Monica Medeiros de Britto Pereira

Aquisição fonológica de crianças de classe sócio econômica alta

PURPOSE: to investigate phonological acquisition in population of children with normal development. METHODS: the participants of this study were 240 children of both genders, between 3 and 8-year old. Data were analyzed with respect to age and gender. RESULTS: the results allow to conclude that at the age of 3 the phonemes /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /m/, and /n/ are already acquired and stabilized in the phonological system of the children. Also the phonemes /f/, /v/, /s/, /ʃ/, /z/, /ʒ/, /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ and the affricates [tʃ]e[dʒ] are already acquired at that age although we found a great production variability between children. The acquisition of the phoneme /ɾ/ occurs initially in simple onset (age 4) and afterwards in complex onset (age 5), the acquisition of the phoneme /l/ in simple onset occurs at age 3 and in complex onset at age 4 and the phoneme /R/ in simple onset is acquired at age of 3 and in final position at the age of 4. CONCLUSION: as for the total number of phonemes acquired, it can be concluded that from the age of 3 many children have a complete phonetic inventory, there is a great variability among children. As far as PCC and PCC-R is concerned, the mean percentage of correct consonants increases significantly and gradually while age increases. With regard to gender, not a single significant difference was found for any of the analyses performed in the current study.

Análise dos processos fonológicos em crianças com desenvolvimento fonológico normal

Purpose: The aim of this study was to verify the use of phonological processes in a group of children with normal phonological development. Methods: The participants were 240 children of both genders, aged between three and eight years. Analyses regarding phonological processes were carried out, and the data were compared considering age and gender. Results: The results allowed the conclusion that at the ages of three, four and five years the most frequently used processes were cluster reduction, lateralization, and final consonant deletion. Metathesis was the second most frequently used process at the age of six, and the third at the age of seven. Concerning the number of phonological processes used at each age range, three-year-old children used at least two processes, and from the age of four onward the minimum number of processes dropped to zero, while the maximum number and the mean number of processes gradually decreased with increasing age. Regarding gender, not a single significant difference was found for any of the analyses performed in the current study. Conclusions: The data obtained in this study evidenced the difficulties found by normally developing children in the production of liquid phonemes and complex syllabic structures.PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to verify the use of phonological processes in a group of children with normal phonological development. METHODS: The participants were 240 children of both genders, aged between three and eight years. Analyses regarding phonological processes were carried out, and the data were compared considering age and gender. RESULTS: The results allowed the conclusion that at the ages of three, four and five years the most frequently used processes were cluster reduction, lateralization, and final consonant deletion. Metathesis was the second most frequently used process at the age of six, and the third at the age of seven. Concerning the number of phonological processes used at each age range, three-year-old children used at least two processes, and from the age of four onward the minimum number of processes dropped to zero, while the maximum number and the mean number of processes gradually decreased with increasing age. Regarding gender, not a single significant difference was found for any of the analyses performed in the current study. CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained in this study evidenced the difficulties found by normally developing children in the production of liquid phonemes and complex syllabic structures.

Public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro

UNLABELLED This study reports the results of an investigation of public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total number of 606 street recruited respondents answered questions on various aspects of stuttering, including prevalence, onset, gender distribution, occurrence in different cultures, cause, treatment, intelligence, and hereditariness. The questionnaire used was a Portuguese version of the one by [Van Borsel, J., Verniers, I. & Bouvry, S. (1999). Public awareness of stuttering. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 51, 124-132]. Although, stuttering is a disorder which is known to a majority of the participants, knowledge appears to be limited for certain aspects. Knowledge also differs among subgroups of participants according to gender, age and educational level. Comparison of the results of the current study with similar studies conducted in Belgium and in Shanghai, China shows several similarities but also some differences. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES The reader will be able to: (1) discuss public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (2) discuss the differences in knowledge according to gender, age and educational level and; (3) discuss similarities and differences with comparable studies run in Belgium and Shanghai, China.

Habilidade pragmática e Síndrome de Down

PURPOSE: to investigate the pragmatic abilities and their influence on the communicative use in subjects with Downs syndrome. METHODS: the pragmatic assessment (ABFW). The participants were 10 children and adolescents, male and female, from seven to 13-year old. The behavior patterns were analyzed by using the communicative functions, the communication means (vocal, gestural or verbal) and the communicative acts. Data collection was provided from a free play situation with a family member. The Kruskal Wallis test was used for statistic analysis (p < 0.05 Q1 = n/4 Q2 = n/2 Q3 =3n/4 (n = 10) First Quartile, Median, Third Quartile). RESULTS: the median of the communicative acts was 2.88. The comment and narrative functions were the more frequent among the communicative functions and the verbal was the more frequent communicative mean. All the participants used the functions: comment, recognitions of the other and game shared functions. The children and adolescents were responsible for 90% of the direction of the communication. CONCLUSION: the verbal and gestural communication means and the comment and narrative functions were the most used among the participants; mothers were responsible for just 10% of the communication direction and it was carried out predominantly by the children and adolescents that took part in the study.

Judging stuttering in an unfamiliar language: the importance of closeness to the native language.

In order to test the hypothesis that closeness to the listeners native language is a determining factor when identifying stuttering in an unfamiliar language, three panels of different linguistic background were asked to make judgements of stuttering in a sample of Dutch speakers. It was found that a panel speaking Dutch and a panel speaking English (both West Germanic languages) performed better in identifying Dutch people who stutter and people who do not stutter than a panel speaking Brazilian Portuguese (a Romance language) thus confirming the existence of a closeness of language influence. Further analysis showed that when the native language is more remote from the unfamiliar language there is the possibility of a higher risk for false positive identification.

Delayed auditory feedback and acquired neurogenic stuttering

Abstract It has been suggested that neurogenic stuttering is more pervasive and more resistant to fluency enhancing techniques than developmental stuttering. Empirical studies supporting this suggestion are scarce, however. The present study reports the use of delayed auditory feedback in a 49-year-old man who started to stutter after traumatic brain injury. Delayed auditory feedback did not have an unequivocal positive effect on speech fluency. Instead a more complex picture was seen with differential effects depending on speech mode and delay time used which moreover differed for stuttered and non-stuttered disfluencies. Findings seem to support the notion that neurogenic and developmental stuttering does not have a unifying pathology.

Características do tipo de alimentação e da fala de crianças com e sem apinhamento dentário

ABSTRACTPurpose: to characterize the kind of food consistence and speech production in children with normal occlusion and malocclusion related to tooth crowding, as well as to verify possible correlations and interferences. Methods: sixty children from 7 to 12 years old, both genders, divided in two groups: (G1) formed by thirty children with tooth crowding and (G2), the control group, formed by thirty children without tooth crowding. Exclusion criteria: neurological or cognitive problems, oral habits, mouth breathing, dento-facial deformities, orthodontic or speech and language treatment. The procedures were: oral myofunctional and speech evaluation, dentistry evaluation and the appliance of two questionnaires to the children’s parents about the child’s history and nutrition habits regarding the food consistence. Results: children without tooth crowding usually eat mainly solid food, while those with a crowding arch usually eat softened food, mostly in fl uenced by the habit of drinking while the food is still in the mouth.

Aquisição fonológica do Português Brasileiro em crianças do Rio de Janeiro

PURPOSE To describe the typical course of phonological acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese, in view of clinical usage. METHODS A picture naming test was used to collect speech samples from 480 children (240 female and 240 male) enrolled in public and private schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro, who were divided into five age groups between 3 and 8 years. Three types of analyses were conducted, and results were compared for age, gender, and socio-economic level: (1) phonological inventory analysis looking at how many and which consonants were acquired, (2) assessment of the percentage of consonants correct, and (3) phonological processes analysis. RESULTS Results clearly indicate a faster acquisition in children of higher socio-economic level than in children of lower socio-economic level. Data also indicated that age is the most important factor in phonological acquisition. The completeness of the consonant inventory, the percentage of consonants correct, and the use of phonological processes improved with increasing age, and variability among children decreased. Gender differences, however, were not observed. CONCLUSION The information collected may ultimately help speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of children with speech sound disorders.

Residual /s/ and /r/ distortions: The perspective of the speaker

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of residual distortions from the perspective of the speaker. Eighty adult speakers of Brazilian Portuguese with a distortion of the alveolar fricative /s/, the alveolar tap , or both, completed a questionnaire that documented their therapy history, awareness of the speech distortion, and perceived impact of the disorder. Only a small number of the participants reported that they received negative reactions to their speech and only a minority were of the opinion that their speech interfered with work or social life. Yet a considerable number were of the opinion that their speech was different from that of other people and felt insecure in speech situations. The results suggest that there is a high tolerance toward minor speech errors in present day society that may be related to the fact that such disorders are not at all rare.

Editorial II: sobre a revisão sistemática e a meta-análise na área da fluência

A revisao da literatura e de grande importância ao se iniciar uma pesquisa, pois e por meio dela que contextualizamos nosso trabalho dentro da area de pesquisa em questao. No entanto, para se fazer um bom levantamento de estudos ja existentes e necessario ter, em primeiro lugar, acesso a fontes de informacao con! aveis (base de dados com indexacao, livros de autores conhecidos, teses e dissertacoes). Digo em primeiro lugar porque nao adianta ter acesso a base de dados sem saber como chegar aos conteudos que darao suporte a sua pesquisa. Para isso e necessario escolher as palavras chaves corretas e essa escolha, por sua vez , e decorrente de uma questao de pesquisa bem elaborada. Mesmo assim, corremos o risco de errar ao incluir ou excluir estudos e estabelecer comparacoes entre eles e a pesquisa que estamos pretendendo conduzir.Atualmente observa-se uma tendencia a se fazer o que chamamos de revisao sistematica e meta-analise. Segundo Dollaghan