Intelligibility Enhancement via Telepractice During COVID-19 Restrictions

Abstract

Purpose Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may be approached by multilingual speakers seeking to improve their intelligibility in English. Intelligibility is an essential element of spoken language proficiency and is especially important for multilingual university students given their need to express complex ideas in an additional language. Intelligibility Enhancement is an assessment and intervention approach that aims to improve the intelligibility of consonants, vowels, and prosody with multilingual speakers who are learning to speak English. This article describes the student-led delivery of Intelligibility Enhancement with multilingual clients in a university clinic using a telepractice model after restrictions were imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions Telepractice offered an appropriate mode of service delivery that facilitated a high-quality, best practice, and continuous service to Intelligibility Enhancement clients while also permitting student SLPs' ongoing clinical education employing an increasingly utilized technology. Previous research demonstrated the effectiveness of the Intelligibility Enhancement Assessment and Intervention Protocols in increasing English intelligibility in multilingual university students. The modifications necessary to provide this intervention via telepractice in a student-led clinic not only offer a possible solution to supporting multilingual university students' English intelligibility during the COVID-19 pandemic but also will inform the understanding of SLPs providing similar interventions in the future.