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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Helen StringerORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Introduction: The quality of relationships between speech and language therapists (SLTs) and clients, in this case children with speech sound disorder (SSD) of unknown origin, is a crucial factor for successful intervention. These relationships are affected by how services are configured and what SLTs are asking of the children. The public and patients' views are therefore vital in the evaluation or redesign of services. The aim of the present work was, through public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE), to gain insight into experiences of young children who had received intervention for SSD. Methods: A total of seven children (seen individually) aged 4- to 7-years-old with SSD took part in four activities. The activities took place in a clinical setting with two qualified SLTs facilitating the interactions, one of whom was previously known to the children. Emotional mapping activities- drawing, using toy figurines, emojis and pictures - facilitated the children in telling us about their experiences of SSD interventions. Results: Children drew, pointed and verbalised who, what, where and when they had intervention and how they felt about it. Children selected ‘happy’ or ‘cool’ emoji to indicate how they felt during therapy. Children commented on environmental factors, such as being taken out of the classroom to see the SLTs, as a positive thing as ‘other children are too noisy’, and said that it is ‘special time’ for them to ‘work on my sounds’. They also mentioned that they ‘liked’ their SLTs and personal factors such as the ‘big bag with a flower on it, that is full of toys’. Conclusions: Children are able to communicate their experiences of speech and language therapy for SSD through emotional mapping activities.
Author(s): Harding S, Burr S, Cleland J, Stringer H, Wren Y
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Child Language Teaching and Therapy
Year: 2026
Volume: Special Edition: Listening to Children with Diverse Communication Abilities
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 27/04/2026
Acceptance date: 10/03/2026
Date deposited: 28/04/2026
ISSN (print): 0265-6590
ISSN (electronic): 1477-0865
Publisher: Sage
URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/02656590261444674
DOI: 10.1177/02656590261444674
ePrints DOI: 10.57711/zwj5-e441
Data Access Statement: Study participants did not provide consent for their qualitative data to be uploaded to a repository. If readers would like to apply for access to anonymised data, they can email the corresponding author. This email should; specifying the use to which the data will be put, the time frame of the project and institution which will hold responsibility for the governance of the project that the data is being requested for. Ethical approval will also be provided to cover the requesters project
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