{"id":227178,"date":"2025-12-16T12:11:53","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=227178"},"modified":"2025-12-17T07:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T12:54:10","slug":"groundbreaking-speech-therapy-research-helps-child-master-the-r-sound-in-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2025\/12\/16\/groundbreaking-speech-therapy-research-helps-child-master-the-r-sound-in-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking Speech Therapy Research Helps Child Master the \u2018r\u2019 Sound in Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight-year-old Colette Fougere is finally learning to pronounce her \u2018r\u2019 sounds after just a few weeks of a new speech-language therapy intervention at ÌÇÐÄvlog<\/a>\u2019s Speech-Language Pathology Clinic<\/a>. Working closely with a graduate student researcher and using visual-acoustic biofeedback technology created by Communication Sciences and Disorders<\/a> Chairperson Elaine Hitchcock<\/a>, Colette is rediscovering what professionals in the field call \u201cthe lost \u2018r,\u2019 \u201da common speech sound error in school-age children.<\/p>\n

\u201cColette has made tremendous progress,\u201d says SLP graduate<\/a> student researcher Alexis Gallagher, who has been working with her throughout the study. \u201cIt can be disheartening in the beginning because they’re trying something new, and it’s not changing. Then, I think it was session four or five, suddenly, there was the ‘r’ sound. It’s thrilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The software program they are using was designed by Hitchcock, a leading expert in speech-sound disorders, who, along with more than 20 colleagues across three universities, published \u201cgold-standard evidence that biofeedback accelerates early progress with children\u201d in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Colette
Colette Fougere practices her \u2018r\u2019 sound with the help of SLP graduate student researcher Alexis Gallagher. (Photo by John J. LaRosa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Rapid Breakthrough for a Young Learner<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After nearly three years of school-based therapy in Florida, improvement on the ‘r’ sound remained painfully slow for Colette, a general indicator of a Residual Speech Sound Disorder (RSSD). \u201cWhile she\u2019d made gains with other sounds, we just never saw progress with the \u2018r\u2019 sound,\u201d says Colette\u2019s mother, Meghan Fougere, a speech-language pathologist herself. A 2014 Montclair SLP alumna, she also tried helping her daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept thinking, \u2018I can fix it,\u2019 and I wasn’t fixing it. I had done my best at home with her until she realized that she didn’t want her mommy working on her speech sounds with her. She wanted me to just be mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After moving back to New Jersey and before investing in private therapy, Fougere reached out to her former professor, Hitchcock, who invited Colette to participate in a new research project using biofeedback technology. \u201cIn just a few weeks, we started hearing a difference,\u201d Fougere says.<\/p>\n

Hitchcock says: \u201cWe managed to create this pilot study for Colette to work on a sound that has long been difficult for her, but to also work on a developing aspect of our treatment program.\u201d Hitchcock\u2019s research is funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant focused on improving children\u2019s speech therapy. The goal is to better understand how kids hear and produce speech sounds, and to see whether new visual biofeedback tools and listening-based training work just as well online as they do in person. So far, more than 100 children ages 8 to 18 have taken part in the study. Gallagher then applied for \u2013 and received \u2013 a Montclair Graduate Student Research Award<\/a> to move the pilot program forward.<\/p>\n