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Speights ML, MacAuslan J, Boyce S. Computer-assisted syllable analysis of continuous speech as a measure of child speech disordera). THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 156:1171-1182. [PMID: 39158324 PMCID: PMC11340346 DOI: 10.1121/10.0028176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2024] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/19/2024] [Indexed: 08/20/2024]
Abstract
In this study, a computer-driven, phoneme-agnostic method was explored for assessing speech disorders (SDs) in children, bypassing traditional labor-intensive phonetic transcription. Using the SpeechMark® automatic syllabic cluster (SC) analysis, which detects sequences of acoustic features that characterize well-formed syllables, 1952 American English utterances of 60 preschoolers were analyzed [16 with speech disorder present (SD-P) and 44 with speech disorder not present (SD-NP)] from two dialectal areas. A four-factor regression analysis evaluated the robustness of seven automated measures produced by SpeechMark® and their interactions. SCs significantly predicted SD status (p < 0.001). A secondary analysis using a generalized linear model with a negative binomial distribution evaluated the number of SCs produced by the groups. Results highlighted that children with SD-P produced fewer well-formed clusters [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 0.8116, p ≤ 0.0137]. The interaction between speech group and age indicated that the effect of age on syllable count was more pronounced in children with SD-P (IRR = 1.0451, p = 0.0251), suggesting that even small changes in age can have a significant effect on SCs. In conclusion, speech status significantly influences the degree to which preschool children produce acoustically well-formed SCs, suggesting the potential for SCs to be speech biomarkers for SD in preschoolers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marisha L Speights
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60202, USA
| | - Joel MacAuslan
- Speech Technology and Applied Research Corporation, Lexington, Massachusetts 02421, USA
| | - Suzanne Boyce
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45219, USA
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2
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Oral and Laryngeal Articulation Control of Voicing in Children with and without Speech Sound Disorders. CHILDREN 2022; 9:children9050649. [PMID: 35626826 PMCID: PMC9139554 DOI: 10.3390/children9050649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 04/07/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Voicing contrast is hard to master during speech motor development, and the phonological process of consonant devoicing is very frequent in children with Speech Sound Disorders (SSD). Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterise the oral and laryngeal articulation control strategies used by children with and without SSD as a function of place of articulation. The articulation rate and relative oral airflow amplitude (flow) were used to analyse how children controlled oral articulation; fundamental frequency (fo), open quotient (OQ), and a classification of voicing were used to explore laryngeal behaviour. Data from detailed speech and language assessments, oral airflow and electroglottography signals were collected from 13 children with SSD and 17 children without SSD, aged 5; 0 to 7; 8, using picture naming tasks. Articulation rate and flow in children with and without SSD were not significantly different, but a statistically reliable effect of place on flow was found. Children with and without SSD used different relative fo (which captures changes in fo during the consonant-vowel transition) and OQ values, and place of articulation had an effect on the strength of voicing. All children used very similar oral articulation control of voicing, but children with SSD used less efficient laryngeal articulation strategies (higher subglottal damping and more air from the lungs expelled in each glottal cycle) than children without SSD.
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Fox CB, Israelsen-Augenstein M, Jones S, Gillam SL. An Evaluation of Expedited Transcription Methods for School-Age Children's Narrative Language: Automatic Speech Recognition and Real-Time Transcription. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:3533-3548. [PMID: 34407387 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-21-00096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose This study examined the accuracy and potential clinical utility of two expedited transcription methods for narrative language samples elicited from school-age children (7;5-11;10 [years;months]) with developmental language disorder. Transcription methods included real-time transcription produced by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and trained transcribers (TTs) as well as Google Cloud Speech automatic speech recognition. Method The accuracy of each transcription method was evaluated against a gold-standard reference corpus. Clinical utility was examined by determining the reliability of scores calculated from the transcripts produced by each method on several language sample analysis (LSA) measures. Participants included seven certified SLPs and seven TTs. Each participant was asked to produce a set of six transcripts in real time, out of a total 42 language samples. The same 42 samples were transcribed using Google Cloud Speech. Transcription accuracy was evaluated through word error rate. Reliability of LSA scores was determined using correlation analysis. Results Results indicated that Google Cloud Speech was significantly more accurate than real-time transcription in transcribing narrative samples and was not impacted by speech rate of the narrator. In contrast, SLP and TT transcription accuracy decreased as a function of increasing speech rate. LSA metrics generated from Google Cloud Speech transcripts were also more reliably calculated. Conclusions Automatic speech recognition showed greater accuracy and clinical utility as an expedited transcription method than real-time transcription. Though there is room for improvement in the accuracy of speech recognition for the purpose of clinical transcription, it produced highly reliable scores on several commonly used LSA metrics. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.15167355.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carly B Fox
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
| | | | - Sharad Jones
- Department of Mathematics & Statistics, Utah State University, Logan
| | - Sandra Laing Gillam
- Department of Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education, Utah State University, Logan
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Ullman MT, Earle FS, Walenski M, Janacsek K. The Neurocognition of Developmental Disorders of Language. Annu Rev Psychol 2020; 71:389-417. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Developmental disorders of language include developmental language disorder, dyslexia, and motor-speech disorders such as articulation disorder and stuttering. These disorders have generally been explained by accounts that focus on their behavioral rather than neural characteristics; their processing rather than learning impairments; and each disorder separately rather than together, despite their commonalities and comorbidities. Here we update and review a unifying neurocognitive account—the Procedural circuit Deficit Hypothesis (PDH). The PDH posits that abnormalities of brain structures underlying procedural memory (learning and memory that rely on the basal ganglia and associated circuitry) can explain numerous brain and behavioral characteristics across learning and processing, in multiple disorders, including both commonalities and differences. We describe procedural memory, examine its role in various aspects of language, and then present the PDH and relevant evidence across language-related disorders. The PDH has substantial explanatory power, and both basic research and translational implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael T. Ullman
- Brain and Language Lab, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA
| | - F. Sayako Earle
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19713, USA
| | - Matthew Walenski
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA
| | - Karolina Janacsek
- Institute of Psychology, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), H-1071 Budapest, Hungary
- Brain, Memory, and Language Lab; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
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5
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Baese-Berk MM, Morrill TH. Perceptual Consequences of Variability in Native and Non-Native Speech. PHONETICA 2019; 76:126-141. [PMID: 31112963 DOI: 10.1159/000493981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2017] [Accepted: 09/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS Native speakers often have a difficult time understanding non-native speech, and this challenge is frequently attributed to a more variable signal. While theories and models of general speech perception are grounded in issues of variability, they rarely consider non-native speech. Here, we ask how a specific type of variability (speaking rate) impacts two measures of perception for both native and non-native speech. METHODS In the present study, one group of listeners transcribed speech, providing a measure of intelligibility. A second group of listeners rated how fluent the speaker was, providing a measure of fluency. RESULTS The results show that variability in speaking rate correlates with a non-native speaker's intelligibility. However, perceived fluency measures are not predicted by this variability measure. CONCLUSIONS These results, taken with studies of the range of variability in non-native speech, suggest that variability in non-native speech is not a monolithic construct. Current theories and models of perception can be enhanced by examining non-native speech and how variability in that speech impacts perception.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Tuuli H Morrill
- Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA
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van de Velde DJ, Frijns JHM, Beers M, van Heuven VJ, Levelt CC, Briaire J, Schiller NO. Basic Measures of Prosody in Spontaneous Speech of Children With Early and Late Cochlear Implantation. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2018; 61:3075-3094. [PMID: 30515513 DOI: 10.1044/2018_jslhr-h-17-0233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Relative to normally hearing (NH) peers, the speech of children with cochlear implants (CIs) has been found to have deviations such as a high fundamental frequency, elevated jitter and shimmer, and inadequate intonation. However, two important dimensions of prosody (temporal and spectral) have not been systematically investigated. Given that, in general, the resolution in CI hearing is best for the temporal dimension and worst for the spectral dimension, we expected this hierarchy to be reflected in the amount of CI speech's deviation from NH speech. Deviations, however, were expected to diminish with increasing device experience. METHOD Of 9 Dutch early- and late-implanted (division at 2 years of age) children and 12 hearing age-matched NH controls, spontaneous speech was recorded at 18, 24, and 30 months after implantation (CI) or birth (NH). Six spectral and temporal outcome measures were compared between groups, sessions, and genders. RESULTS On most measures, interactions of Group and/or Gender with Session were significant. For CI recipients as compared with controls, performance on temporal measures was not in general more deviant than spectral measures, although differences were found for individual measures. The late-implanted group had a tendency to be closer to the NH group than the early-implanted group. Groups converged over time. CONCLUSIONS Results did not support the phonetic dimension hierarchy hypothesis, suggesting that the appropriateness of the production of basic prosodic measures does not depend on auditory resolution. Rather, it seems to depend on the amount of control necessary for speech production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daan J van de Velde
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
| | - Johan H M Frijns
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
- Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Mieke Beers
- Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands
| | - Vincent J van Heuven
- Department of Hungarian and Applied Linguistics, Pannon Egyetem, Veszprém, Hungary
| | - Claartje C Levelt
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
| | | | - Niels O Schiller
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, the Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, the Netherlands
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7
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Colletta JM, Pellenq C, Hadian-Cefidekhanie A, Rousset I. Developmental changes in articulation rate and phonic groups during narration in French children aged four to eleven years. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2018; 45:1337-1356. [PMID: 30008277 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000918000235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
This paper reports on an original study designed to investigate age-related change in the way French children produce speech during oral narrative, considering both prosodic parameters - speaking rate and duration of the prosodic speech unit - and linguistic structure. Eighty-five French children aged four to eleven years were asked to tell a story after they were shown an excerpt from an animated film. All their remarks were transcribed and coded using ELAN as an annotation tool. Each narrative was analyzed for duration, articulation rate, and linguistic components (i.e., number of phonic groups, syllables, words, clauses). All measures were found to increase with age, with the duration of the phonic group and its linguistic structure showing the stronger differences. Results contribute to providing reference data on speech production during childhood, and they suggest the existence of two distinct developmental patterns in narrative production.
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Sawyer J, Matteson C, Ou H, Nagase T. The Effects of Parent-Focused Slow Relaxed Speech Intervention on Articulation Rate, Response Time Latency, and Fluency in Preschool Children Who Stutter. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2017; 60:794-809. [PMID: 28289751 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-s-16-0002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2016] [Accepted: 09/24/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigated the effects of an intervention to reduce caregivers' articulation rates with children who stutter on (a) disfluency, (b) caregiver and child's articulation rates, and (c) caregiver and child's response time latency (RTL). METHOD Seventeen caregivers and their preschool children who stuttered participated in a group study of treatment outcomes. One speech sample was collected as a baseline, and 2 samples were collected after treatment. Posttreatment samples were of caregivers speaking as they typically would and using reduced articulation rates. RESULTS Caregivers reduced articulation rates significantly in the 2 posttreatment samples, and a significant decrease of stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD) was found in the children in those 2 samples. No direct relationship was found between the caregiver's articulation rate and RTL, and there was a small correlation of RTL with the lower levels of SLD found postintervention. No significant relationships were found between the reduced levels of SLD and articulation rates for either caregivers or children. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest caregivers can be trained to slow their speech, and children increased their fluency at the end of a program designed to slow caregiver articulation. The intentionally slower rate of the caregivers, however, was not significantly related to fluency.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Hua Ou
- Illinois State University, Normal
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Hazan V, Tuomainen O, Pettinato M. Suprasegmental Characteristics of Spontaneous Speech Produced in Good and Challenging Communicative Conditions by Talkers Aged 9-14 Years. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2016; 59:S1596-S1607. [PMID: 28002840 DOI: 10.1044/2016_jslhr-s-15-0046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2015] [Accepted: 02/23/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study investigated the acoustic characteristics of spontaneous speech by talkers aged 9-14 years and their ability to adapt these characteristics to maintain effective communication when intelligibility was artificially degraded for their interlocutor. METHOD Recordings were made for 96 children (50 female participants, 46 male participants) engaged in a problem-solving task with a same-sex friend; recordings for 20 adults were used as reference. The task was carried out in good listening conditions (normal transmission) and in degraded transmission conditions. Articulation rate, median fundamental frequency (f0), f0 range, and relative energy in the 1- to 3-kHz range were analyzed. RESULTS With increasing age, children significantly reduced their median f0 and f0 range, became faster talkers, and reduced their mid-frequency energy in spontaneous speech. Children produced similar clear speech adaptations (in degraded transmission conditions) as adults, but only children aged 11-14 years increased their f0 range, an unhelpful strategy not transmitted via the vocoder. Changes made by children were consistent with a general increase in vocal effort. CONCLUSION Further developments in speech production take place during later childhood. Children use clear speech strategies to benefit an interlocutor facing intelligibility problems but may not be able to attune these strategies to the same degree as adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valerie Hazan
- Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London (UCL), UK
| | - Outi Tuomainen
- Speech Hearing and Phonetic Sciences, University College London (UCL), UK
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10
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Lewis BA, Freebairn L, Tag J, Ciesla AA, Iyengar SK, Stein CM, Taylor HG. Adolescent outcomes of children with early speech sound disorders with and without language impairment. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2015; 24:150-63. [PMID: 25569242 PMCID: PMC4477798 DOI: 10.1044/2014_ajslp-14-0075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2014] [Revised: 10/23/2014] [Accepted: 10/27/2014] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE In this study, the authors determined adolescent speech, language, and literacy outcomes of individuals with histories of early childhood speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without comorbid language impairment (LI) and examined factors associated with these outcomes. METHOD This study used a prospective longitudinal design. Participants with SSD (n = 170), enrolled at early childhood (4-6 years) were followed at adolescence (11-18 years) and were compared to individuals with no histories of speech or language impairment (no SSD; n = 146) on measures of speech, language, and literacy. Comparisons were made between adolescents with early childhood histories of no SSD, SSD only, and SSD plus LI as well as between adolescents with no SSD, resolved SSD, and persistent SSD. RESULTS Individuals with early childhood SSD with comorbid LI had poorer outcomes than those with histories of SSD only or no SSD. Poorer language and literacy outcomes in adolescence were associated with multiple factors, including persistent speech sound problems, lower nonverbal intelligence, and lower socioeconomic status. Adolescents with persistent SSD had higher rates of comorbid LI and reading disability than the no SSD and resolved SSD groups. CONCLUSION Risk factors for language and literacy problems in adolescence include an early history of LI, persistent SSD, lower nonverbal cognitive ability, and social disadvantage.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Jessica Tag
- Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH
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LaSalle LR. Slow speech rate effects on stuttering preschoolers with disordered phonology. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2015; 29:354-377. [PMID: 25651198 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2014.1003970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
To study the effects of clinicians' slow rate on the speech of children who stutter with and without a concomitant phonological disorder, an A-B-A-B single case design was used with six clinician-child dyads, where B = Clinician's slow speech rate model. Two boys and one girl, aged 49-54 months, stuttering with disordered phonology (S + DP), were compared to three boys aged 42-50 months, stuttering with normal phonology (S + NP). Articulation rates were measured in phones per second (pps) in clinician-child adjacent utterance pairs. The S + NP dyads showed improved fluency in the B condition through a larger effect size, higher mean baseline stutter reductions and lower percentages of non-overlapping data than did the S + DP dyads. The S + DP girl showed relatively improved fluency in the B condition. S + DP children showed no articulation rate alignment (Range: 16% decrease to a 1.2% increase), whereas S + NP children averaged a 20% pps rate reduction (Range: 19.6-25.4% decrease), aligning with their clinicians who averaged a 38% pps rate reduction from baseline. The S + DP group spoke significantly (z = -4.63; p < 0.00) slower at baseline (Mdn = 6.9 pps; SE = 0.07 pps) than S + NP children in previously published samples (Mdn = 9.8 pps; SE = 0.22 pps). Results suggest that a slow rate model alone is not effective for facilitating fluency in S + DP boys with time since onset of about 2 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa R LaSalle
- Communicative Disorders Department, University of Redlands , CA , USA
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Nip ISB, Green JR. Increases in cognitive and linguistic processing primarily account for increases in speaking rate with age. Child Dev 2013; 84:1324-37. [PMID: 23331100 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Age-related increases of speaking rate are not fully understood, but have been attributed to gains in biologic factors and learned skills that support speech production. This study investigated developmental changes in speaking rate and articulatory kinematics of participants aged 4 (N = 7), 7 (N = 10), 10 (N = 9), 13 (N = 7), 16 (N = 9) years, and young adults (N = 11) in speaking tasks varying in task demands. Speaking rate increased with age, with decreases in pauses and articulator displacements but not increases in articulator movement speed. Movement speed did not appear to constrain the speaking. Rather, age-related increases in speaking rate are due to gains in cognitive and linguistic processing and speech motor control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignatius S B Nip
- School of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-1518, USA.
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Peter B. Oral and hand movement speeds are associated with expressive language ability in children with speech sound disorder. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2012; 41:455-74. [PMID: 22411590 PMCID: PMC3875165 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-012-9199-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This study tested the hypothesis that children with speech sound disorder have generalized slowed motor speeds. It evaluated associations among oral and hand motor speeds and measures of speech (articulation and phonology) and language (receptive vocabulary, sentence comprehension, sentence imitation), in 11 children with moderate to severe SSD and 11 controls. Syllable durations from a syllable repetition task served as an estimate of maximal oral movement speed. In two imitation tasks, nonwords and clapped rhythms, unstressed vowel durations and quarter-note clap intervals served as estimates of oral and hand movement speed, respectively. Syllable durations were significantly correlated with vowel durations and hand clap intervals. Sentence imitation was correlated with all three timed movement measures. Clustering on syllable repetition durations produced three clusters that also differed in sentence imitation scores. Results are consistent with limited movement speeds across motor systems and SSD subtypes defined by motor speeds as a corollary of expressive language abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beate Peter
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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Amir O, Grinfeld D. Articulation rate in childhood and adolescence: Hebrew speakers. LANGUAGE AND SPEECH 2011; 54:225-240. [PMID: 21848081 DOI: 10.1177/0023830910397496] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This study aimed to quantify articulation rate among Hebrew speaking children and adolescents across a wide age range, and to assess whether age-related differences vary according to metric. One hundred and forty children, in seven age groups, participated in this cross-sectional study. All children were recorded during conversation and a picture description task, and articulation rate was measured using three metrics: word per minute (WPM), syllable per second (SPS) and phone per second (PPS). A significant increase in articulation rate was observed with age. Rate measurements during conversation were significantly faster than in picture description, and no gender differences were found. In general, the SPS and PPS metrics yielded equivalent results, which were different from those obtained with the WPM metric. Articulation rate among normally fluent children and adolescents increased with age. Furthermore, an increase in rate was evident after the age of 13 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ofer Amir
- Department of Communication Disorders, Tel-Aviv University, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, 52621, Israel.
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Smith AB, Hall NE, Tan X, Farrell K. Speech timing and pausing in children with specific language impairment. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2011; 25:145-154. [PMID: 21070133 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2010.514969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Articulation rate, speaking rate, as well as the duration and location of pauses, were analysed in 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and a comparison group of seven younger children producing utterances of similar lengths. Children with SLI were significantly slower in articulation rate, but not speaking rate or pausing time, indicating a group difference attributable to longer syllable duration. The correlation between the duration of the pause preceding a child's speaking turn and the length of the subsequent child utterance was calculated as an indication of children's use of the pause for planning the utterance. The correlation was not significant in either group, and not significantly different between groups. An analysis of the position of pauses within speaking turns showed more syllables following than preceding the pause, with no significant group differences. Theoretical implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan B Smith
- Department of Communications Sciences and Disorders, Dunn Hall, University of Maine, Orono, MA 04469, USA.
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Pagan-Neves LDO, Wertzner HF. Acoustical parameters of Brazilian Portuguese liquids in phonological disorder. PRO-FONO : REVISTA DE ATUALIZACAO CIENTIFICA 2011; 22:491-6. [PMID: 21271105 DOI: 10.1590/s0104-56872010000400022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2010] [Accepted: 11/30/2010] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Phonological disorder is one of the most frequent speech and language deficit observed in children and therefore studies using objective evaluation measurements should be developed and implemented during the diagnostic process. AIM To describe the acoustic characteristics of /l/ and /r/ liquid sounds. METHOD Speech production samples of 20 children with and without phonological disorder were gathered and acoustically analyzed. Six words were selected for repetition: /se'bola/, /'lama/, [see text]. The analyzed acoustic parameters were F1, F2 and F3, duration and steady-state portion from the target sound and slope analysis. RESULTS For words containing /l/, the duration parameter was the great differentiator between the two groups; values of the control group were higher than those found for the group with phonological disorder. Considering words containing /r/ that were correctly produced by the control group and that were always substituted by /l/ in the disordered group, parameters involving duration presented higher values in the disordered group. Slope analysis demonstrated higher values for the control group. CONCLUSION Articulation accuracy of children in the control group was, overall, higher even when considering correctly produced words by the group with phonological disorder containing /l/. The analysis of other acoustic parameters, as well as the application of these parameters to other sounds of the Portuguese language, can help clinicians to make a precise evaluation and, consequently, to improve their therapeutic work.
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Logan KJ, Byrd CT, Mazzocchi EM, Gillam RB. Speaking rate characteristics of elementary-school-aged children who do and do not stutter. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2011; 44:130-147. [PMID: 20947095 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2010.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2009] [Revised: 06/23/2010] [Accepted: 08/26/2010] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To compare articulation and speech rates of school-aged children who do and do not stutter across sentence priming, structured conversation, and narration tasks and to determine factors that predict children's speech and articulation rates. METHOD 34 children who stutter (CWS) and 34 age- and gender-matched children who do not stutter (CWNS) were divided into younger (M age=6;10) and older (M age=9;6) subgroups. Speech samples were elicited using the Modeled Sentences, Structured Conversation, and Narration tasks from an experimental version of the Test of Childhood Stuttering (Gillam, Logan, & Pearson, 2009). Speech rates (based on both fluent and disfluent utterances), articulation rates (based on only fluent utterances), disfluency frequency, and utterance length were compared across groups and tasks. RESULTS CWNS had faster speech rates than CWS. Older children had faster speech rates than younger children during Modeled Sentences, and their Modeled Sentences speech rates were faster than their Structured Conversation and Narration speech rates. Disfluency frequency predicted speech rate better than age or utterance length for CWS and CWNS. Speech rate was negatively correlated with stuttering severity for CWS. Articulation rates for CWNS and CWS were not significantly different; however, older children had faster articulation rates than younger children, and articulation rates for both age groups were fastest during Modeled Sentences. CONCLUSIONS Results provide age-based reference data for the speech and articulation rates of school-aged CWS and CWNS on three TOCS tasks and offer insight into the relative contributions of age, disfluency frequency, and utterance length to children's rate performance. LEARNING OUTCOMES After reading this paper readers should be able to: (1) summarize the main findings from past studies of children's speech rate and articulation rate; (2) describe how school-aged children who stutter compare to age-matched children who do not stutter with regard to speech rate and articulation rate; (3) explain the extent to which age, speaking task, disfluency frequency, and utterance length affect children's rate performance; (4) discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various approaches to rate measurement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenneth J Logan
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, 336 Dauer Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7420, United States.
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Robb MP, Gillon GT. Speech rates of New Zealand English- and American English-speaking children. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1080/14417040601013695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Preston JL, Edwards ML. Speed and accuracy of rapid speech output by adolescents with residual speech sound errors including rhotics. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2009; 23:301-318. [PMID: 19382016 DOI: 10.1080/02699200802680833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Children with residual speech sound errors are often underserved clinically, yet there has been a lack of recent research elucidating the specific deficits in this population. Adolescents aged 10-14 with residual speech sound errors (RE) that included rhotics were compared to normally speaking peers on tasks assessing speed and accuracy of speech production. The two groups were evaluated on an oral diadochokinetic task, which required rapid production of the trisyllable /p Lambda t Lambda k Lambda/, and two rapid naming tasks: monosyllabic letter names and multisyllabic picture names. No significant group differences were observed in the speed of trisyllables on the DDK task, whether examining all attempts or only correct productions. However, the RE group was less accurate and more variable in their production of the trisyllables. In addition, the RE group was slower and phonologically less accurate in rapidly naming multisyllabic pictures, but not in naming letters. A combination of speed and accuracy measures from these tasks revealed relatively little overlap between groups. Results suggest that both speed and accuracy may be impaired in adolescents with RE, although the underlying causal mechanisms require further exploration.
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Wertzner HF, Silva LM. Velocidade de fala em crianças com e sem transtorno fonológico. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009; 21:19-24. [DOI: 10.1590/s0104-56872009000100004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2008] [Accepted: 02/03/2009] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
TEMA: velocidade de fala no transtorno fonológico (TF). OBJETIVO: comparar o desempenho de crianças, com e sem transtorno fonológico, em diferentes tarefas de velocidade de fala. MÉTODO: participaram do estudo vinte crianças com diagnóstico de transtorno fonológico (GTF) e vinte crianças com desenvolvimento típico de fala (GC), com idade entre quatro anos a dez anos e onze meses, de ambos os sexos. As medidas de velocidade de fala (tempo total de duração, sílabas/segundo e fonemas/segundo) foram analisadas em duas provas de imitação, sendo uma padrão e outra baseada em frases retiradas do próprio discurso da criança, cada qual composta de uma sentença curta e outra longa. RESULTADOS: o GC apresentou um desempenho significantemente melhor que o GTF em todas as medidas da prova de imitação padrão e também no tempo total de duração da sentença longa na prova de imitação de frases próprias, de forma que o tamanho e a tipologia das sentenças influenciaram o desempenho de ambos os grupos. CONCLUSÃO: verifica-se menores valores de velocidade de fala nas crianças com TF participantes deste estudo, em função de possíveis déficits lingüísticos ou motores, embora haja indícios de controle da velocidade de produção da fala em função do tamanho da frase. Todas as medidas mostraram tal diferença, especialmente na prova de imitação padrão.
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Smith AB, Lambrecht Smith S, Locke JL, Bennett J. A longitudinal study of speech timing in young children later found to have reading disability. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2008; 51:1300-1314. [PMID: 18812490 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2008/06-0193)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study examined the development of timing characteristics in early spontaneous speech of children who were later identified as having reading disability (RD). METHOD Child-adult play sessions were recorded longitudinally at 2 and 3 years of age in 27 children, most of whom were at high familial risk for RD. For each speaking turn, the number of syllables was determined and an acoustic analysis measured the time allocated to articulation, pausing before speaking, and pausing during speaking. RESULTS In grade school, a reading battery identified 9 children with RD and 18 children without RD (9 at high risk, 9 at low risk). Early speaking rate was significantly slower in the group with RD, with significantly different patterns of pausing compared with children without RD. Group differences became more distinct by age 3, as longer speaking turns were attempted. CONCLUSIONS The results are discussed in terms of speech and language formulation. Phonetic plans may be shorter and/or less specified in children with RD, surfacing as slow, short speaking turns with increased pausing relative to articulation. This explanation is consistent with several accounts of RD and provides a perspective on how speech and language deficits may manifest during spontaneous verbal interactions between young children and adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan B Smith
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 5724 Dunn Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5724, USA.
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Walker JF, Archibald LMD. Articulation rate in preschool children: a 3-year longitudinal study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2006; 41:541-65. [PMID: 17050470 DOI: 10.1080/10428190500343043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Speaking rate has implications for both clinical practice and an understanding of normal and disordered communication processes. Fundamental information on speaking rate is required by the clinician for the appropriate management of those disorders with disturbances of rate or those in which rate modification strategies are applied. One measure of speaking rate, articulation rate, excludes pause time and measures the speed with which articulators move. A developmental assessment of articulation rate is of particular interest because of its implications for changes in temporal motor aspects of speech production in development. AIMS The fundamental aim was to provide longitudinal and normative data on articulation rate in a group of preschool children. The following questions were asked. What are the articulation rates and variability in rate at ages 4, 5 and 6, and is there a developmental trend? Are speaking context, utterance length and gender significant variables? METHODS & PROCEDURES Speech samples from four speaking contexts, spontaneous, imitated, automatic (represented by nursery rhyme narration) and repetition, were elicited from 16 normally developing children (eight boys and eight girls) at ages 4, 5 and 6. Utterances were measured in syllables per second for runs of speech without pauses within each speaking context. OUTCOMES & RESULTS In contrast to expectation, articulation rate did not increase significantly with age. Neither did variability of rate decrease with age. Results suggest that the course of development is non-linear. Automatic speech and repetition were significantly faster than imitated speech. An interaction between imitated speech and variability was found at age 4. Considerable individual differences in rate were identified. There were no gender differences and no correlations between articulation rate and utterance length. CONCLUSIONS Unique information is provided on the development of speaking rate in preschool children together with additional normative data. The results have both theoretical and clinical implications. The data should assist the clinician in the assessment and diagnosis of rate and in rate modification management. Caution should be exercised in generalizing the results of the study in view of the small sample size and other factors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jean F Walker
- Graduate Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Smith AB, Roberts J, Lambrecht Smith S, Locke JL, Bennett J. Reduced speaking rate as an early predictor of reading disability. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2006; 15:289-97. [PMID: 16896178 DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2006/027)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study evaluated whether developmental reading disability could be predicted in children at the age of 30 months, according to 3 measures of speech production: speaking rate, articulation rate, and the proportion of speaking time allocated to pausing. METHOD Speech samples of 18 children at high risk and 10 children at low risk for reading disability were recorded at 30 months of age. High risk was determined by history of reading disability in at least 1 of the child's parents. In grade school, a reading evaluation identified 9 children within the high-risk group as having reading disability and 9 children as not having reading disability. The 10 children at low risk for reading disability tested negative for reading disability. RESULTS Children with reading disability showed a significantly slower speaking rate than children at high risk without reading disability. Children with reading disability allocated significantly more time to pausing, as compared with the other groups. Articulation rate did not differ significantly across groups. CONCLUSIONS Speaking rate and the proportion of pausing time to speaking time may provide an early indication of reading outcome in children at high risk for reading disability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan B Smith
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, 5724 Dunn Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5724, USA.
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Flipsen P. Syllables per word in typical and delayed speech acquisition. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2006; 20:293-301. [PMID: 16644587 DOI: 10.1080/02699200400024855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
A number of authors have presented data on the word length (measured in syllables) in the spontaneous speech of children across the developmental period. These data suggest a developmental trend of increasing length with age. The current study sought to examine this possibility in more detail. Conversational speech data from 320 children with normal (or normalized) speech confirmed that the number of syllables per word in conversational speech increases significantly from age 3-8 years. Data from the conversational speech of 202 children with speech delay however showed no such trend. Reasons for the differences between the two groups are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Flipsen
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
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Flipsen P, Hammer JB, Yost KM. Measuring severity of involvement in speech delay: segmental and whole-word measures. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2005; 14:298-312. [PMID: 16396613 DOI: 10.1044/1058-0360(2005/029)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2004] [Revised: 05/24/2005] [Accepted: 08/03/2005] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study examined whether any of a series of segmental and whole-word measures of articulatory competence captured more of the variance in impressionistic ratings of severity of involvement in speech delay. It also examined whether knowing the age of the child affected severity ratings. METHOD Ten very experienced speech-language pathologists rated severity of involvement from conversational speech samples obtained from 17 children with delayed speech. The ratings were then correlated with the candidate measures. The ratings by those who knew the ages of the children were also compared with the ratings by those who did not. RESULTS The severity ratings showed considerable variability. Ratings from 6 clinicians who largely agreed with each other (a "tin standard" group) were significantly associated with several of the candidate measures. Clinicians appeared to pay attention to number, type, and consistency of errors when rating severity. They also attended to both segmental and whole-word levels. Knowledge of the children's ages did not appear to affect the ratings. CONCLUSIONS The observed variability in the severity ratings raises significant questions about their usefulness. Objective measures such as some of those examined herein offer potential as more valid and reliable severity indexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Flipsen
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
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Smith AB, Robb MP. Durational characteristics of the first productions of novel trochees and iambs in children with and without speech delay. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2005; 19:1-14. [PMID: 15702824 DOI: 10.1080/0269920042000193580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The durational characteristics of novel words produced in repeated trials were evaluated in separate groups of children with, and without speech delay (SD). Children produced disyllabic novel words containing either a trochaic or iambic stress pattern. Results of acoustic analysis indicated a significant interaction between trial number and speaker group. The duration of words produced by children without SD decreased more abruptly across successive trials as compared to children with SD. In addition, duration decreased at a faster rate for trochaic words as compared to iambic words in both groups. Variability of word duration was greater in iambs than trochees. The results are discussed in terms of speech motor learning patterns that may underlie difficulties associated with SD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Allan B Smith
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5724, USA.
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Flipsen P. Articulation rate and speech-sound normalization failure. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2003; 46:724-737. [PMID: 14696999 DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2003/058)] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Not all children with speech delay (SD) of unknown origin develop fully normal speech even with intervention. Many retain residual distortion errors into adolescence and ultimately into adulthood. The current study examined whether articulation rate distinguishes those children who retain residual errors from those who normalize. Two groups of speech-delayed children originally identified at preschool age were retested at age 9 years (the early follow-up group) and at age 12-16 years (the late follow-up group), respectively. No differences in articulation rate were observed at either test time in conversational speech between those children who continued to produce residual distortion errors (RE) compared to those children who had fully normalized speech (NSA). For the late follow-up group, children in the RE outcome group articulated speech at significantly slower rates than the children in the NSA outcome group in an embedded words task using both syllables per second and phones per second measures. Findings suggested that children with SD of unknown origin who fail to normalize may have relative speech-motor deficits and possibly deficits in language formulation skill. Alternatively, slower articulation rate in structured tasks may represent some sort of compensation for the continuing presence of speech-sound errors. Possible motivations for such compensation are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Flipsen
- Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996, USA.
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Robb M, Gilbert H, Reed V, Bisson A. A Preliminary Study of Speech Rates in Young Australian English-Speaking Children. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003. [DOI: 10.1044/cicsd_30_s_84] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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