Dean Schulte Case Summary

William “Dean” Schulte was referred to the clinic because his communication was unintelligible or difficult for others to understand. Dean is unintelligible to both his same age peers and sometimes his family. Dean’s mother, Meryl, reported that he often becomes frustrated and expressed concern that Dean has experienced low self-esteem due to communication difficulties. She stated that Dean avoids socializing with peers and speaking to new people for fear of being misunderstood. Dean’s preschool teacher, Ms. Fitzgerald also reported that Dean is withdrawn at school when not understood by his peers.

Background Information:
Dean currently attends Kids’ Co-op Preschool four days per week. Dean resides with his parents, Meryl and Chris Schulte, and his older sister Dianna. Dianna is six years old and currently attends kindergarten. English is the only language spoken in the home. Meryl reported that Dean has a history of ear infections and a hearing test administered through Child Find indicated normal hearing. Meryl stated that Dean sounds …show more content…
Over the course of nine sessions at the clinic, Dean worked on consonant sequences in /st/, /sl/, /fl/, and /bl/ and velars (/k/ and /g/). The session objectives were adjusted as Dean showed competence in producing target sounds, but lack of carryover into conversation. Dean recently used a self-monitoring chart to increase his awareness of accurate speech sounds and to slow his rate of speaking. He marked the chart each time he said the following target sounds correctly: /k/, /sl/, /bl/ and /fl/. This activity was motivating for Dean since a special treat was received after the completion of the chart. Dean currently shows an awareness of his speech sounds and often self-corrects during therapy activities. He does not typically self-correct during conversational