The efficacy of the Mixed-Up Marty home programme in the remediation of speech sound disorders

Background: Children with speech sound disorders (SSDs) constitute a large proportion of Speech and Language Therapists caseloads. Service delivery limitations in Ireland leave these children facing long wait-times for intervention, which can be detrimental to other areas of development. An effective parent-implemented programme of therapy would allow for immediate delivery of intervention and relieve pressure on waiting lists. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of the parent-implemented ‘Mixed-Up Marty’ home programme for pre-schoolers with SSDs. Methods: Twelve children (aged 3;02 to 4;05) with SSDs participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment now or treatment later (control) group. Parents of children in the treatment now group received training to deliver a phonology based home programme, which was delivered for fifteen minutes per day, 6 days a week, over 7 weeks. Results: Measures of Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC) on the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) and connected speech sample (Renfrew Action Picture Test (RAPT)), and parental scoring of the Focus on the Outcomes of Communication Under Six (FOCUS) questionnaire indicated that there was no statistical significance between treatment conditions pre- and post-intervention. A Likert questionnaire investigating parental perceptions of the programme indicated a high level of acceptability and utility. Conclusions: Children with SSDs who received the Mixed-Up Marty programme did not make greater improvement in speech accuracy than the control group in terms of PCC on the DEAP and in connected speech or in terms of functional communication skills as perceived by their parents. Despite this, parents were in favour of the Mixed-Up Marty programme as an intervention. The implications of these findings are discussed.