staRt: Enhancing Speech Treatment With Smartphone-delivered Biofeedback

staRt: Enhancing Speech Treatment With Smartphone-delivered Biofeedback

Previous research suggests that biofeedback can outperform traditional interventions for RSE, but no controlled studies have tested this hypothesis in the context of app-delivered biofeedback. The objective of this aim is to use the staRt app to test our working hypothesis that speakers will make larger gains in /r/ accuracy when app-based treatment incorporates biofeedback, compared to a non-biofeedback condition. With a network of cooperating SLPs, this project will recruit 15 children with /r/ misarticulation to receive 8 weeks of intervention using staRt. Individual sessions will be randomly assigned to include or exclude the visual biofeedback display. Randomization tests will be used to evaluate, for each individual, whether larger increments of change are associated with biofeedback and non-biofeedback sessions.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Normal performance on a pure-tone hearing screening at 20 dB HL, a screening examination of oral-motor structure and function, and a test of receptive language.

Exclusion Criteria:

• History of major behavioral, neurological, or hearing impairment, per parent and/or SLP report.