Factors affecting stimulability of erred sounds in common types of dyslalia

BackgroundStimulability refers to the child’s ability to produce a correct or improved production of the erred sound given oral and visual modeling. Stimulability assessment is recommended to be an integral part of the clinical routine. Stimulable sounds display a readiness for therapy and the extent to which a sound is stimulable is a key factor in target selection.ObjectiveTo study the factors that might be associated clinically with the stimulability of the erred sound(s) in common types of dyslalia in Arabic speaking children that may be helpful in determining the target sound in the therapy program.Patients and methodsThis study was conducted on 75 patients complaining of the inability to utter certain sounds correctly; they were divided into three equal groups; Group 1 (Sigmatism group); Group 2 (Back-to-Front Displacement group) and Group 3 (Rhotacism group). Stimulability test was applied for the erred phoneme in isolation and syllables.ResultsThe highest stimulability was observed in the Sigmatism group followed by Back-to-Front Displacement group, while the Rhotacism group showed the least stimulability score. Unvoiced sounds were more stimulable than their voiced counterpart sounds. The initial position of the phoneme showed the highest stimulability followed by the middle position and lastly the final position. A highly significant correlation was detected between stimulability at the syllable with prevocalic position and stimulability at isolated sound.ConclusionStimulability of erred sound could be altered by the type and the position of the erred sounds. Sigmatism and prevocalic position showed the highest stimulability.