Help children ages 7–11 say the /s/ sound more clearly

An Alternative Service Delivery Model and Target Selection Approach for the Treatment of /s/ Errors

It will try short, online speech lessons to help children ages 7–11 who have trouble saying the /s/ sound.

Quick facts

• Phase: Not applicable
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 24 (estimated)
• Ages: 7 Years to 11 Years
• Sex: All
• Sponsor: Syracuse University (Academic / other)
• Locations: 1 site (Syracuse, New York)
• Trial ID: NCT07214480 on ClinicalTrials.gov

What this trial studies

This trial enrolls children aged 7;0–11;11 with persistent /s/ production errors and uses a motor-based, remote speech treatment. Families complete an online prescreener and upload probe recordings, and eligible children attend a consent and 30-minute dynamic assessment via HIPAA-compliant Zoom before further screening. Participants who pass screening are randomized to treatment conditions and receive 10-minute video-chat lessons four times per week for eight weeks, with speech recordings collected throughout. All probe and session recordings are rated by a certified SLP and all sessions occur over password-protected Zoom.

Who should consider this trial

Good fit: Ideal candidates are English-dominant children aged 7;0–11;11 who have difficulty producing /s/, no reported hearing loss, no major neurodevelopmental diagnosis (ADHD/ADD permitted), no orthodontic appliances that block tongue-to-palate contact, reside in the U.S. or Canada, and have a wired broadband-capable Windows or Apple computer for Zoom.

Not a fit: Children with significant hearing loss, major neurodevelopmental diagnoses, primary non-English status, orthodontic appliances that prevent tongue contact, or without reliable wired internet access are unlikely to be eligible or to benefit from this remote protocol.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, children may gain clearer, more accurate /s/ sounds after a short, home-based teletherapy program.

How similar studies have performed: Motor-based articulation treatments and telehealth delivery of speech therapy have shown positive results for children with articulation errors, though this specific short-session remote /s/ protocol is relatively novel.

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Age: Participants must be between the ages of 7;0 and 11;11.
2. /s/ Errors: Participants must experience difficulty on /s/.
3. English Language Status: Participants must speak English as a dominant language and must have begun learning English before age 3
4. Hearing Status: Participants must have no reported hearing loss.
5. Neurodevelopmental Status: Participants must have no reported neurodevelopmental diagnosis. A reported diagnosis of ADHD/ADD is admissible if participants meet all other inclusionary criteria.
6. 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.
7. Location: Participants must reside in the United States or Canada.
8. Orthodontic Appliances: Participants must have no orthodontic retainers or appliances that would prevent them from touching the roof of their mouth with their tongue.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. Oral Mechanism Examination: Participants must demonstrate adequate range of motion of the tongue during a brief oral mechanism examination.
12. 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.
13. 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).
14. Linguisystems Articulation Test (LAT) Inconsistency Screener: Participants must produce less than three inconsistencies on the LAT Inconsistency Screener.
15. Syllable Repetition Task (SRT): Participants must produce less than four additions on the SRT.
16. Recording: Consent/assent to recording of assessment and treatment sessions.
17. General consent/assent: Consent/assent provided for study procedures.

Exclusion Criteria:

* 1\. 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.

  5\. Neurodevelopmental Status: Participants who have a reported neurodevelopmental diagnosis. A reported diagnosis of ADHD/ADD is admissible if participants meet all other inclusionary criteria.

  6\. 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.

  7\. 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.

  9\. 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.

  10\. 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.

  11\. Oral Mechanism Examination: Participants who do not demonstrate adequate range of motion of the tongue during a brief oral mechanism examination.

  12\. 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.

  13\. Test of Integrated Language and Literacy Skills (TILLS): Participants who receive a scaled score below 5 on the Listening Comprehension and Story Retelling subtests.

  14\. Linguisystems Articulation Test (LAT) Inconsistency Screener: Participants who produce greater than three inconsistencies on the LAT Inconsistency Screener.

  15\. Syllable Repetition Task (SRT): Participants who produce greater than four additions on the SRT.

  16\. Recording: No consent/assent provided to recording of assessment and treatment sessions.

  17\. General consent/assent: No consent/assent provided for study procedures.

Where this trial is running

Syracuse, New York

• Syracuse University — Syracuse, New York, United States (Recruiting)

Study contacts

• Principal investigator: Jonathan Preston, PhD — Syracuse University
• Study coordinator: Benedette Herbst

Conditions Speech Sound Disorder; articulation disorder