This paper reports on the systematic articulation training for ninety-nine patients carried out during the ten year period between 1991 and 2000. At the beginning of the training, the age of the patients ranged between 4.1 and 31.6 years. Substitution was the most common articulation disorder, followed by lateral articulation, palatalized articulation, glottal stop, nasopharyngeal articulation, and omission. During the course of the training, eighty-eight of the patients (88.9%) achieved “normal” articulation and eleven patients (11.1%) achieved “near-normal” articulation. The training was accomplished within 1.6 years in eighty-six (86.9%) of the cases. Errors of lateral articulation were much higher than those of substitution and the training period also longer. Children under the age of six had more problems with lateral articulation, had more error sounds than those older, and needed a longer period of training. Patients that ended the training at the age of seven or over tended to maintain a “near-normal” speech level.

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Various types of picture cards or picture-fitting boards are widely used for training children with speech delay in visual discrimination, auditory comprehension, and oral expression. The present study investigated the developmental profile in fifty-two children ranging in age from one to two in terms of: 1) auditory comprehension and oral expression of the names of objects represented by picture cards or boards and 2) visual discrimination of objects. The aim was to clarify the relationship between auditory comprehension and visual discrimination in normal children. As a control, the same tests were performed on twelve children with speech delay ranging in age from two years and two months to four years and four months. Auditory discrimination appeared to develop earlier than visual discrimination in normal children aged one but both abilities further develop quickly and scores are equal for all tasks by the age of two. Children with speech delay, on the other hand, showed a different profile with visual discrimination appearing to develop earlier than auditory comprehension in some cases. These findings thus might be useful in developing training strategies for children with speech delay.

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This paper provides a general overview of the various roles the speech therapist is required to fulfill at general hospitals. In addition to making accurate diagnoses and evaluations, speech therapists need also to develop and provide the appropriate therapy for a range of patients, from infants to adults, with a variety of different types of communication disorders. Another important role is providing psychological support for patients with communication disorders and their families. Speech therapists also need to aid patients through cooperation with other staff members and supporting groups such as aphasia peer circles.

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