Comparing the Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol to standard care

The study will utilise a randomised controlled trial (cross-over) design comparing an operationalised Kaufman Speech to Language Protocol (K-SLP) to a waiting list control group who will receive standard care. Participants will be randomly allocated to either the K-SLP treatment group (consisting of one-on-one, face-to-face therapy) or the standard care waiting list control group. Standard care first treatment group The waiting-list control group will receive community standard care which can vary between no treatment, or up to two sessions of speech therapy per week averaged across the 12- week standard care period. The participants in the control group will then be offered therapy 3- months after the study commences for each wave of treatment. While the children are in the standard care control group, they will have 1-monthly probes administered and their private speech pathologist (if they are receiving speech therapy) will be asked to complete a weekly short questionnaire to provide information on the duration, frequency, approach and goals of the therapy the child is receiving. This will be completed using a secure online system (Qualtrics) and will take less than 2 minutes to complete. If positive treatment effects are obtained for the treatment groups in the first and second wave, the K-SLP treatment will be offered to the remaining children participating in the research who start with the standard care arm. If positive treatment effects are not obtained, the control group will be offered a CAS treatment with known evidence, the Integrated Phonological Awareness (IPA) program. Kaufman Speech to Language (K-SLP) first treatment group The treatment-first group will participate in baseline data collection (1 week, up to 5 probe sessions) and then receive the K-SLP treatment immediately. Treatment will comprise twelve (12) 60-minute treatment sessions (four sessions per week for three consecutive weeks), delivered by a trained clinician (speech pathologist/trained speech pathology student). Treatment words will be individualised for each child and will consist of 20 preselected treatment words. The selection of these words will be based on the chosen sounds or word features that will be the target of the treatment for each client. This will be determined based on the initial pre-test diagnostic assessments. Additionally, there will be untreated words- 20 foil words, 20 control words that will have similar features or sounds as the treatment words. Probes will be collected before, during (after every fourth treatment session), and after treatment has ceased (1-week, 1-month and 3-months post-treatment). The probes will assess the accuracy of single word production of treated and untreated words. Following the 3-month post-treatment probe, baseline data for the standard care phase will be collected (1 week, up to 5 probe sessions) and then the children will enter the 12 weeks of standard care treatment phase. During the standard care phase, data will be collected from each child's regular speech pathologist (if they receive regular private speech therapy) to summarise the treatment they are receiving, without any further intervention from the research team.