Speech-Sound Disorders Overview

Articulation Disorders

  • Refers to impairments in the production of specific phonemes.
    • Involves a few phonemes, which may be linked to difficulties in motor or sensory aspects of speech production.

Phonological Disorders

  • Characterized by difficulties in understanding and applying the rules governing speech sound combinations in connected speech.
    • Outcomes include poor intelligibility and the presence of specific error patterns and phonological processes.

Testing Methods

Articulation Testing
  • Focuses on:
    • Individual words and some spontaneous speech.
    • Types of errors:
    • Distortions
    • Substitutions
    • Omissions
    • Additions
Phonological Testing
  • Involves:
    • Assessing connected speech.
    • Identifying error patterns and simplifications known as phonological processes.
Phonetic Transcription
  • Required for both articulation and phonological testing to accurately document speech sound disorders.

Phonological Processes

  • Syllable Structure Processes: Issues with the typical syllable structure that can interfere with intelligibility (e.g., omission of final consonants).
  • Substitution Processes: One speech sound replaces another (e.g., "p" for "f").
  • Assimilatory Processes: One sound influences another sound due to proximity.
  • Idiosyncratic Processes: Unique or uncommon speech patterns not typically observed.
Detailed Processes

  • Syllable Structure Processes:

    • Missing whole syllables.
    • Examples: Final consonant deletion, cluster reduction.

  • Substitution Processes:

    • Replacement of one sound with another, such as:
    • Stopping: changing a fricative to a stop (e.g., [f] to [p]).
    • Deaffrication: replacing an affricate with a fricative (e.g., [tʃ] to [ʃ]).

  • Assimilatory Processes:

    • Changes caused by anticipating sounds, such as:
    • Alveolar assimilation: a labial sound affecting adjacent alveolar sounds.

  • Idiosyncratic Processes:

    • Examples include glottal replacement or initial consonant deletion.

Diacritics in Phonetic Transcription

  • Used to indicate atypical speech characteristics:
    • Stop Consonant Timing:
    • Unreleased stops
    • Aspirated and unaspriated versions
    • Nasality:
    • Nasalization and nasal emission
    • Denasality: failure of airflow through the nasal cavity.
    • Voicing Characteristics:
    • Voiced and devoiced sounds in typical versus atypical conditions.
    • Place of Articulation Changes:
    • Advanced/retracted or raised/lowered articulation of consonants.
    • Specific modifications such as labialization or dentalization.

Non-English Symbols in Transcription

  • Unique symbols for representing non-standard sounds:
    • Glottal replacements.
    • Various fricatives (bilabial, velar, pharyngeal).
    • Stopping sounds and approximants like ejectives and implosives.