Mary Louise Edwards

Perception and production in child phonology: the testing of four hypotheses *

Perception and production data were collected from 28 children, ages 1; 8 to 3; 11, to test four specific hypotheses on the acquisition of initial fricatives and glides in English, based on the assumptions that perception precedes production and unmarked precedes marked. Perception data were collected by the Shvachkin-Garnica technique for ‘phonemic perception’. Pairs of objects are given nonsense names, CVCs differing only in the initial sound; the child is asked to perform certain actions with the named objects and if he is correct on 7 out of 10 trials he is assumed to have demonstrated phonemic perception of the opposition in question. Production data were compared to the perception data. Results only partially confirm the hypotheses and indicate that ( a ) children as late as age 3; 0 do not have complete phonemic perception, ( b ) phonemic perception develops gradually, generally in advance of production, and ( c ) the order of acquisition shows trends toward uniformity but is not universal.

Phonological characteristics of young stutterers and their normally fluent peers : preliminary observations

Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare the phonological processes exhibited by children who stutter to those exhibited by their normally fluent peers, and to relate these phonological processes to typical measures of stuttering and other speaking variables. Subject were 30 stuttering children (mean = 4 yr, 4mo) and like number of age- and sex-matched (±3 mo) normally fluent children (mean age = 4 yr, 6mo). Results indicate that the stutterers exhibited a greater number and variety of phonological processes than their normally fluent peers. Furthermore, the young stutterers also exhibited more “typical” processes than their normally fluent peers. Findings are taken to suggest that young stutterers who exhibit disordered phonology may represent a subgroup of stutterers. It is further suggested that the nature and course of remediation may be different for these children than for stutterers without disordered phonology.

Simultaneously Treating Stuttering and Disordered Phonology in ChildrenExperimental Treatment, Preliminary Findings

The purpose of this article is to describe treatment designed to simultaneously treat disordered phonology and stuttering in children who exhibit both disorders and to compare changes in stuttering...

In Support of Phonological Processes

Fey (1985; reprinted 1992, this issue) argues for using rule (or invented rule, as in Kiparsky & Menn, 1977) rather than process as a general term for children’s consistent patterns of errors. He r...

Selection Criteria for Developing Therapy Goals

Although phonological analysis of disordered speech has become very common since the late 1970s, relatively little has been written about how to use the results of a phonological analysis in planning remediation, particularly in selecting therapy targets. This paper is an attempt to fill part of that gap. After a brief review of suggestions made in the published phonological assessment procedures, several criteria for selecting target processes are presented. Next, there is a discussion of criteria to be used in selecting target sounds. In addition, some

Speed and accuracy of rapid speech output by adolescents with residual speech sound errors including rhotics

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 /pΛtΛkΛ/, 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.

Systematic development of an applied phonetics course

The process of building bridges between theory and practice can be a difficult task, and instructional developers have only begun to attempt it. Specific ways in which instructional design theories can be applied within the context of an instructional development model are described in this article. The authors chronicle and analyze the development of a course in applied phonetics which is important both for its contribution to instruction in the field of phonetics and for the way in which it utilizes many different theories of instructional design in a real instructional setting. The authors also discuss how Elaboration Theory was applied, as well as other instructional strategies and evaluation techniques.The goal of Instructional Development is to create effective and efficient instruction. This is often achieved through systematic application of appropriate instructional theories and strategies in order to solve defined instructional problems. However, the application of theory and research to practice may be difficult. While researchers in the field of instructional design and development have been working steadily to build a theory base for themselves, practitioners continue to pragmatically develop curricula, courses, and instructional materials. In many ways, the field has worked deductively to establish rationales for its activities. Linkages between the broad, inclusive theories which contain only minimal strategies for implementation and the process of solving specific instructional problems have yet to be clearly established. This article provides one illustration of how such linkages can be established by chronicling and analyzing a specific instructional development project and identifying the various theories that were used as the project evolved.

Phonological difficulties in children with autism: An overview

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and update of speech sound production difficulties in children with autism. Historically, relatively little attention has been given to speech sound production abilities in these children. Several possible reasons for the paucity of research on this topic are offered in this paper, including methodological issues. Results of earlier research showed articulatory behavior to be delayed, resembling sound production of younger typically developing children. Findings of more recent studies have shown specific phonological patterns, including typical and atypical phonological processes in some of these children. Other findings suggest that the articulatory/phonological skills in these children are relatively intact. Thus, there are conflicting results in the literature, and at this time, the fundamental speech sound behavior in these children is still not fully understood. Recent preliminary findings suggest that some children with autism who present with more severe global language impairment may also exhibit more severe phonological difficulties. Current research overall suggests that at least a subgroup of children with autism may exhibit both typical as well as atypical phonological processes, disturbances in prosody, and limited consonant inventories. Clinical implications are provided, including assessment and treatment suggestions, particularly with regards to the influence of speech sound production difficulties on overall intelligibility. Suggestions for future research are also offered.