The role of families in optimizing phonological therapy outcomes

Developed in Australia, Parents and Children Together (PACT) is a broad-based, family-centred phonological therapy. It is a treatment approach for developmental phonological disorders in the course of whose implementation speech and language therapists enlist the active participation of parents and significant others. It requires family members to learn technical information and develop novel skills to use, with professional guidance, in relation to their own child and his or her specific speech clarity issues. In this paper we review the 'family education' and 'homework' aspects of PACT and explore, with brief case illustrations, the participation of 13 families involved in its administration.