Importance Of Feedback In Speech Therapy

Written by: Roselyn Mathew / Treatment / March 16, 2022 / 10 minutes read

Feedback is known as the information provided which is based on the performance of something or someone. It is a very important component in order to improve the performance of a product, service or the skills of a person. In speech language therapy, feedback is the information given by the clinician or therapist to the client regarding the improvement or the general performance of the client’s speech, language and communication skills. Feedback is essential for learning and for improving one’s skills.

Types of feedback

Feedback can be divided based on:

1) The nature of feedback

• Positive feedback

The clinician gives information that the client performed well in the given activity. For example the clinician might say” You are doing well”, “Good” or smile and nod approvingly.

• Negative or Constructive feedback

The clinician gives information that the client did not do as expected. Instead of only giving the feedback the clinician can also point out what could be improved when they do it again. For example, the clinician could say “We will try it again” or “Try taking a small breath to say that word better”.

2) The mode of feedback

• Verbal feedback

Verbal feedback is feedback given verbally by the clinician to the client for their performance. Eg. The clinician might say” You did well” “You can do better; we will try once more”.

• Nonverbal feedback

Nonverbal feedback is the feedback given to the client by gestures, nonverbal cues or facial expressions. For example, the clinician smiles and nods whenever the client speaks the target speech or raising hand whenever the client has a lisp or vocal fry during a narration activity. 

3) The timing of feedback

• During the activity

Here, the feedback is given during the time the client does an activity. For example, asking the client to close the teeth fully while they are making a /s/ sound or giving a thumbs up when client is able to say a whole sentence without stuttering during a narration task. This type of feedback is usually given when the client starts to learn something new. 

• At the end of the activity

The clinician gives feedback regarding the performance of the client after the completion of the activity. For example, the clinician rates a client having 75% of target speech during a reading activity or the clinician can point out that the client had 6 stuttering instances while answering a question.  This type of feedback is usually given when the client has learned to do the activity but is inconsistent in their speech.

4) The source of feedback

• External feedback 

This feedback is given by the clinician to the client or by others who interact with the client. It can be given knowingly or unknowingly. The clinician deliberately gives feedback to give information, motivate and improve the client’s performance. Client’s friends and family might also give feedback to the client. Sometimes strangers or acquaintances may give negative feedback by being rude or uncooperative. For example, a rude person might roll their eyes or say “I haven't got all day” when the client stutters while speaking. The client learns about their speech issues by receiving feedback from different sources.

• Internal or Self-feedback

This is the type of feedback where the client themselves are aware of their speech issues. The client immediately identifies before or when they make a mistake and tries to correct it or avoid it. For eg. “The client might substitute the word ‘carbonated drink’ for ‘soda’ if they know that they will stutter on the sound /s/”. The client usually develops self-feedback when they analyze their speech after receiving external feedbacks.

In speech language therapy, feedback is the information given by the clinician or therapist to the client regarding the improvement or the general performance of the client’s speech, language and communication skills.

The importance of self-feedback

Self-feedback is extremely important for a person to realize their speech issues and to correct them. Speech language pathologists try to make their clients develop the ability of having self-feedback during the sessions. After giving many feedbacks, we later ask the client to say whether they were right or wrong in articulating a word or ask them to rate their speech themselves.  This is done to help clients realize how well they were able to achieve their target speech, whether they had any errors and how they would eliminate these errors and improve their speech. 

The reason why self-feedback is important is because clients would have to face a lot of speaking situations alone. For eg. They would have to speak during interviews, meetings, presentations, in their workplace or in other social situations. Therefore, it is important for  clients to self-realize when they make a mistake and correct it. Doing so, will build up their confidence and make them ready to face speaking situations by themselves.  

Ways to develop self-feedback

One way to develop self-feedback is to analyze their speech during the session with the help of the clinician and find out the errors by themselves.

• Another way to develop self-feedback is by talking to their close friends and family, asking them to give feedback and analyze their response. 

• Clients can also do a video or audio recording of their speech, play it back and see where the errors are and try to make out what errors they make while speaking. Doing this repeatedly would make them realize their errors better.

• After analyzing their errors through recording, clients can also sit in front of a mirror and talk to themselves to get a visual real time feedback to better understand if they have any errors that are visible (eg. Grimacing during stuttering).

Conclusion

Having feedback is essential for improving one’s performance. There are different types of feedback given in speech language therapy. It is extremely important to have self-feedback to understand one’s speech in different speaking situations. Hence, an attempt must be made to understand errors made by oneself to improve motivation, performance and confidence. 

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.