Lingual articulation in children with developmental speech disorders

This thesis presents thirteen research papers published between 1987-97, and a summary and discussion of their contribution to the field of developmental speech disorders. The publications collectively constitute a body of work with two overarching themes. The first is methodological: all the publications report articulatory data relating to tongue movements recorded using the instrumental technique of electropalatography (EPG). The second is the clinical orientation of the research: the EPG data are interpreted throughout for the purpose of informing the theory and practice of speech pathology. The majority of the publications are original, experimental studies of lingual articulation in children with developmental speech disorders. At the same time the publications cover a broad range of theoretical and clinical issues relating to lingual articulation including: articulation in normal speakers, the clinical applications of EPG, data analysis procedures, articulation in second language learners, and the effect of oral surgery on articulation. The contribution of the publications to the field of developmental speech disorders of unknown origin, also known as phonological impairment or functional articulation disorder, is summarised and discussed. In total, EPG data from fourteen children are reported. The collective results from the publications do not support the cognitive/linguistic explanation of developmental speech disorders. Instead, the EPG findings are marshalled to build the case that specific deficits in speech motor control can account for many of the diverse speech error characteristics identified by perceptual analysis in previous studies. Some of the children studied had speech motor deficits that were relatively discrete, involving, for example, an apparently isolated difficulty with tongue tiplblade groove formation for sibilant targets. Articulatory difficulties of the 'discrete' or specific type are consistent with traditional views of functional lingual articulation in developmental speech disorders articulation disorder. EPG studies of tongue control in normal adults provided insights into a different type of speech motor control deficit observed in the speech of many of the children studied. Unlike the children with discrete articulatory difficulties, others produced abnormal EPG patterns for a wide range of lingual targets. These abnormal gestures were characterised by broad, undifferentiated tongue-palate contact, accompanied by variable approach and release phases. These 'widespread', undifferentiated gestures are interpreted as constituting a previously undescribed form of speech motor deficit, resulting from a difficulty in controlling the tongue tip/blade system independently of the tongue body. Undifferentiated gestures were found to result in variable percepts depending on the target and the timing of the particular gesture, and may manifest as perceptually acceptable productions, phonological substitutions or phonetic distortions. It is suggested that discrete and widespread speech motor deficits reflect different stages along a developmental or severity continuum, rather than distinct subgroups with different underlying deficits. The children studied all manifested speech motor control deficits of varying degrees along this continuum. It is argued that it is the unique anatomical properties of the tongue, combined with the high level of spatial and temporal accuracy required for tongue tiplblade and tongue body co-ordination, that put lingual control specifically at risk in young children. The EPG findings question the validity of assumptions made about the presence/absence of speech motor control deficits, when such assumptions are based entirely on non-instrumental assessment procedures. A novel account of the sequence of acquisition of alveolar stop articulation in children with normal speech development is proposed, based on the EPG data from the children with developmental speech disorders. It is suggested that broad, undifferentiated gestures may occur in young normal children, and that adult-like lingual control develops gradually through the processes of differentiation and integration. Finally, the EPG fmdings are discussed in relation to two recent theoretical frameworks, that of psycho linguistic models and a dynamic systems approach to speech acquisition

Обучение иностранным языкам детей с дефектами звукопроизношения

The article deals with the problems of inclusive education and foreign language learning for children with speech disorders. It analyzes the causes of speech disorders in order to choose the methods of teaching such children foreign languages. The study of the types of speech disorders offers directions of correctional-pedagogic work in the foreign languages for teaching preschoolers with speech disorders, to overcome difficulties in foreign language learning at school.В статье рассматриваются проблемы инклюзивного образования и обучения иностранным языкам детей с нарушениями речи. Анализируются причины нарушения речи при выборе методики обучения детей иностранным языкам. В результате исследования видов нарушения речи, предлагаются направления коррекционно-педагогической работы по обучению иностранному языку дошкольников, имеющих нарушения речи, для преодоления трудностей в освоении программного уровня обучения английскому языку в школе

Primary school pupils with speech disorders (Spoken and written language)

The present study aims to investigate speech disorders among bilingual pupils and to assess their performance in primary school according to the didactic and pedagogical methods of education. In particular, we investigate: a) speech disorders among culturally different pupils in primary school, b) whether and to what extent they affect pupils’ school performance according to the goals of modern education in primary school and c) factors that influence speech disorders in combination with bilingual pupils’ school performance

Primary school pupils with speech disorders (Spoken and written language)

The present study aims to investigate speech disorders among bilingual pupils and to assess their performance in primary school according to the didactic and pedagogical methods of education. In particular, we investigate: a) speech disorders among culturally different pupils in primary school, b) whether and to what extent they affect pupils’ school performance according to the goals of modern education in primary school and c) factors that influence speech disorders in combination with bilingual pupils’ school performance

Primary school pupils with speech disorders (Spoken and written language)

The present study aims to investigate speech disorders among bilingual pupils and to assess their performance in primary school according to the didactic and pedagogical methods of education. In particular, we investigate: a) speech disorders among culturally different pupils in primary school, b) whether and to what extent they affect pupils’ school performance according to the goals of modern education in primary school and c) factors that influence speech disorders in combination with bilingual pupils’ school performance

Factors associated with speech, hearing and language disorders among children in a primary care outpatient center

Introduction: Appropriate communication behaviors are developed when the complex language processes are well-balanced. Objective: To investigate the occurrence of hearing and speech disorders and their associated factors in children. Methods: Study based on interviews with secondary informants of 95 children of a waiting list  for a medical  consultant in a public pediatric primary care unit in a medium-sized city in southern Brazil. The interaction between the independent variables: gender, age, hearing complaints, bottle feeding and/or pacifier and number of siblings with the dependents variables: speech disorders and hearing impairment was verified. Data analysis included descriptive and analytical statistics (bivariate chi-square and Fisher's Exact test) with significance level at 5% (p ≤ 0.05). Results: Seventy-nine (83.2%) respondents reported that the child hears well, and 16 (16.8%) didn’t answer on this issue. The prevalence of oral breathing among respondents was 68.9% (62 children), 82,5% (52  children) had a history of breastfeeding and 22% (11 children) demonstrated signs of a speech disorder.  Of school-age children, 3 (12.5%) reported learning difficulties. Mouth breathing appears to be associated with speech disorders (p = 0.041). Sex (p= 0.3), age (p = 0.3) and pacifier use and/or bottle (p = 0.96, p = 0.33) were not associated with speech disorders. Conclusion: The prevalence of speech disorders in the children studied was 22%. The sex, age or suspected hearing impairment were not associated with the occurrence of speech disorders and/or hearing complaints in the children studied

CDIS 833 Motor Speech Disorders

Course syllabus for CDIS 833 Motor Speech Disorders Course description: This course consists primarily of investigation of the motor speech disorders resulting from various types of neurological impairment. Topics discussed include differential diagnosis and remediation of the dysarthrias, apraxia, and cerebral palsy

Psychological aspects of violations of speech in children with autism

В статті розглядається проблема порушення мовлення у дітей з аутизмом. Проаналізовано вікові, функціональні та видові аспекти порушення мовлення, окреслено порушення комунікативної та мисленнєвої функцій мовлення, визначено специфічні причини порушення мовлення та запропоновано структуру дефекту при аутизміВ статье рассматривается проблема нарушения речи у детей с аутизмом. Проанализированы возрастные, функциональные и видовые аспекты нарушения речи, изложены нарушения коммуникативной и мыслительной функций речи, определены специфические причины нарушения речи и предложена структура дефекта при аутизмеThe article addresses the problem of speech disorders in children with autism. Analyzed age, functional and specific aspects of speech disorders, outlines violations of intellectual and communicative functions of speech, defined by specific causes speech disorders and proposed structure of defects in autis

Reliability of single-subject neural activation patterns in speech production tasks

Traditional group fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) analyses are not designed to detect individual differences that may be crucial to better understanding speech disorders. Single-subject research could therefore provide a richer characterization of the neural substrates of speech production in development and disease. Before this line of research can be tackled, however, it is necessary to evaluate whether healthy individuals exhibit reproducible brain activation across multiple sessions during speech production tasks. In the present study, we evaluated the reliability and discriminability of cortical functional magnetic resonance imaging data from twenty neurotypical subjects who participated in two experiments involving reading aloud mono- or bisyllabic speech stimuli. Using traditional methods like the Dice and intraclass correlation coefficients, we found that most individuals displayed moderate to high reliability, with exceptions likely due to increased head motion in the scanner. Further, this level of reliability for speech production was not directly correlated with reliable patterns in the underlying average blood oxygenation level dependent signal across the brain. Finally, we found that a novel machine-learning subject classifier could identify these individuals by their speech activation patterns with 97% accuracy from among a dataset of seventy-five subjects. These results suggest that single-subject speech research would yield valid results and that investigations into the reliability of speech activation in people with speech disorders are warranted.Accepted manuscrip