Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann

Effects on L1 During Early Acquisition of L2: Speech Changes in Spanish at First English Contact

Spanish phonological development was examined in six sequential bilingual children at the point of contact with English and eight months later. We explored effects of the English vowel and consonant inventory on Spanish. Children showed a significant increase in consonant cluster accuracy and in vowel errors. These emerging sequential bilingual children showed effects of English on their first language, Spanish. Cross-linguistic transfer did not affect all properties of the phonology equally. Negative transfer may occur in specific areas where the second language is more complex, requiring reorganization of the existing system, as in the transition from the Spanish five-vowel to the English eleven-vowel system.

Motor-Based Intervention Protocols in Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)

This paper reviews current trends in treatment for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), with a particular emphasis on motor-based intervention protocols. The paper first briefly discusses how CAS fits into the typology of speech sound disorders, which is followed by a discussion of the potential relevance of principles derived from the motor learning literature for CAS treatment. Next, various motor-based treatment protocols are reviewed, along with their evidence base. The paper concludes with a summary and discussion of future research needs.

Cross-linguistic generalization in the treatment of two sequential Spanish–English bilingual children with speech sound disorders

Abstract Purpose. The effect of bilingual service delivery on treatment of speech sound disorders (SSDs) in bilingual children is largely unknown. Bilingual children with SSDs are typically provided intervention in only one language, although research suggests dual-language instruction for language disorders is best practice for bilinguals. This study examined cross-linguistic generalization of bilingual intervention in treatment of two 5-year-old sequential bilingual boys with SSDs (one with Childhood Apraxia of Speech), hypothesizing that selecting and treating targets in both languages would result in significant overall change in their English and Spanish speech systems. Method. A multiple baseline across behaviours design was used to measure treatment effectiveness for two targets per child. Children received treatment 2–3 times per week for 8 weeks and in Spanish for at least 2 of every 3 days. Ongoing treatment performance was measured in probes in both languages; overall speech skills were compared pre- and post-treatment. Result. Both childrens speech improved in both languages with similar magnitude; there was improvement in some non-treated errors. Conclusion. Treating both languages had an overall positive effect on these bilingual childrens speech. Future bilingual intervention research should explore alternating treatments designs, efficiency of monolingual vs bilingual treatment, different language and bilingual backgrounds, and between-group comparisons.

Syllabic patterns in the early vocalizations of Quichua children

To understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless of language environment and the early appearance of production effects based on perceptual learning from the ambient language requires the study of languages with diverse phonological properties. Few studies have evaluated early phonological acquisition patterns of children in non-Indo-European language environments. In the current study, across- and within-syllable consonant–vowel co-occurrence patterns in babbling were analyzed for a 6-month period for seven Ecuadorean Quichua learning children who were between 9 and 17 months of age at study onset. Their babbling utterances were compared to the babbling of six English-learning children between 9 and 22 months of age. Child patterns for both languages were compared with Quichua and English ambient language patterns. Babbling output was highly similar for the child groups: Quichua and English childrens babbling demonstrated similar predicted within-syllable (coronal-front vowel, labial-central vowel, dorsal-back vowel) patterns, and across-syllable manner variegation patterns for consonants. These patterns were observed at significantly greater rates in the child groups than in the respective adult language input patterns, suggesting production system influences common to children across languages rather than ambient language perceptual learning effects during these childrens babbling period.

Bilingualism and Speech Sound Disorders

The nature of speech sound development and disorders in bilinguals is complex, in part, because of the interdependence between languages. That interdependence, however, appears to be advantageous to bilinguals in that it bootstraps the languages such that speech sound development is similar, although not identical, to that of monolinguals. The same principle also applies to bilinguals with speech sound disorders. From a longitudinal perspective, speech sound acquisition in typically developing bilinguals and those with speech sound disorders is not remarkably different than that of monolinguals. However, speech sound skills are neither identical across the languages nor equally distributed across the languages given each language’s phonotactic constraints. Thus, assessing speech sound skills in bilinguals is more complex than that for monolinguals. Typically, standardized assessments are not available for differential diagnosis, and informal measures are required. Intervention for bilinguals with speech sound disorders likely will need to occur in all languages.