Introduction to Part I
Followers of the literature on children's speech sound disorders (SSD) know that much has happened in the 6 years since the first edition of Children's Speech Sound Disorders appeared. As with its predecessor, the aim of this work is to provide an accessible, contemporary book on child speech for a readership of clinicians, clinical educators and students in speechâlanguage pathology/speech and language therapy (SLP/SLT).
The uniqueness of this text lies in the inclusion of 54-bite-sized expert essays by 60 internationally respected academicians, clinicians and researchers, representing the fields of audiology, clinical phonology (Grunwell, 1987; MĂźller & Ball, 2013b), family therapy (Bitter, 2013) and SLP/SLT. The essays, A1âA54 are responses to my questions Q1âQ54, about primary areas in the contributors' own work and how they relate to evidence-based SLP/SLT practice. The questions are not necessarily my own. In fact, most are built on frequently asked questions put to me by colleagues in continuing professional development or âtrainingâ events, private correspondence and postings to the children's SSD (âphonologicaltherapyâ) online discussion (Bowen, 2001, 2013). The first two essays are here in the introduction to Part 1. In A1, Sharynne McLeod writes about the international classification of functioning, disability and health â children and youth (ICF-CY) (WHO, 2007), and in A2, taking an international perspective, Michelle Pascoe shares her view of the differences and similarities in child speech practice in different parts of the world.
The contributors
The brief for the contributors has been challenging, as it is a big thing, even for an expert, to condense central aspects of a major body of work into a handful of well thought-out paragraphs, and all of the contributors have delivered brilliantly. Their answers, rarely exceeding 2 000 words, provide quick, readable and sufficiently detailed information for busy colleagues. Attentive readers of the first edition will notice that there are newcomers among the 60 contributors and that their surnames now run from A to Z. They are:
Having remained current, 8 of the original 49 essays â those authored by Bernhardt and Ullrich, Bleile, Flipsen Jr., Lancaster, Lowe, Rosenthal, Rvachew and Stone-Goldman â appear here unchanged or lightly edited. The essay by the late Adele Miccio is also included unchanged by kind permission of her children Anthony and Claire.
Thirty-two substantially revised and updated contributions come from Baker, Froud, Gardner, Gibbon, Gillon, Golding-Kushner, Gretz, Hesketh, Highman, Hodge, Ingram, James, Joffe, LeitĂŁo, Lof, McCauley, McLeod, Munson, Neilson, Pascoe, Pollock, Powell, Raz, Roulstone, Ruscello, Skinder-Meredith, Stoel-Gammon, Stoeckel, Strand, Watts Pappas, Williams, and Williams and Stephens.
Thirteen new contributions are by Bitter; Dodd; Froud and Khamis-Dakwar; Hodson; Goldstein; Ingram; McCabe and Ballard; McComas; MĂźller and Ball; Overby and Bernthal; Purdy, Asad and Fairgray; Strand; Toynton; and ZajdĂł.
The questions, which are often multi-part, and about two-thirds of the book, are by me. I write from the perspective of an Australian speechâlanguage pathologist with an international outlook, 40 years of clinical experience, a modest research background, close familiarity with our refereed literature and a commitment to both strong theory and evidence-based practice or E3BP (Dollaghan, 2004, 2007). As a professional person intent on maintaining workâlife balance (Bowen, 2008), I am mindful of the time limitations and conflicting priorities that can make it impossible for clinical practitioners to access the literature relating to child speech as regularly as they would wish; to synthesise, digest and integrate what they have read; and then to apply the knowledge in their work. These constraints mean that clinically applicable information tends to remain in academe, refusing to cross either the theoryâtherapy gap or the researchâpractice gap (Duchan, 2001). Speaking clinician-to-clinician, clinician-to-researcher, and researcher-to-clinician once again, this new edition sets out to make critical theory-to-evidence-to-practice connections plain.
The children
The other A to Z of names here comes from the case examples where the reader will meet AJ, Abdi, Adam, Alison, Andrew, Bethany, Bobby, Brett, Brian, Bruno, Ceri, Christopher, Costa, Daniel, David, Dorothy, Emeline, Emma, Fiona, Greg, Harriet, Iain, Jacob, James (and Hannah), Joanna, Jessica, Josie, Kacey, Kenny, Luke, Max, Nadif, Nina, Olaf, Owen, Peter, Philip, Precious, Quentin, Robert, Sam, Sasha, Sebastian, Sigrid, Simon, Sophie, Tad, Tessa, Thomas, Tim, Uzzia, Vaughan, Wesley, William, Xing-Fu, Yoshi and Zach. While the children are real, their names and family members' names are pseudonyms and details relating to some of them have been changed slightly to preserve their anonymity. The exceptions are Gerri, Madison and Shaun whose real names are used by permission.
E3BP
Dollaghan (2007, p. 2) defines E3BP as a dynamic three-way arrangement that combines âthe conscientious, explicit, and judicious integration of best available external evidence from systematic research, best available evidence internal to clinical practice, and best available evidence concerning the preferences of a fully informed patientâ. In all discussions of E3BP (e.g., Baker & McLeod, 2011a,b; Powell, A39; Roddam & Skeat, 2010), the important connections between the practitioner's role, good science, academic curiosity and clinical thinking are constantly highlighted. Dollaghan goes on to say, âE3BP requires honest doubt about a clinical issue, awareness of one's own biases, a respect for other positions, a willingness to let strong evidence alter what is already known, and constant mindfulness of ethical responsibilities to patientsâ. Pursuing this line of reasoning and emboldening practitioners to reach for balance between total acceptance of their customary practice and an open willingness to explore and accept new ideas, Kamhi (2011, p. 59) argues that, âthe scientific method and evidence-based approaches can provide guidance to practitioners but will not lead to a consensus about best clinical practicesâ.
Maintaining an E3BP focus, the book is in two parts. Part I concerns theoretical and empirical developments of this decade, and leading earlier work, in the classification, diagnosis and management of children affected by SSD. Against this scientific background, the focus of Part II is the practicalities of day-to-day treatment of children for their SSD and associated issues.
