ELECTROPALATOGRAPHY IN THE TREATMENT OF ARTICULATION PHONOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Treatment using electropalatography (EPG) is described. Speech learner s wear a custom-made appliance called a pseudopalate in order to view their tongue-to-palate (lingual palatal) contacts on a computer monito r. The results from studies with children who have either articulation or phonology-based problems are discussed. Assessments of contact pat terns used by articulation-impaired children suggests that they may pr oduce more atypical articulatory contacts than are noted perceptually. Remediation, using electropalatography, showed that the children bene fited from learning new articulatory gestures rather than learning to correct isolated errors. Studies with phonologically-impaired children have shown that perceptually neutralized (or non-contrasted) sounds m ay actually be produced with consistent articulatory contrasts. This k nowledge could assist in identifying sounds that might soon emerge and be more responsive to therapy. Training studies with phonologically-i mpaired children have shown that a motor approach using sound contrast s to teach a phonetic inventory is an effective way to assist these ch ildren. Considerations for candidacy for EPG training are also discuss ed.