Here is the main study from my PhD research: An intervention study investigating how to involve parents in treating speech disorders AND ensure high intensity therapy... It's open access! Read on for a summary and key findings #slphd #slpeeps #ssd 1/n https://twitter.com/ASHAJournals/status/1199342800707276801

We know that SLPs/SLTs around the world aren't able to provide frequent therapy to children with SSD... but frequent therapy is important for outcomes. Many SLPs say they get parents to do practice at home to overcome this gap... but does this actually work? 2/n

We conducted a multiple-baseline design intervention study to find out. Five children (aged 3;3 to 5;11) and one of their parents participated. All had a phonological impairment and were treated using the multiple oppositions approach 3/n

Children received 1 x 60-min session in the clinic each week for 8 weeks, delivered by the SLP (me!) and their parent (training embedded in sessions). Parents delivered 2 x sessions at home each week and also attended 1 x 60-min parent training session before starting therapy 4/n

Key findings: All children showed a treatment effect, and 3 children showed LOTS of generalisation to untreated words. 3 also had significant changes to communicative participation following therapy. Unfortunately, 1 child had minimal changes to his speech following therapy 5/n

Key findings: Parents were able to deliver multiple oppositions confidently and competently. The children received the evidence-based intensity of 3 x weekly, with only 1 x session of SLP-time each week! 6/n

Spending the time to train parents well can really pay off, because they can deliver the therapy outside of sessions. But it is HARD to do. We've included details of what we did in the paper and also in the supplemental materials 7/n

The supplemental materials also have one of my FAVOURITE bits of this paper: A glossary and instructions for how to do multiple oppositions intervention! https://asha.figshare.com/articles/Parent-_and_SLP-delivered_multiple_oppositions_Sugden_et_al_2019_/10565885 Really hoping this helps SLPs wanting to learn how to do the approach! 8/n

Thank you so much to @SpeechPathAus for awarding me a research grant to conduct this study. Thanks as well to my amazing coauthors/supervisors @DrEliseBaker @LynnWilliamsSLP @NatalieMunro3 and @CMTrivette! I loved working and learning with/from you 9/n

Finally, some reflections. Conducting intervention research is HARD. It takes a lot of time to plan, conduct, analyse and write. I first started thinking about this study in 2014, collected data in 2016/2017, and it's only now being published. Research is not quick NOR easy 10/n

But, I learnt more about research and speech disorders from doing this study than I have from possibly anything else. It was an incredibly valuable experience that has shaped my thinking and clinical/research practice 11/n

Working with children and their families is a joy. We're so lucky to be able to work with them to improve their speech, and it was an honour and a privilege to be part of their lives for such a short time. It really is one of the best parts of the job12/12