Treatment techniques of disordered sibilants in Arabic: A descriptive-analytical study

Abstract

This paper addresses the techniques of treating patients with functional disorders of pronouncing sibilants in Arabic. The sounds under question are /s/, /z/, /a¹£/. The main disorders that are studied here are: substitution and distortion. A descriptive analytical approach was followed; patients from different ages of functional pronunciation disorders of sibilants were observed. The researchers collected data from a questionnaire which was distributed to 46 speech therapists. The questionnaire focused on the techniques these therapists use with patients who have sibilant production disorders. The research first reviews the techniques used to treat the /s/ sound as a main sibilant and then builds on these techniques to treat /z/ and /a¹£/ sounds. The research found that the treatment techniques depend on the type and form of the speech disorder, and the transitional arrangement for treating hissing sounds in Arabic starts with treating /s/ which is the easiest to pronounce - then /z/ and finally /a¹£/.  The findings also emphasize that while treating the patient, it is important to increase his/her mental and auditory awareness of the problem. Finally, it was found that the number of treatment sessions varies according to the patient’s motivation and ability to correct the sound after hearing it, in addition to his/her follow-up treatment outside the treatment sessions.