| Abstract [eng] |
The doctoral dissertation investigates relationships between applied strategies for treatment of the phonological disorder and manifestation of evidence-based practice of speech and language therapy. The theoretical part presents both national and international definitions of children’s speech sound disorder of the cognitive-linguistic origin, including differential features of speech sound disorders of phonological and motor nature. Also, the diversity of theoretical approaches to the treatment of speech sound disorders, strategies of phonological intervention and theoretical aspects of evidence-based practice of speech and language therapy is presented. The doctoral research comprises two stages of empirical research. Stage 1, also called the exploratory research, deals with the written survey (open-ended questions) of experts from Lithuania, the United Kingdom and the United States of America (N=23). In this stage, the analysis of diversity of speech and language therapy support to children with the phonological disorder was carried out. Stage 2 of the empirical research deals with the questionnaire-based survey of Lithuanian speech and language therapists (N=162). The data of the questionnaire-based survey and the generalised results processed by applying methods of statistical analysis allowed revealing and(or) identifying the the following: the practice applied by speech and language therapists, including most often applied strategies, context and intensity of speech and language therapy, to treat the phonological disorder; the structural components of the concept of the phonological disorder as well as manifestation and relations of them to the treatment strategies applied in practical activities of speech and language therapists; the structure and manifestation of evidence-based practice that prevails in practical activities of a speech and language therapy; and discovering the relationship and its character between the strategies for treatment of the phonological disorder applied by speech and language therapists and manifestation of evidence-based practice of speech and language therapy. To sum up, the selection of the strategies to apply for the treatment of the phonological disorder by speech and language therapists is related to the components of evidence-based practice of speech and language therapy. It was found out that speech and language therapists who demonstrate lower manifestation of evidence in their practical performance more often apply strategies based on motor learning to treat the phonological disorder; whereas strategies based on phonological learning are most often applied by these speech and language therapists whose activities demonstrate higher manifestation of scientific evidence. |
