Major focus area

Speech Therapy -> Phonology

Short description

Metaphon therapy approach is based on metalinguistic awareness and the SLP designs treatment sessions to enhance the patient’s metaphonological skills (Bankson & Bernthal, 2004, Howell & Dean, 1994).

Long description

Metaphon therapy approach is based on metalinguistic awareness and the SLP designs treatment sessions to enhance the patient’s metaphonological skills. Metaphon therapy assumes the patient’s difficulties are not with the actual motor production of speech sounds but in the acquisition of the rules of the phonological system. SLP operates from the premise that the best way to help the patient improve their rules systems is to give them information that will encourage them to make their own changes and thus sound more intelligible. Use with preschool children who have moderate to severe phonological disorders.

Method: Develop awareness that sounds can be classified by characteristics such as place (front-back), duration (long-short), and others. Example activities: Play games where patient matches long and short ribbons to exemplify long and short sounds; place a block at the front or back of a dollhouse (to exemplify front and back sounds); play train game with engine, middle car, and caboose to signify beginning, middle, and end sounds in words. For FCD, Show picture of a cat, patient says “ca” you say “I heard the engine and the middle train car, but the caboose was left out. Can you say word again with the caboose too?” (Bankson & Bernthal, 2004, Howell & Dean, 1994).