The application of naturalistic conversation training to speech production in children with speech disabilities.
Fold speech sound goals into everyday talk and kids will use clearer sounds on their own.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two children with speech delays took part in everyday chats.
The adult wove tricky speech sounds into the talk.
They used a multiple-baseline design to track progress.
No drills, no flashcards—just real back-and-forth talk.
What they found
Both kids started using the target sounds on their own during chat.
Spontaneous speech got clearer without any tabletop work.
Naturalistic conversation training alone pushed speech gains.
How this fits with other research
Zigler et al. (1989) taught conversation with tight discrete trials.
Their patients needed 70-plus trials per skill and gained only a little.
Glenn (1993) shows you can skip the massed trials and still win.
Northup et al. (1991) also used conversation training, but with adults using AAC.
Both studies prove talk-based teaching works across ages and tools.
Van Herwegen et al. (2020) add a warning: kids need some sounds in their pocket first.
Rich early sounds predict later language, so start sound work early.
Why it matters
You can fold speech goals into play, snack, or story time.
No need to pull the child to the table.
Watch for the sounds they already have, then stretch them during chat.
This keeps therapy fun, natural, and still data-driven.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of this experiment was to test the effectiveness of including speech production into naturalistic conversation training for 2 children with speech production disabilities. A multiple baseline design across behaviors (target phonemes) and across subjects (for the same phoneme) indicated that naturalistic conversation training resulted in improved spontaneous speech production. The implications of these findings are discussed relative to existing models of speech production training and other aspects of communication disorders.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1993 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1993.26-173