Harnessing language awareness in a communicative context: a group study of the efficacy of Metaphon

Abstract

ABSTRACT Metaphon is a two‐phase therapy procedure for children with disordered phonology. It seeks to influence phonological production by targeting aspects of linguistic awareness within an interactive learning framework. An earlier investigation of this procedure, involving 13 children treated by a single therapist, showed a significant decrease in the occurrence of simplifying processes post‐therapy for most subjects (Howell & Dean, 1994). The investigation reported in this paper sought to test the effectiveness of Metaphon therapy further by studying a larger number of children. In addition, the study was designed to determine the relative contribution to phonological change of the two phases of Metaphon therapy; Phase I which aims to harness awareness of phonological contrasts and Phase II which aims to enhance communicative competence. Fifty children aged between 3;6‐5;6 participated in the investigation. They were treated by 12 speech and language therapists. The criteria used for subject selection ensure that the children had received no previous speech therapy and that their communication difficulties were specific to the speech sound system. They were all monolingual speakers and came from a variety of social backgrounds. The subjects were assigned to four different experimental conditions: Group 1 — Phase I treatment only (six treatment sessions); Group 2 — both phases I and II treatment (10 treatment sessions); Groups 3 and 4 — no treatment (control groups, one for each of the two treatment conditions). (All the children in the control groups received therapy immediately following the experimental period.) A variety of cognitive and linguistic assessments were given to all subjects before and after their respective periods of therapy/no therapy. A comparison of mean error scores on a measure of phonological production before and after the period of therapy/no therapy showed a reduction in error occurrence for all four groups, with the greater change occurring in Group 2, the subjects receiving the complete Metaphon programme. Analysis of covariance revealed a significant interaction between treatment group (control/experimental) and inter‐test interval. The results suggest that Metaphon therapy does have a positive effect on phonological change, with both phases of Metaphon required for maximum effectiveness for most subjects. The implications for clinical practice from this investigation include the following. Firstly, that enhancing awareness of the phonological and communicative aspects of language appears to be an effective way of bringing about phonological change. Secondly, the finding that phonological change occurred in both the treated and non‐treated groups over a relatively short timespan suggests that the potential influence of maturation should be considered when appraising the effectiveness of any therapeutic programme used with this client group.