Following the initial evaluation to determine eligibility, participants will be enrolled in a baseline phase in which perception and production abilities will be probed but not treated. In a multiple-baseline across-subjects design with randomization, the 10 participants will be randomly assigned to transition from the baseline to the treatment condition at one of 7 possible points, ranging from 4 to 10 baseline sessions. After baseline sessions, perceptual training will be delivered in twelve 30-minute sessions occurring 3 times per week for 4 weeks. The training is fully computerized and can be self-administered, but a study clinician will attend one session per participant per week to ensure attention to study tasks. Each session will feature three listening tasks of approximately equal duration. Following perceptual training, participants will receive 4 60-minute sessions of production training completed over two weeks.
The objective of this study is to measure the effects of online perceptual training on perception and production in children with RSE who exhibit atypical perception relative to norms from our lab-based pilot data. In a multiple-baseline across-subjects design, 10 children with RSE will begin in a baseline phase probing perceptual acuity for /r/. Perceptual training with multiple types of stimuli will be initiated in a staggered fashion. Production probes elicited before and after treatment will assess the extent to which perception gains transfer to /r/ production.