SLT504 SSD Frameworks

Frameworks for Speech Sound Disorders

• Presented by Tom Starr-Marshall, Wrexham University

The Dreyfus Model of Learning

• Levels of Learning:

  • Novice:

    • Follows clear rules and instructions.

    • Actions are slow and rigid due to inexperience.

  • Advanced Beginner: At this point at end of Y1

    • Starts to recognize patterns and context in tasks.

    • Continues to rely on rules but gains confidence.

  • Competent: Should be here at end of first semester Y2

    • Plans and makes decisions based on accumulated experience.

    • More independent in handling complexities.

  • Proficient: Should be here at end of degree

    • Understands the overall picture of tasks and adapts quickly.

    • Performs smoothly and intuitively.

  • Expert:

    • Acts naturally and intuitively.

    • Solves problems creatively without conscious thought.

Emotional Journey in Learning

• Participants will:

  • Experience frustration with themselves and the instructor.

  • Make mistakes, emphasizing the necessity of accepting errors in the learning process.

  • Encounter moments of confusion, described as potentially mind-blowing.

  • Feel embarrassment, but should focus on collective learning experiences.

  • Engage in saying funny sounds out loud, encouraged as part of practice.

  • Work hard: Reinforces that mastery requires revisiting previous material multiple times for natural retention.

Approaches to Learning

• Active Learning:

  • Requires engagement and contemplation on the subject matter.

  • Passive approaches (listening/reading) lead to limited understanding.

• Effort Requirement:

  • Learning is self-driven; effort must be initiated by the learner.

• Creativity in Learning:

  • Use mnemonics and associations for easier recall of information.

  • Understand that real learning, such as transcription, entails retraining cognitive processes that take time.

• Practicing Effectively:

  • Frequency over Intensity: Engage with the material frequently in smaller doses to avoid burnout.

  • Use-It-or-Lose-It Principle: Cognitive skills, like transcription, require regular practice to maintain proficiency.

Learning Transcription Skills

• Components of Transcription Learning:

  • Ear Training: Distinguishing unusual sounds.

  • Memorization: Learning sound symbols.

  • Labeling: Analyzing articulatory processes (short-term memory task).

  • Noted skills for enhancing phonetics:

    • Playing an instrument.

    • Speaking a second language.

    • Possessing a good memory (e.g., digit recall).

Categorization of Speech Disorders

• Various frameworks exist for organizing errors in speech.

• Main Subtypes of Speech Sound Disorders:

  • Aetiology: Study of the causes behind speech disorders.

  • Linguistic Symptomatology: Understanding the patterns in speech sound errors.

  • Psycholinguistics: Interaction of cognitive processes in speech.

Aetiology in Speech Sound Disorders

• Definition: Study of the causative aspects of speech disorders, including genetics and childhood illness.

• Shriberg Model Subtypes (2011):

  • Speech Delay-Genetic (SD-GEN) and related types.

  • Motor Speech Disorders: e.g., Apraxia of Speech (MSD-AOS) and others classified.

Benefits and Limitations of Aetiology-Based Systems

• Benefits:

  • Identifies root causes and risk factors.

  • Facilitates early medical intervention.

• Limitations:

  • Lack of correlation with specific error patterns.

  • Difficulty in linking causes with severity or impact of the disorder.

  • Unknown causes remain common.

Linguistic Symptomatology

• Dodd's approach focuses on linguistic profiles and speech subtypes directly tied to therapeutic practices.

• Relevant systems covered in Bowen’s literature (2015).

Dodd's Speech Disorder Model (1995, 2005)

• Aligns speech subtypes with areas of psycholinguistic difficulties:

  • Phonological Delay: Typical development patterns existing in speech output but characteristic of younger individuals.

  • Consistent Deviant Phonological Disorder: Co-occurs with unemployment of developmental rules, indicating impaired understanding of phonological systems.

  • Inconsistent Deviant Phonological Disorder: Exhibits variability beyond developmental norms in speech production.

  • Articulation Disorder: Difficulty producing acceptable phonemes.

  • Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Surface production patterns deviate due to planning issues leading to inconsistent sound production.

Characteristics of Speech Disorder Subtypes

• Phonological Delay:

  • Rules are developmentally applicable to younger children.

  • Consider developmental norms in assessing children.

• Consistent Deviant Disorder Details:

  • Investigate phonological system's structure, error patterns, and oppositions.

• Inconsistent Deviant Disorder:

  • Inconsistent errors may exceed 40% and vary irrespective of syllable patterns or prosody.

  • Some normal variability exists, but significant inconsistency warrants assessment.

• Articulation Disorder:

  • Characterized by omissions or substitutions of expected speech sounds according to age guidelines.

• Childhood Apraxia of Speech Characteristics:

  • Inconsistency in sound production.

  • Potential for co-occurring issues (fine motor skills, language delays, etc.).

Assessing Variability and Inconsistency in Speech

• DEAP Tool: Designed for assessing inconsistency. Ensure clarity on what constitutes typical variability (set at 40%).

• Factors Impacting Assessments:

  • Variability norms not strictly adhered to across different age ranges.

Example Case Studies of Speech Disorders

• Child A: Age 6, shows backing and stopping but isolates errors correctly.

• Child B: Age 4, involves fronting and syllable deletions.

• Child C: Age 7, palatalizes /s/ but fails in isolation.

• Child D: Age 5 struggles with limited syllable shapes (CVC etc.).

• Child E: Age 4 exhibits backing but displays variability in productions.

Diagnosis of Speech Delays and Disorders

• Alignment of child's issues with identified categories (e.g., Speech Delay, Articulation Disorder, etc.).

Psycholinguistic Assessment Models — Stackhouse and Wells

• Core Components:

  • Phonological Recognition & Representation, Semantic Representation, Speech/Non-Speech Discrimination, among others.

Comprehensive understanding of Speech Chain

• An overview of how speech transitions from physiological to linguistic forms.

Principles of Intervention

• Phonological Interventions:

  • Emphasis on structured phonological systems and intelligibility improvement.

• Motor Speech Interventions:

  • Focus on motor learning and interventions to foster automaticity in speech production.

Summary of Speech Disorder Models

• Necessity for appropriate models relevant to individual client needs.

• Stackhouse and Wells model is widely favored for its applicability in addressing Speech Sound Disorders.

Understanding Sonority in Phonology

• Sonority: Quantity of sound in speech segments.

• Sonority Hierarchy: Ranking speech sounds based on their sound quantity ranging from vowels to voiceless stops.

Key Theories Influencing Children’s Speech

• Generative Phonology: Concepts of rule use in speech sound realization.

• Natural Phonology: Rules that children use, often clashing with adult pronunciations, which are gradually suppressed over time.

• Nonlinear Phonology: Extended organizational hierarchy encompassing various phonological elements.

• Optimality Theory: Focuses on constraints affecting how children produce speech, balancing simplicity and fidelity in output.

Final notes on Representation-based Accounts

• Core Concepts: Understanding the nature of phonological, semantic, and articulatory representations in word formation.

• Consider implications of impaired representations in phonological impairments, correlating with speech production issues.

Speech Perception in Infants

• Infants learn nuances of phonetic categorization and develop a framework over time for processing speech.

The McGurk Effect

• Phenomenon illustrating the interaction between auditory and visual components in speech perception (McGurk & MacDonald, 1976).