new ones are created (as they are all the time) as well as switch between devices if necessary. It also maker her job more enjoyable as she can watch the instant gratification come across the faces of children who are working on their speech and achieving their goals.

Speech disorders have become prevalent today and intervening early is essential to appropriate speech progression. 

Childhood speech disorders are an extremely common phenomenon in today's society. A speech disorder can be defined as a something that disrupts normal speech production. These impediments can come in a variety of forms such as a stutter, lisp, omissions of sounds, adding phonemes, and more. A speech pathologists goal is to intervene early so that the error does not carry on for a significant amount of time in the patients life.

Solving the problem early on is extremely important for normal growth and development.  If there is later intervention, then it is possible that the disorder will worsen and prolong the problem. Unfortunately, it is very common for speech errors to not improve if therapy is not taken advantage of. This can have future effects when applying for jobs as well as simply communicating effectively with others in every day situations. However, with the recent technology becoming so helpful, we now know more ways to treat children with speech disorders and solve these problems more efficiently.