Articulation training of two hearing-impaired girls.

Two preschool girls with hearing loss could not say the sounds /f/ and /sh/.

The trainer showed a picture, said the word, and had the girls copy it. When they got it right, he asked for the word again without the model.

This copy-then-demand cycle continued until each child could say the sounds at the start and end of many words.

Both girls learned to say /f/ and /sh/ correctly.

They still used the new sounds when they talked about new pictures and during play.

Eikeseth et al. (2003) later used the same copy-then-demand idea with children who had phonological disorder. They added many more words and saw big, lasting gains in everyday speech.

Madden et al. (2003) trained phonological skills in children with Down syndrome. Those kids learned the tasks but their speech clarity did not improve. The different result is likely because Down syndrome and hearing loss affect speech in different ways.

Du et al. (2017) swapped the paper pictures for an iPad auditory-matching game. Three preschoolers with mixed disabilities also gained clearer articulation, showing the method still works with tech.

If a child with hearing loss can copy a sound, quickly move to saying it without the model. Use pictures or an iPad, then ask for the word in new games and places. This cheap, fast sequence from 1974 still beats many newer programs.