A reliable treatment method that successfully remediates /r/ errors in all children and adolescents is elusive. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs), who responded to Ruscello’s survey, conveyed the need for more effective treatment approaches to address the challenge of remediating residual speech sound errors, particularly /r/. In response to the appeal for innovative treatment, the present paper will investigate the remediation of the /r/ and other in individuals with residual speech sound errors, with a specific focus on treatment using visual-acoustic biofeedback versus traditional treatment using the Speech Therapist’s App for /r/ Treatment (staRt). All intervention utilized the Speech Therapist’s App for /r/ Treatment (staRt) in a single-case randomization design where participants received an equal number of biofeedback and non-biofeedback treatment sessions in a randomized order. The principal investigator (PI) provided intervention to four children, between 9 and ten years of age, with a residual speech sound error impacting /r/. The first question assessed effect sizes measuring the variation in accuracy from the pre-treatment baseline to the post-treatment maintenance phase, representing participants’ response to the overall treatment package. This response surpassed the smallest value to be considered clinically significant in all four participants. The second question used measures of short-term change to compare biofeedback versus traditional treatment conditions. One participant exhibited significantly larger gains in biofeedback than traditional treatment. No other participant showed a substantial difference between visual-acoustic biofeedback and traditional treatment.
