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Abstract

Background
Recent evidence suggests that pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) and expressive language difficulties are at a higher risk of ongoing communication and literacy needs in comparison with children with these difficulties in isolation. However, to date there has been no systematic or scoping review of the literature specific to interventions for children with this dual profile.

Aims
To explore the evidence regarding interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological SSD and expressive language difficulties, including the content/delivery of such interventions, areas of speech and language targeted, and a broad overview of study quality.

Methods & Procedures
A scoping review methodology was used in accordance with the guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute. Following a systematic search of Ovid Medline, Ovid Emcare, OVID Embase, CINAHL, Psychinfo and ERIC, 11 studies were included in the review. A researcher-developed data extraction form was used to extract specific information about each intervention, with the JBI appraisal tools used to provide a broad overview of the quality of each study.

Main contribution
Included papers consisted of six randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two cohort studies, two case studies and one case series. Interventions fell into two main categories: (1) integrated interventions that combined content for both speech and language targets and/or explicitly used the same type of technique to improve both domains; and (2) single-domain interventions that explicitly included content to target speech or language only, but also aimed to improve the other domain indirectly. Study quality varied, with detail on the content, context and delivery of interventions often underspecified, hampering the replication and clinical applicability of findings.

Conclusions & Implications
Early emerging evidence was identified to support both integrated speech and language interventions as well as single-domain interventions. However, caution should be exercised due to the variation in the quality and level of detail reported for the interventions. Future intervention studies may seek to address this by reporting in accordance with Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) reporting guidelines. This approach would enable clinicians to consider the applicability of the intervention to individual children within differing settings.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2022 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Rodgers, L., Harding, S., Rees, R. & Clarke, M.T. (2022) Interventions for pre-school children with co-occurring phonological speech sound disorder and expressive language difficulties: A scoping review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 57, 700–716, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12719 . This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Publisher Keywords:	speech sound disorder (SSD, developmental language disorder (DLD), intervention, scoping review
Subjects:	R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science

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