Speech Sound Disorder #3

Speech Perception

• During the first year, environment shapes infant’s speech perception mechanism

• Once infants transition to toddlerhood, toddlers experience a new challenge of speaking using advanced speech perception abilities

Speech Production

• During the first few months of the first year, early sound making is a byproduct of breathing in and out and learning to shape the “filter” that is the vocal tract

• In their second year, children work on building their expressive vocabulary, or the meaningful words a child can produce

• We, as SLPs, focus on analyzing toddler’s speech consonant development in two ways:

  • Constant inventories

  • Consonant correct

Phonetic Inventories

list of the speech elements a child can spontaneously produce

Consonant Inventories

• Phonetic inventories

• An SLP could also collect an inventory of other speech aspects, such as vowel, stress, and syllable shapes

• The inventory only informs the SLP which speech sounds (or other aspects) the child uses, not whether they use these accurately or to form true words

• A phonetic inventory is therefore referred to as an independent analysis, independent because the SLP is not yet specifying the correctness relative to an adult production of a sound or word

• This method of analysis focuses on what a child CAN do versus what a child CANNOT do

15 months (consonant inventories)

Position:

• Initial: 3 consonants - b, d, h

• Final: 0

18 months (consonant inventories)

Position:

• Initial: 6 - b, d, m, n, h, w

• Final: 1 - t

24 months (consonant inventories)

Position:

• Initial: 11 - b, d, g, t, k, m, n, h, w, f, s

• Final: 6 - p, t, k, n, r, s

Correct Consonants

• The second method of analyzing a toddler’s speech is to assess the number of correct consonants produced

• This method relies on a comparison to adult language

• This comparison is referred to as a relational analysis

  • Under 2 years of age, toddlers produce [m, n, h, w, p, b] correctly in at least two different word positions

  • By 24 months of age, a toddler’s list of correct consonants may expand to [m, n, h, w, p, b, ŋ, t, k, d, g]

  • Also, about 24 months, approximately 70% of consonants are produced correctly

  • Stops and glides predominate, with a few fricatives, and this pattern is found across 27 different languages

15 months (consonant inventories: relationship between development and articulator distance)

Stops: b, d

Glides: h

18 months (consonant inventories: relationship between development and articulator distance)

Stops: b, d

Glides: h

24 months (consonant inventories: relationship between development and articulator distance)

Stops: b, d, g, t, k, m, n, ŋ

Fricatives: f, s

Glides: h, w

Endpoints and Midpoints

• Toddler’s first consonants tend to be endpoints, primarily stops and glides

• These endpoints can be viewed as a continuum of distance between articulators

• Stops lie at one end with complete closure between articulators

• Whereas glides lie at the other end of the continuum with so much distance between articulators as to almost be vowels

• Then, relatively speaking, affricates, fricative, and liquids are midpoint sound classes

Under 24 months (Consonant Correct: relationship between development and articulator distance)

• Stops: b, p, m, n

• Glides: h, w

24 months (Consonant Correct: relationship between development and articulator distance)

• Stops: b, d, g, p, t,  ŋ

• Glides: h, w

Vowels (speech production)

• Toddlers are often more advanced in vowel development than in consonant development

• Early acquisitions include “corners” such as the vowels [ i, u, a, a (the back one]

• Mid vowels develop and are mastered somewhat later than open and closed pure vowels

• Between 1;6 and 1;11 a toddler correctly produces 80% of nonrhotic vowels (non-/r/ vowel sounds)

Syllables (speech perception)

• Open syllables predominate early in the second year, these syllables end in a vowel sound

• Toddler shows improved ability to close syllables with consonant at the end of the second year, closer to 36 months, using typically a nasal sound or voiceless stop

Stress (Speech Production)

• Words containing single syllable predominate

• Multisyllabic words often consist of two syllables and have primary stress on first syllable

• e.g., [nana] for banana

A preschooler’s confusion appears to result from:

• speed and hidden nature of speech (as we discussed previously)

• misperceptions

• inattention

• simplified, not yet learned knowledge of speech and vocabulary

Speech Production (preschoolers)

• Preschoolers are better speech learners than adults

• Developments in speech production from 2-5 years occurs in:

  • Consonants and consonant clusters

  • Vowels

  • Syllables

  • Stress

Consonants and Consonant Clusters

• Child masters all but the most challenging consonants of their language

• correct productions

• Child masters midpoint consonants

• Children acquire consonants in all sound classes

• 50% of children acquire consonant clusters by their fifth birthday

2;0 - 2;11 (typical age of acquisition of english consonants by children in the U.S.)

[b, n, m, p, h, w, d]

3;0-3;11 (typical age of acquisition of english consonants by children in the U.S.)

[g, k, f, t, ŋ, j]

4;0-4;11 (typical age of acquisition of english consonants by children in the U.S.)

[v, ʤ, s, ʧ, l, ʃ, z]

5;0-5;11 (typical age of acquisition of english consonants by children in the U.S.)

[ɹ ð ʒ]

6;0-6;11 (typical age of acquisition of english consonants by children in the U.S.)

[θ]

3;0 (Age of Acquisition (50%) of consonant cluster in word-initial position)

[tw kw]

3; 6 (Age of Acquisition (50%) of consonant cluster in word-initial position)

[sp st sk sm sn sw sl pl bl kl gl fl bɹ fɹ skw]

4;0 (Age of Acquisition (50%) of consonant cluster in word-initial position)

[pɹ dɹ ɹ]

4;6 (Age of Acquisition (50%) of consonant cluster in word-initial position)

[gɹ]

5;0 (Age of Acquisition (50%) of consonant cluster in word-initial position)

[tɹ θɹ spl spɹ stɹ skɹ]

Speech errors

• A preschooler’s speech production system lags behind speech perception system

• Preschoolers discover ways to say sounds and combinations they struggle to pronounce

  • Deleting part of a word

  • Replacing a consonant

  • Making sounds more similar within a word

Phonological patterns

• Occur in speech of toddlers and preschoolers

• Focus primarily on consonants

• Typical errors vs less common errors

Place changes

• fronting, velar assimilation, labial assimilation, backing, glottal replacement

Manner changes

• stopping, gliding, lateralization, affrication, nasalitation

Sound reversals

metathesis

Consonant cluster changes

• cluster reduction

• epenthesis

Vowels

• standardized instruments do not adequately assess vowels

• Correct productions

  • Children typically acquire vowels earlier than consonants

  • Vowel development complete by 3 years

Speech Errors

• speech of 24-65% of children less than 3 contain vowel errors

• extensive or inconsistent vowel errors are a hallmark of CAS

• Entire syllable: reduplication, syllable deletion

• Beginning of syllables: prevocalic voicing, initial consonant deletion

• End of syllables: final consonant devoicing, final consonant deletion

Phonological patterns

• Vowel neutralization

• Vocalization

Correct productions

• Syllables develop rapidly

• Beginning of preschool period

• CV likely the most frequently occurring syllable

• Onset and rhymes become increasingly diverse

Correct productions (Stress)

• Acquisition of stress patterns shows major development

• Early preschoolers show mastery of their speech mechanisms to allow words beginning with unstressed syllables

• Three syllable words become more common

Speech errors (stress)

• May delete syllables or resort to excessive or equal stress

• Difficulties with stress may be central challenges for preschooler or student with CAS

Sound Communication

• What a preschooler learns

  • Expressive vocab: preschooler speaks thousands of words

  • Syntax and morphology: preschooler puts words in sentences and modifies word and sentence meaning

• How a preschooler learns

  • Perspectives: bonding, speech input, routines, brain development

  • Social: small world vs larger world

  • Effect of an expanding world: helps preschooler put words together in longer strings 

Integrated by 3

• Denasalization

• Doubling 

• Assimilation

• Diminutization

• Reduplication

• Prevocalic voicing

• Final consonant devoicing

• Stopping the /f/ and /s/ phonemes 

Integrated by 4

• Final consonant deletion

• Fronting

• Consonant Assimilation

• Unstressed syllable deletion

• Deaffrication

• Stopping /v/, /z/, /sh/, /ch/, and /j/

Integrated by age 5

• Alveolarization

• Depalatalization

• Stopping /th/

Integrated by age 6

• Gliding

• Labialization

Integrated by 8

Epenthesis

Alveolarization

substitution of an alveolar phoneme for labial or linguodental phoneme: doan form bone and bas for bath

Assimilation (consonant harmony)

alteration of a consonant phoneme that is influenced by, and become more like, a surrounding phoneme: beb for bed and dun for gun

Backing

subsitution of a more posteriorly produced phoneme for an anteriorly produced phoneme: kop for top, boak for boat, and houp for soup

Cluster Reduction

reduction of a cluster to a single phoneme: pene for plane, tuck for truck, seep for sleep

Coalescence

substitution of a single phoneme that is different from two adjacent target phaonemes yet takes on features of the target: foke for smoke, tufe for Tuesday, lath for last

Deaffrication

substitution of a fricative for an afficate phoneme: ship for chip, sheeze for cheese

Dentalization

substitution of a homorganic stop (one with a similar place of articulation) for nasal phoneme: do for no and bad for man and sig for sing

Depalalization

substitution of an alveolar frication or affricate for palaral fricative or afficate: jue for cue and wats for watch and fis for fish

Diminutization

addiction of /i/ or consonant + /i/: legi for leg or hati for hat

Doubling

Repetition of a word: gogo for go or dada for dad or mimi for me

Epenthesis

Insertion of a new phoneme: balue for blue or klolor for color

Final consonant deletion

deletion of the final consonant: cu for cup, dah for doll or dah for dog

Fronting

substitution of a more anteriorly placed phonemes: su for shoe or frawd for frog or tandy for candy

Gliding

substitution of a glide for a liquid: pway for play, wun for run, yewo for yellow

Initial Consonant Deletion

Deletion of the initial consonant in a word: up for cup or ool for pool

Labialization

substitution of labial phoneme for a phoneme produced with the tip of the tongue: bawg for dog or haf for hat or fun with sun

Metathesis (spoonerism)

transposition of two phonemes: bakit for basket or casaketi for spaghetti or likstipfor lipstick

Reduplication

repetition of a complete or incomplete syllable: wawa for water, dada for dog, kaka for cat, or baba for bottle

Stopping

substitution of a stop for a fricative or affricate: toap or soap or cat for catch or puddle for puzzle

Stridency Deletion

omission of a strident or the substitution of a nonstrident consonant: oap for soap, wan for fun, kith for kiss or no for snow

Unstressed syllable deletion

deletion of unstressed syllables: gedi for spagetti or nana for banana

Voicing or Devoicing

alteration in voicing influenced by a surrounding phoneme: jahp for job or baeg or gup for cup

Vocalization (Vowelization)

substitution of a vowel for a liqyid in the final position: cuvah for cover or pipo for people or he-ah for hair

Speech perception

• misperceptions continue during school years and into adulthood

• some misperceptions appear to arise from the nature of speech (i.e., fast, complex, and largely hidden)

• Other misperceptions may arise from limited knowledge of discourse and societal nuances (i.e., sarcasm, word/vocabulary interpretation)

• Students with speech sound disorders more likely than peers to experience ongoing difficulties in speech perception

• By behinning of school, many students have mastered major areas of speech production

• Further speech development continues from all students in the area of:

  • Late consonants and the “r” vowel (ɚ, ɝ, ɹ and consonant blends with these)

  • Consonsant clusters

  • Difficult, multi-syllabic words

Late Consonants and [r] Colored Vowels

• 92% of school clinicians treat late consonants and [r] colored vowels

• Speech language treatment may assist English language learners

• Consonants typically acquired by children 4+ years

A student with speech challenges may experience challenges articulatory control:

● Stick out the tongue and hiss: to produce the voiced and unvoiced [θ] and [ð] sounds, place your tongue tip minimally between the teeth and allow air to flow centrally over the tongue tip
● Hiss behind teeth: to produce the [s] and [z], place your tongue tip close enough behind your top or bottom front teeth to make a “hiss” sound, but do not touch your teeth
● Raise tongue blade: to produce [ʃ] and [ʒ], raise your tongue blade close enough to the roof of your mouth to produce a hiss, but do not touch your teeth, allow air to flow medially across the tongue tip
● Stop and start: the affricates [tʃ] and [dʒ] coalesce a stop and a fricative in one single consonant
● Over the sides: the liquids [ɹ] and [l] can present special challenges to some students, in that the [l] sound is the only speech sound in which air flow is over the sides of the tongue, and [ɹ] involves requiring one to “bunch” their tongue body and/or curl the back of the tongue tip
● Retract tongue root: [ɹ] colored vowels involve producing a vowel while retracting the root of the tongue

Speech production (speech errors)

• Students with challenges affecting later sound development often make the same speech errors as preschoolers

• Speech errors may approximate the correct placement, but are not quite precise (formally known as distortions)

• Most SLPs are likely to encounter:

Lisp - an alveolar consonant such as a fricative may be pronounced on or between the teeth, or with air flowing over the sides of the tongue, creating a lateral lisp
○ Lateralize - a student may pronounce [s] or [z] or sometimes [ʃ] or [tʃ] with lateral air emission, either over one side or both sides of the tongue
○ Bladed - a student may pronounce [s] and [z] and sometimes [l] by raising the tongue blade rather than raising or lowering the tongue tip
○ Derhoticized - a student may pronounce an [ɹ]- colored vowel without the [ɹ] , resulting in a schwa vowel, called derhoticization
○ Lip rounding - a student may pronounce an [ɹ]- colored vowel with lip rounding, lending to a [w] like quality

Lisp

an alveolar consonant such as a fricative may be pronounced on or between the teeth, or with air flowing over the sides of the tongue, creating a lateral lisp

Lateralize

a student may pronounce [s] or [z] or sometimes [ʃ] or [tʃ] with lateral air emission, either over one side or both sides of the tongue

Bladed

a student may pronounce [s] and [z] and sometimes [l] by raising the tongue blade rather than raising or lowering the tongue tip

Derhoticized

a student may pronounce an [ɹ]- colored vowel without the [ɹ] , resulting in a schwa vowel, called derhoticization

Lip rounding 

a student may pronounce an [ɹ]- colored vowel with lip rounding, lending to a [w] like quality