Intelligibility in Children with Persisting Speech Disorders
A Case Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v2i1.131Keywords:
intelligibility, connected speech, persisting speech disorder, word juncture, prosody, articulation, assessmentAbstract
In this paper we use detailed phonetic and phonological analysis to explore the speech production of a seven-year-old child with a persisting speech disorder, across a range of speech contexts and activities: single-word naming, sentence repetition and spontaneous conversation. The analyses reveal significant differences across the different contexts, which can be related to phonetic and phonological organisation across domains larger than the single word, and in particular to specific difficulties with word juncture. The data strongly suggest that for some children a phonological analysis of single word production is unlikely to identify key characteristics of their speech output difficulties, and that due acknowledgement in the assessment of developmental speech disorders must be given not only to the tasks and contexts within which data collection takes place, but also to the nature of phonetic and phonological organisation within the context of interaction.
References
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Bybee, J. (2010). Language Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coplan, J. and Gleason, J. (1988). Unclear speech: Recognition and significance of unintelligible speech in preschool children. Pediatrics 82 (3): 447–452
Cruttenden, A. (2008). Gimson’s Pronunciation of English (7th edn). London: Edward Arnold.
Dodd, B. and Bradford, A. (2000). A comparison of three therapy methods for children with different types of developmental phonological disorder. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorder 35 (2): 189?209. doi:10.1080/136828200247142
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Faircloth, M. A. and Faircloth, S. R. (1970) An analysis of the articulatory behaviour of a speech-defective child in connected speech and in isolated-word responses. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 35 (1): 51?61.
Flipsen, P. (2006). Measuring the intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 20 (4): 303?312. doi:10.1080/02699200400024863
Gordon-Brannan, M. and Hodson, B. (2000). Intelligibility/severity measurements of prekindergarten children’s speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 9: 141?150.
Grunwell, P. (1987). Clinical Phonology. London: Croom Helm
Howard, S. (2004). Connected speech processes in developmental speech impairment: Observations from an electropalatographic perspective. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 18 (6?8): 405?417. doi:10.1080/02699200410001703547
Howard, S. (2007). The interplay between articulation and prosody in children with impaired speech: Observations from electropalatographic and perceptual analysis. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology 9 (1): 20?35. doi:10.1080/14417040601057692
Howard, S. (2010). Speech in the brain and in interaction. Keynote talk at the International Conference on Social Brain: Autism and Neuroethics. Research Centre for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan. 24?25 March.
Howard, S. J. and Jordan, Z. (2009). What ventriloquist speech can tell us about compensatory strategies in impaired speech production. In V. Marrero and I. Pineda (eds) Linguistics: The Challenge of Clinical Application, 32-40. Madrid: Euphonia Ediciones.
Howard, S. and Moriarty, L. (2006). Connected speech processes in children with cleft palate: A perceptual and electropalatographic study. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress in Cleft Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies, 4?8 September 2005, Durban, South Africa.
Howard, S., Wells, B. and Local, J. (2008). Connected speech. In M. J. Ball, M. R. Perkins, N. Müller and S. Howard (eds) The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, 583?602. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Johnson, K. (2004). Massive reduction in conversational English. In K. Yoneyama and K. Maekawa (eds) Spontaneous Speech: Data and Analysis. Proceedings of the 1st Session of the 10th International Symposium, 29?54. Tokyo, Japan: The National International Institute for Japanese Language.
Kent, R. D., Miolo, G. and Bloedel, S. (1994). The intelligibility of children’s speech: A review of evaluation procedures. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 3 (2): 81?95.
Klein, E. S. and Flint, C. B. (2006). Measurement of intelligibility in disordered speech. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools 37 (3): 191?198. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2006/021)
Lieven, E., Salomo, D. and Tomasello, M. (2009). Two-year-old children’s production of multiword utterances: A usage-based analysis. Cognitive Linguistics 20 (3): 481?507. doi: 10.1515/COGL.2009.022
Masterson, J. J., Bernhardt, B. H. and Hofheinz, M. K. (2005). A comparison of single words and conversational speech in phonological evaluation. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 14 (3): 229?232. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2005/023)
Miccio, A. and Scarpino, S. (2008). Phonological analysis, phonological processes. In M. J. Ball, M. R. Perkins, N. Müller and S. Howard (eds), The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, 412?422. Oxford: Blackwell.
Morrison, J. A. and Shriberg L. D. (1992). Articulation testing versus conversational speech sampling. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 35 (2): 259?273.
Newton, C. and Wells, B. (1999). The development of between-word processes in the connected speech or children aged between 3 and 7. In B. Maassen and P. Groenen (eds), Pathologies of Speech and Language: Advances in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 67?75. London: Whurr.
Pascoe, M., Stackhouse, J. and Wells, B. (2006). Persisting Speech Difficulties in Children. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Peters, A. M. (1977). Language learning strategies: Does the whole equal the sum of the parts? Language 53 (3): 560?573. doi:10.2307/413177
Rosewarne, D. (1984). Estuary English – tomorrow’s RP? English Today 37, 10 (1): 3?8.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A. and Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematic for the organisation of turn-taking in conversation. Language 50 (4): 696?735. doi:10.2307/412243
Shockey, L. (2003). Sound Patterns of Spoken English. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell Publishers. doi:10.1002/9780470758397
Shriberg, L. D., Austin, D., Lewis, B. A., McSweeny, J. L. and Wilson, D. L. (1997). The Per centage of Consonants Correct (PCC) metric: Extensions and reliability data. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 40 (4): 708?722.
Shriberg, L. D., Kwiatkowski, J. and Hoffman, K. (1984). A procedure for phonetic transcription by consensus. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research 27: 456?465.
Skahan, S., Watson, M. and Lof, G. L. (2007). Speech-language pathologists’ assessment practices for children with suspected speech sound disorders: Results of a national survey. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 16: 246?259. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2007/029)
Sprigg, R. K. (1957). Junction in spoken Burmese. In R. K. Sprigg Studies in Linguistic Analysis, 104-138. Oxford: Blackwell.
Stackhouse, R. J. (1997). Phonological awareness: connecting speech and literacy problems. In B. W. Hodson and M. L. Edwards (eds) Perspectives in Applied Phonology, 157?196. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
Stackhouse, R. J., Vance, M., Pascoe, M. and Wells, B. (2007). Compendium of Auditory and Speech Tasks: Children’s Speech and Literacy Difficulties, Book 4. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Stemberger, J. P. (1988). Between-word processes in child phonology. Journal of Child Language 15 (1): 39?61. doi:10.1017/S0305000900012046
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011). Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38 (10): 1?34. doi:10.1017/S0305000910000425
Stoel-Gammon, C. and Sosa, A. (2007). Phonological development. In E. Hoff and M. Schatz (eds) Blackwell Handbook of Language Development, 238?256. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Thompson, J. and Howard, S. (2007). Word juncture behaviours in young children’s spontaneous speech production. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 21 (11?12): 895?899. doi:10.1080/02699200701600221
Vance, M., Stackhouse, J. and Wells, B. (2005). Speech production skills in children aged 3?7 years. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 40 (1): 29?48. doi:10.1080/13682820410001716172
Wells, B. (1994). Junction in developmental speech disorder: A case study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 8 (1): 1?25. doi:10.1080/02699209408985572
Wells, B. and Stackhouse, J. (1997). Connected Speech Problems and Developmental Dyslexia: A Case Study. Presented at the International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Assocation 6th Conference, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 11?15 October 1997.
Williams, A. L. (2003). Speech Disorders Resource Guide for Preschool Children. San Diego, CA: Singular.
Williams, A. L. (2005). Assessment, target selection, and intervention: Dynamic interactions within a systemic perspective. Topics in Language Disorders, 25 (3): 231?242. doi: 10.1097/00011363-200507000-00006
Yorkston, K. M., Strand, E. A. and Kennedy, M. R. T. (1996). Comprehensibility of dysarthric speech: Implications for assessment and treatment planning. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 5 (1): 55?66.
Bybee, J. (2006). From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language 82 (4): 711?733. doi:10.1353/lan.2006.0186
Bybee, J. (2010). Language Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Coplan, J. and Gleason, J. (1988). Unclear speech: Recognition and significance of unintelligible speech in preschool children. Pediatrics 82 (3): 447–452
Cruttenden, A. (2008). Gimson’s Pronunciation of English (7th edn). London: Edward Arnold.
Dodd, B. and Bradford, A. (2000). A comparison of three therapy methods for children with different types of developmental phonological disorder. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorder 35 (2): 189?209. doi:10.1080/136828200247142
Dodd, B., Hua, Z., Crosbie, S. and Holm, A. (2002). Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology. London: The Psychological Corporation.
Drew, P. and Heritage, J. (1992) Analyzing talk at work: an introduction. In P. Drew and J. Heritage (eds) Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings, 3?65. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Faircloth, M. A. and Faircloth, S. R. (1970) An analysis of the articulatory behaviour of a speech-defective child in connected speech and in isolated-word responses. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 35 (1): 51?61.
Flipsen, P. (2006). Measuring the intelligibility of conversational speech in children. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 20 (4): 303?312. doi:10.1080/02699200400024863
Gordon-Brannan, M. and Hodson, B. (2000). Intelligibility/severity measurements of prekindergarten children’s speech. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 9: 141?150.
Grunwell, P. (1987). Clinical Phonology. London: Croom Helm
Howard, S. (2004). Connected speech processes in developmental speech impairment: Observations from an electropalatographic perspective. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 18 (6?8): 405?417. doi:10.1080/02699200410001703547
Howard, S. (2007). The interplay between articulation and prosody in children with impaired speech: Observations from electropalatographic and perceptual analysis. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology 9 (1): 20?35. doi:10.1080/14417040601057692
Howard, S. (2010). Speech in the brain and in interaction. Keynote talk at the International Conference on Social Brain: Autism and Neuroethics. Research Centre for Child Mental Development, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan. 24?25 March.
Howard, S. J. and Jordan, Z. (2009). What ventriloquist speech can tell us about compensatory strategies in impaired speech production. In V. Marrero and I. Pineda (eds) Linguistics: The Challenge of Clinical Application, 32-40. Madrid: Euphonia Ediciones.
Howard, S. and Moriarty, L. (2006). Connected speech processes in children with cleft palate: A perceptual and electropalatographic study. Proceedings of the 10th International Congress in Cleft Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies, 4?8 September 2005, Durban, South Africa.
Howard, S., Wells, B. and Local, J. (2008). Connected speech. In M. J. Ball, M. R. Perkins, N. Müller and S. Howard (eds) The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, 583?602. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Johnson, K. (2004). Massive reduction in conversational English. In K. Yoneyama and K. Maekawa (eds) Spontaneous Speech: Data and Analysis. Proceedings of the 1st Session of the 10th International Symposium, 29?54. Tokyo, Japan: The National International Institute for Japanese Language.
Kent, R. D., Miolo, G. and Bloedel, S. (1994). The intelligibility of children’s speech: A review of evaluation procedures. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 3 (2): 81?95.
Klein, E. S. and Flint, C. B. (2006). Measurement of intelligibility in disordered speech. Language, Speech and Hearing Services in Schools 37 (3): 191?198. doi:10.1044/0161-1461(2006/021)
Lieven, E., Salomo, D. and Tomasello, M. (2009). Two-year-old children’s production of multiword utterances: A usage-based analysis. Cognitive Linguistics 20 (3): 481?507. doi: 10.1515/COGL.2009.022
Masterson, J. J., Bernhardt, B. H. and Hofheinz, M. K. (2005). A comparison of single words and conversational speech in phonological evaluation. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 14 (3): 229?232. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2005/023)
Miccio, A. and Scarpino, S. (2008). Phonological analysis, phonological processes. In M. J. Ball, M. R. Perkins, N. Müller and S. Howard (eds), The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, 412?422. Oxford: Blackwell.
Morrison, J. A. and Shriberg L. D. (1992). Articulation testing versus conversational speech sampling. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 35 (2): 259?273.
Newton, C. and Wells, B. (1999). The development of between-word processes in the connected speech or children aged between 3 and 7. In B. Maassen and P. Groenen (eds), Pathologies of Speech and Language: Advances in Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 67?75. London: Whurr.
Pascoe, M., Stackhouse, J. and Wells, B. (2006). Persisting Speech Difficulties in Children. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Peters, A. M. (1977). Language learning strategies: Does the whole equal the sum of the parts? Language 53 (3): 560?573. doi:10.2307/413177
Rosewarne, D. (1984). Estuary English – tomorrow’s RP? English Today 37, 10 (1): 3?8.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A. and Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematic for the organisation of turn-taking in conversation. Language 50 (4): 696?735. doi:10.2307/412243
Shockey, L. (2003). Sound Patterns of Spoken English. Malden, MA, USA: Blackwell Publishers. doi:10.1002/9780470758397
Shriberg, L. D., Austin, D., Lewis, B. A., McSweeny, J. L. and Wilson, D. L. (1997). The Per centage of Consonants Correct (PCC) metric: Extensions and reliability data. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 40 (4): 708?722.
Shriberg, L. D., Kwiatkowski, J. and Hoffman, K. (1984). A procedure for phonetic transcription by consensus. Journal of Speech & Hearing Research 27: 456?465.
Skahan, S., Watson, M. and Lof, G. L. (2007). Speech-language pathologists’ assessment practices for children with suspected speech sound disorders: Results of a national survey. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 16: 246?259. doi:10.1044/1058-0360(2007/029)
Sprigg, R. K. (1957). Junction in spoken Burmese. In R. K. Sprigg Studies in Linguistic Analysis, 104-138. Oxford: Blackwell.
Stackhouse, R. J. (1997). Phonological awareness: connecting speech and literacy problems. In B. W. Hodson and M. L. Edwards (eds) Perspectives in Applied Phonology, 157?196. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
Stackhouse, R. J., Vance, M., Pascoe, M. and Wells, B. (2007). Compendium of Auditory and Speech Tasks: Children’s Speech and Literacy Difficulties, Book 4. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Stemberger, J. P. (1988). Between-word processes in child phonology. Journal of Child Language 15 (1): 39?61. doi:10.1017/S0305000900012046
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011). Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38 (10): 1?34. doi:10.1017/S0305000910000425
Stoel-Gammon, C. and Sosa, A. (2007). Phonological development. In E. Hoff and M. Schatz (eds) Blackwell Handbook of Language Development, 238?256. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Thompson, J. and Howard, S. (2007). Word juncture behaviours in young children’s spontaneous speech production. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 21 (11?12): 895?899. doi:10.1080/02699200701600221
Vance, M., Stackhouse, J. and Wells, B. (2005). Speech production skills in children aged 3?7 years. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 40 (1): 29?48. doi:10.1080/13682820410001716172
Wells, B. (1994). Junction in developmental speech disorder: A case study. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics 8 (1): 1?25. doi:10.1080/02699209408985572
Wells, B. and Stackhouse, J. (1997). Connected Speech Problems and Developmental Dyslexia: A Case Study. Presented at the International Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics Assocation 6th Conference, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 11?15 October 1997.
Williams, A. L. (2003). Speech Disorders Resource Guide for Preschool Children. San Diego, CA: Singular.
Williams, A. L. (2005). Assessment, target selection, and intervention: Dynamic interactions within a systemic perspective. Topics in Language Disorders, 25 (3): 231?242. doi: 10.1097/00011363-200507000-00006
Yorkston, K. M., Strand, E. A. and Kennedy, M. R. T. (1996). Comprehensibility of dysarthric speech: Implications for assessment and treatment planning. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology 5 (1): 55?66.
Published
2011-07-25
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Speake, J., Howard, S., & Vance, M. (2011). Intelligibility in Children with Persisting Speech Disorders: A Case Study. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders, 2(1), 131-151. https://doi.org/10.1558/jircd.v2i1.131
