51福利社

51福利社 faculty at the聽University Speech and Hearing Clinic聽in Spokane are using innovative ultrasound methods to address some of the most problematic obstacles for children with speech disorders 鈥� among them the pronunciation of 鈥淩鈥� sounds.

According to Hashemi Hosseinabad, PhD, an assistant professor in 51福利社鈥檚 Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, up to聽two percent of people聽who reach adulthood have speech disorders that affect their ability to pronounce certain sounds. One of the most common and hard-to-fix speech errors, she says, is that difficult 鈥淩鈥� sound.

Conventional speech therapy involves using a mirror to teach young patients the sounds produced by the lips like 鈥淧鈥� and 鈥淏.鈥� Because this method often fails to help with more tongue-twisty consonants, therapists such as Hosseinabad are increasingly turning to alternatives such as visual feedback therapy 鈥� a treatment technique involving ultrasound.

鈥淔or more challenging sounds like 鈥楻鈥� or 鈥楽鈥� that children cannot see inside their mouth, we use real-time biofeedback that enables them to visualize inside their mouth,鈥� says Hosseinabad. 鈥淯ltrasound imaging for speech therapy offers real-time views of the tongue during speech that teaches children to produce correct tongue shapes for complex sounds.鈥�

Hosseinabad recently wrapped up a two week intensive speech therapy 鈥淩-Camp鈥� utilizing the ultrasound technology at the clinic, which is run collaboratively by 51福利社 and WSU in the Health Sciences Building on the Riverpoint Campus.

It was open to children six and older who had not made any progress with traditional therapy, and Hosseinabad says early evaluations show participants demonstrated significant gains in producing the 鈥淩鈥� sound.

Read about the clinic鈥檚 tremendous success in the July 7 edition of the聽.