Telepractice in speech sound disorder treatment in the Unified Health System: A pilot pragmatic study

Purpose: to compare face-to-face speech therapy with telepractice and hybrid models for children with phonological impairment (PI) in the unified health system, and to describe participant socioeconomic and racial/ethnic profiles. Methods: twelve boys with PI (mean age 6.2) were divided into telepractice, face-to-face, and hybrid groups. They were assessed (ABFW Phonology) before and after 11 therapy sessions with ABAB-Withdrawal and multiple probes approach. Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised (PCC-R) and phonological systems were analyzed. Associations between therapy improvement and target sound acquisition, intention-to-treat, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomics were examined (Fisher's exact test, p≤0.05). Results: significant PCC-R and phonological system improvements (p≤0.05) occurred post-therapy across all 12 participants, regardless of group. Improvement was associated with target sound acquisition and intention-to-treat, but not with race/ethnicity or sociodemographics. Conclusion: telepractice, face-to-face, and hybrid therapy yielded similar outcomes for children presented with PI. Race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors did not affect therapy improvement.