Voice Quality, Articulation, Nasality, Prosody and Overall Intelligibility in the Speech of Subjects with Hearing Impairment

In early infancy, hearing loss significantly affects the development and intelligibility of speech in children with hearing impairment. Assuming that both speech and voice disorders occur in the speech of hearing-impaired speakers, the present study will 1) analyse the speech and overall intelligibility of 91 hearing-impaired speakers (from ages 5 to 23, M = 13 years, 56% males, 44% female) who exhibit an average hearing loss of air conductivity of 99 dB (SD = 19.48); 2) compare latent space in the hearing impaired (HI) subjects’ speech and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (known as ICF) speech and voice functions to determine whether they overlap partially or totally; 3) investigate the presence of an autonomous factor of nasality and determine through analysis of the latent structure of speech whether nasality is a matter of articulation or phonation; and 4) investigate the correlations between derived factors and speech intelligibility of HI subjects from a closed list of words. Using principal component analysis, four relevant factors were determined that explained 65.650% of the total variance. The first prosodic factor, the fluency and rhythm of speech, explained 40.036% of the total variance, the second factor of quality of speech production (voice, articulation and resonance) explained 11.430%, the third factor of micro-chaining explained 7.970% and the fourth factor, nasality, explained 6.214%. The ICF and speech factor distributions were similar but not identical. In this study, speech can be seen in terms of four dimension factors on the micro- and macro-segmental levels: prosodic factors, voice, resonance and articulation quality and nasality. The four factors, especially the second factor of voice, resonance and articulation quality, show statistically significant correlations with the intelligibility of speech in HI subjects (p < 0.01)

Imitiranje složenih pokreta kod školske djece s poteškoćama u učenju

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) has often been overlooked both in school practice and in everyday work with children. DCD is one or all of the heterogeneous range of development disorders affecting the initiation, organization, and performance of action. The aim of this article, therefore, was to draw attention to this problem and prove how teachers of different subjects can easily recognize pupils with DCD. Prompt recognition enables fast intervention, resulting in progress in the movement abilities of pupils with DCD. Our research has shown that we can discriminate between pupils with learning difficulties and those without them on the basis of 20 tasks of the Bergès-Lézine’s Test of Imitation of Gestures. In particular, we wish to emphasize three tasks (12, 17, and 20) in which pupils had to cross the vertical midline of the body. Individuals with DCD face problems in spatial orientation and in complex imitation of gestures. Pupils can be classified into two groups (with and without motor coordination and learning difficulties) based on differences found in tasks requiring them to cross the vertical midline of the body and rotate their hands. Learning difficulties can be predicted by pupils’ performance doing such specific tasks. School teachers, especially physical education teachers, can recognize pupils with motor coordination difficulties in informal tasks, and organize appropriate psychomotor activities for them.Razvojni koordinacijski poremećaj (DCD) je često zanemaren i u radu sa školskom djecom i u svakodnevnom radu s djecom. DCD podrazumijeva jedan ili cijeli heterogeni spektar razvojnih poremećaja koji utječu na inicijaciju, organizaciju i izvedbu nekog pokreta. Cilj ovog članka bio je privući pažnju na ovaj problem i dokazati da nastavnici različitih predmeta mogu vrlo lako prepoznati učenike s razvojnim koordinacijskim poremećajem. Brzo prepoznavanje omogućuje brzu intervenciju koja rezultira napretkom u razvoju kretnih sposobnosti kod učenika s DCD-om. Ovo je istraživanje pokazalo kako je moguće razlikovati učenike s poteškoćama u učenju od ostalih učenika primjenom 20 zadataka okupljenih u Bergès-Lézineovom testu imitiranja pokreta

The structure of preliteracy competence in children aged five to seven years

Children´s early literacy development is a key contributor to later literacy skills and overall academic achievement. We have developed a set of tests that assesses preliteracy competence based on well-established foreign and Slovenian instruments or tools. A sample of 307 children aged from five to seven years were tested. A high Cronbach alpha coefficient (alpha = 0.87) indicates that the design instrument is an internally reliable instrument. This paper showcases and describes the differences in the development of preliteracy competence in different age group. The results show that children between 5 and 7 show the greatest development of the abilities to discern the initial sound, to analyse the sound, to notice the removal of sounds or syllables from a meaningless word, and to recall words on a given phoneme. Exploratory factor analysis with oblimin rotation revealed that preliteracy competence is best understood as a four-dimensional construct among children aged five to seven years. The first dimension is defined by higher-level phonological awareness, verbal memory, and rapid automatic naming, so it is metaphonology. The second factor, named perceptual language structure, expresses macro-linguistic structure (syllable, rhymes) and discrimination of words that sound similar. The third factor, named vocabulary, is saturated mostly by syllable analysis, vocabulary and word comprehension. The fourth factor is visual processing and capturing, which enable storage and refreshing of non-verbal information and the discrimination of symbols. The differences in development of preliteracy competency indicate intervention in the following areas: phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory, visual processing (discrimination and short-term memory) and vocabulary knowledge

International classroom studies of inclusive practices: Comparing teaching-learning processes

In B. Johnsen (Ed.), International Classroom Studies of Inclusive Practises : Comparing Teaching-Learning Processe

Tutorial:Speech assessment for multilingual children who do not speak the same language(s) as the speech-language pathologist

Purpose: The aim of this tutorial is to support speech language pathologists (SLPs) undertaking assessments of multilingual children with suspected speech sound disorders, particularly children who speak languages that are not shared with their SLP. Method: The tutorial was written by the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, which comprises 46 researchers (SLPs, linguists, phoneticians, and speech scientists) who have worked in 43 countries and used 27 languages in professional practice. Seventeen panel members met for a 1-day workshop to identify key points for inclusion in the tutorial, 26 panel members contributed to writing this tutorial, and 34 members contributed to revising this tutorial online (some members contributed tomore than 1 task). Results: This tutorial draws on international research evidence and professional expertise to provide a comprehensive overview of working with multilingual children with suspected speech sound disorders. This overview addresses referral, case history, assessment, analysis, diagnosis, and goal setting and the SLP’s cultural competence and preparation for working with interpreters and multicultural support workers and dealing with organizational and government barriers to and facilitators of culturally competent practice. Conclusion: The issues raised in this tutorial are applied in a hypothetical case study of an English-speaking SLP’s assessment of a multilingual Cantonese-and English-speaking 4-year-old boy. Resources are listed throughout the tutorial.Australian Research Council: FT0990588United States Department of Health & Human Services National Institutes of Health (NIH) - USA NIH National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD

Logopedsko ocenjevanje v večjezični situaciji : vabljeno predavanje v okviru strokovnega srečanja ob Evropskem dnevu logopedije

Če smo tradicionalno govorili o večjezičnosti izključno takrat, ko je človek govoril več jezikov, danes razumemo pojem dvojezičnosti veliko širše, torej tudi kadar oseba uporablja več različic istega jezika (npr. narečje in zborni jezik). Z nevrolingvističnega vidika se namreč obe različici organizirata ločeno, kot da bi šlo za dva jezika. Zato lahko rečemo, da smo praktično vsi govorci (bolj ali manj) večjezični. Teorije omenjajo vzporedno, zaporedno in komplementarno oziroma enakovredno dvojezičnost, dvojezičnost v obliki prave dvojezičnosti (dva različna jezikovna sistema) ali pa dvojezičnost v obliki enojezične diglosije (dva nivoja istega jezika), pol-jezičnost ipd