Treatment for /s/ Production Errors in Children With Speech Sound Errors

NCT07214480 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 25-095
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 24
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

We want to learn about a new way to help people make the /s/ sound, like in the word "snake." We will be studying a way to teach the /s/ sound that uses very short speech sessions. This study will also collect recordings from people as they say words with the /s/ sound. We will listen to these recordings and check if the words are said clearly. In the first visit, we'll do a speech lesson on how to make a clear /s/ sound. We will also have the participant say some words while we record them talking. If they are a good fit for the study, we will invite them to do a second visit. In the second visit, they will name some pictures, answer some questions, repeat words and sentences, and do some mouth movements. After the second visit, if they are a good fit for the study, we will invite them to do the speech lessons. The speech lessons will each take 10 minutes, and they will have lessons 4 times a week for 8 weeks. They will do these lessons on video chat. They will be randomized to either start right away or after 8 weeks. We'll also ask them to participate in 3 other visits to track progress by having them repeat words with /s/.

Conditions

Speech Sound Disorder

Keywords

articulation disorder

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Listener judgments of correctness of /s/ sound

  Children will imitate syllables and words containing the /s/ sound. Listeners who are masked to treatment condition and timepoint will listen to recordings of these words and rate the accuracy along a 5 point scale, where 1 is incorrect (speech sound omission or substitution) and 5 is fully correct /s/.

  From enrollment to after 8 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Listener judgments of correctness of /s/ sound

  From enrollment to after 16 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Treatment First

EXPERIMENTAL

Receive Speech Motor Chaining treatment, followed by a period of no treatment

Behavioral: Motor-based speech treatment

Wait first, then treat

EXPERIMENTAL

Period of no treatment followed by period of treatment

Behavioral: Motor-based speech treatment

Interventions

Motor-based speech treatment BEHAVIORAL

Speech Motor Chaining (Preston, Leece \& Storto, 2019) will be used to guide structured practice and random practice on speech sounds. A web-based platform (chaining.syr.edu) will be used to guide aspects of the treatment (feedback type, feedback frequency, stimulus complexity, variability). Treatment will occur in 10 minute sessions via teletherapy.

Also known as: speech motor chaining, speech teletherapy

Treatment First; Wait first, then treat

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 11 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• Age: Participants must be between the ages of 7;0 and 11;11.
• /s/ Errors: Participants must experience difficulty on /s/.
• English Language Status: Participants must speak English as a dominant language and must have begun learning English before age 3
• Hearing Status: Participants must have no reported hearing loss.
• Technology Access: Participants must have access to a Windows or Apple computer with the ability to join a Zoom session. Additionally, participants must have wired broadband internet connection at home.
• Location: Participants must reside in the United States or Canada.
• Orthodontic Appliances: Participants must have no orthodontic retainers or appliances that would prevent them from touching the roof of their mouth with their tongue.
• Prescreener Recordings: Participants must accurately produce at least 3 items on the /s/ prescreener probe list. Additionally, participants must accurately produce no more than 36 items on the /s/ prescreener probe list.
• Dynamic Assessment Probes: Participants must accurately produce at least 5 out of 45 /s/ syllables correctly and must accurately produce no more than 60% of 75 /s/ words correctly. Additionally, participants must produce at least 75% of /s/ errors as dental or lateral distortion errors.
• Oral Mechanism Examination: Participants must demonstrate adequate range of motion of the tongue during a brief oral mechanism examination.
• Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation - 3rd Edition (GFTA-3): Participants must score below the 7th percentile on the GFTA-3 and must not demonstrate errors on more than two sounds other than /s/ and /z/ on the GFTA-3.
• Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS): Must receive a scaled score of at least 5 on the Listening Comprehension and Story Retelling subtests of the Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS).
• Linguisystems Articulation Test (LAT) Inconsistency Screener: Participants must produce less than three inconsistencies on the LAT Inconsistency Screener.
• Syllable Repetition Task (SRT): Participants must produce less than four additions on the SRT.
• Recording: Consent/assent to recording of assessment and treatment sessions.

You may not qualify if:

• \. Age: Participants less than 7;0 or greater than 11;11. 2. /s/ Errors: Participants who do not experience difficulty on /s/. 3. English Language Status: Participants who do not speak English as a dominant language and/or who began learning English prior to age 3 4. Hearing Status: Participants who have reported hearing loss, per parent report.
• \. Technology Access: Participants who do not have access to a Windows or Apple computer with the ability to join a Zoom session. Additionally, participants who do not have wired broadband internet connection at home.
• \. Location: Participants who do not reside in the United States or Canada. 8. Orthodontic Appliances: Participants who have orthodontic retainers or appliances that would prevent them from touching the roof of their mouth with their tongue.
• \. Prescreener Recordings: Participants who accurately produce less than 3 items on the /s/ prescreener probe list. Additionally, participants who accurately produce more than 36 items on the /s/ prescreener probe list.
• \. Dynamic Assessment Probes: Participants who accurately produce less than 5 out of 45 /s/ syllables correctly and/or who accurately produce more than 60% of 75 /s/ words correctly. Additionally, participants who produce less than 75% of /s/ errors as dental or lateral distortion errors.
• \. Oral Mechanism Examination: Participants who do not demonstrate adequate range of motion of the tongue during a brief oral mechanism examination.
• \. Goldman Fristoe Test of Articulation - 3rd Edition (GFTA-3): Participants who score above the 7th percentile on the GFTA-3 and/or who demonstrate errors on more than two sounds other than /s/ and /z/ on the GFTA-3.
• \. Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS): Participants who receive a scaled score below 5 on the Listening Comprehension and Story Retelling subtests.
• \. Linguisystems Articulation Test (LAT) Inconsistency Screener: Participants who produce greater than three inconsistencies on the LAT Inconsistency Screener.
• \. Syllable Repetition Task (SRT): Participants who produce greater than four additions on the SRT.
• \. Recording: No consent/assent provided to recording of assessment and treatment sessions.
• \. General consent/assent: No consent/assent provided for study procedures.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Syracuse University: lead

Study Sites (1)

Syracuse University

Syracuse, New York, 13244, United States

RECRUITING

Related Publications (1)

• Preston JL, Leece MC, Storto J. Tutorial: Speech Motor Chaining Treatment for School-Age Children With Speech Sound Disorders. Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2019 Jul 12;50(3):343-355. doi: 10.1044/2018_LSHSS-18-0081. Epub 2019 May 3.

  PMID: 31051085 BACKGROUND

Related Links

• Website with study description and link to prescreener/interest survey.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Speech Sound Disorder; Articulation Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Communication Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders; Speech Disorders; Language Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Study Officials

• Jonathan Preston, PhD

  Syracuse University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Benedette Herbst

CONTACT

315-443-1351; bmherbst@syr.edu

Speech Production Laboratory

CONTACT

speechproductionlab@syr.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Masking Details: Listeners who judge the accuracy of children's productions of the /s/ sound will be masked to treatment condition and timepoint
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 7, 2025
• First Posted: October 9, 2025
• Study Start: June 9, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): November 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2027
• Last Updated: October 9, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Locations

US (1)