Speech Characteristics Of Children Research Articles

Speech Development of Children with ASD: A Neuropsychological Approach

Effective identification, support, and development of children’s abilities is a priority task of the education system in Russia. This demands deeper research based on the use of modern diagnostic technologies and neuropsychological tools, especially in what concerns children with impaired development, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Neuropsychological rehabilitation of children with ASD remains a poorly understood yet critical problem. Here, we explore common neuropsychological tools employed in Russia for diagnostics and therapy of ASD in childhood. The prospects of these methods to study the speech characteristics of such children were substantiated. The study is based on a survey of 20 parents of 20 children aged 4–6 years who attend the “WE ARE TOGETHER” Special Kindergarten for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders at Kazan Federal University (Russia). The speech characteristics of the children, starting from an early age, were thoroughly investigated during the experiment with the help of neuropsychological tools. The latter included game tasks to test social, cognitive, motor, neurodynamic, and regulatory skills, as well as the analysis of the transcripts of the interviews with both children and their parents. The results obtained facilitate the introduction of the neuropsychological approach to diagnose speech disorders in preschool children with ASD, and it can be further improved by experts in the rehabilitation and education of children exhibiting ASD symptoms.

The effect of a social robot mediator on speech characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder

Robot-mediated interventions have been investigated for the treatment of social skill deficits amongst children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Does the use of a Nao robot as a mediator increase vocal interaction between children with ASD? The present study examined the vocalization and turn-taking rate in six children with ASD (mean age = 11.4 years, SD = 0.86 years) interacting with and without a Nao robot for 10 sessions, order counterbalanced. Each session lasted nine minutes. In the Robot condition, the robot provided vocal prompts; in the No Robot condition, children interacted freely. Child vocalization and turn-taking rate defined as the number of utterances/turns per second were measured. Results demonstrated that three children produced higher vocalization and turn-taking rates when a robot was present, and two when it was absent. One participant produced higher vocalization rates when the robot was not present, but more conversational turns when the robot was present. The findings suggest that the use of a Nao robot as a social mediator increases vocalization and turn-taking rates among children with ASD, but large individual variability is observed. The effect of the robot as a mediator on lexical diversity of child speech will also be investigated.

ĐẶC ĐIỂM LỜI NÓI CỦA TRẺ RỐI LOẠN PHỔ TỰ KỈ

Autism spectrum disorders are neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by core deficits in social communication and restricted and repetitive behaviours. Research on speech characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder has limited. This article describes speech characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders in Vietnam. Research method for collecting data was questionnaire. Teachers (N = 189) who were providing intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders answered the questionnaires. Based on responses provided by teachers, results showed speech characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorder as follows: 30% of participants were nonverbal, 38% were word users, 26% were sentence users, and 5% were narrators. Among 70% of the verbal participants, speech productions were described as: stuttering or obstruction (n = 92, 48.7%), producing nonword sounds (n = 91, 48.7%), speaking inaccurately (n = 86, 45.5%), echolalia (n = 83, 43.9%), and lisper (n = 48, 25.4%). These speech characteristics of Vietnamese-speaking children with autism spectrum disorders were similar with findings found in other studies in other languages. These speech characteristics were also considered as positive behavioural markers for identifying autism spectrum disorders and were a component for comprehensive intervention programs for children with autism spectrum disorders.

Speech characteristics of children with ASD to a humanoid robot and peers

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) display difficulty engaging in social interactions. How does the use of a NAO robot during a social skills intervention affect the speech of children with ASD? This study examined whether the use of a NAO robot during a social skills intervention affects the quantity and quality of speech in six children (mean age = 11.6y, range = 10.5–12.6) with ASD who attended four weekly social skills intervention sessions. The speech quantity was defined as an overall speech rate (utterances per minute), initiation rate (utterances per minute addressing the robot/other child), and response rate (utterances per minute responding to the robot/other child). Mean length of utterance (MLU) in overall speech, initiations, and responses was also measured. A marginally higher initiation rate and overall MLU in speech to the robot were identified in later sessions. Children produced a significantly higher MLU in responses to the robot in later sessions. MLU for initiations were marginally higher than MLU for responses to the robot. No changes in speech rate or MLU in speech directed to other children were identified. This suggests children may require repeated exposure to the NAO robot before changes in speech characteristics are revealed.

Exploring the relationship between conductive hearing loss and cleft speech characteristics in children born with cleft palate

BackgroundChildren with cleft palate are at high risk of both conductive hearing loss and cleft speech characteristics (CSCs) yet there is limited research to understand whether hearing loss impacts speech development in this population by contributing to the development of CSCs. AimsThis study used data from a large national cohort study in the UK (The Cleft Collective) to explore the relationship between those with a history of diagnosed hearing loss and presence of CSCs in children with cleft palate (+/− cleft lip) aged between 18 and 24 months. MethodSpeech and Language Therapists (SLTs) provided uniformed information from assessment for 123 participants who had been recruited to the Cleft Collective study. History of diagnosed hearing loss, intervention for hearing loss, and presence of CSCs were reported. A consonant inventory for each participant was completed. Statistical analysis of relationships between hearing loss and CSCs and analysis of consonant inventories was undertaken to provide information related to speech acquisition and its relationship with hearing. ResultsThere was a statistically significant relationship between history of diagnosed hearing loss and presence of CSCs (p < 0.05). Analysis of the consonant inventories highlighted that children with diagnosed hearing loss used fewer oral consonants compared to those with normal hearing (p < 0.05) ConclusionThis study provides some evidence that a conductive hearing loss can affect speech in children with cleft palate resulting in CSCs developing. Therefore, children with cleft palate should be closely monitored by audiology from birth to ensure that hearing is optimised for speech and language development. SLT services should also closely monitor the speech development of those children where a hearing loss has been identified, so that early intervention can be provided if appropriate.Continued data collection, with a large sample of children, will provide additional evidence regarding how this hearing loss is best managed. It will also allow increased knowledge of the long term impact of conductive hearing loss on speech development in children with cleft palate.

KƏKƏLƏYƏN UŞAQLARIN NİTQ XÜSUSİYYƏTLƏRİ

To understand the nature of stuttering, it is important to clarify the speech characteristics of children who stutter. The level of development of language skills in stuttering children is almost the same as in normal-speaking children. They determine the reactions of individual characteristics to the influence of various situational factors. Research on the speech characteristics of stuttering children shows that they have difficulty using the means of communication in the communicative processes of speech, despite the richness of vocabulary and the ability to compose sentences. Stuttering is one of the most common speech disorders caused by convulsions in the muscles of the speech apparatus, and stuttering should be eliminated immediately when it occurs. Otherwise, it will get worse and worse over time and can do great damage to the child's mental development. Key words: stuttering, speech, motor skills, oral and written speech, articulation, convulsions

ИНТОНАЦИОННЫЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ РЕЧИ ДЕТЕЙ С УМСТВЕННОЙ ОТСТАЛОСТЬЮ

In the literature, data on the formation of intonation in Russian-speaking children with mild intellectual disabilities (mental retardation) without genetic syndromes and serious neurological disorders (for example, cerebral palsy) based on the instrumental analysis of children’s speech are absent. The aim of this study was to compare the intonation characteristics of speech in children, aged 5 to 7, with typical development and with mild intellectual disabilities. The participants of the study were 20 children aged 5 to 7: 10 children (5 girls and 5 boys) with typical development (TD group) and 10 children (6 boys and 4 girls) with mild intellectual disabilities (ID group, ICD-10-CM Code F70). Intellectual disabilities were not associated with genetic or severe neurological disorders (non-specific ID). Child speech was taken from the AD-CHILD.RU speech database. Audio and video recordings of speech and behavior of TD group children (in a kindergarten) and ID group children (in an orphanage) were made in the model situation of a “dialogue with an adult”. Two studies were conducted: a perceptual experiment (n=10 listeners – native speakers, researchers in the field of child speech development) and an instrumental spectrographic analysis of child speech. The instrumental analysis of speech was made in the Praat program. The duration of utterances and stressed vowels, pitch values (average, maximum and minimum), pitch range values of utterances, and pitch range values of vowels were analyzed. The perceptual experiment showed that the utterances of ID group children classified as less clear and more emotional than the utterances of TD group children. The task of phrase stress (words highlighted by voice) revealing was more difficult for adults when they were listening to the speech of ID group children vs. TD group children. In ID group children, the values of utterance duration are lower and the values of vowel duration are higher than in TD group children. The average, maximum, and minimum pitch values, the pitch range values of ID group children’s utterances are higher vs. the corresponding parameters of TD group children’s speech. The duration and pitch range values of stressed vowels from ID group children’s words highlighted by intonation are higher than these features of TD group children’s stressed vowels. The pitch contours of stressed vowels from TD group children’s words highlighted by intonation were presented in most cases by the rise of the pitch contour; the pitch contours of stressed vowels from ID group children’s words highlighted by intonation were presented by the fall of the pitch. The dome-shaped vowel pitch contour and U-shaped contour are more frequent in the speech of ID group children vs. TD group children. In the future, the intonation characteristics of speech of children with different diagnoses could be considered as additional diagnostic criteria of developmental disorders.

A Child With Congenital Aglossia: A Narrative Review and Descriptive Case Study

This article details an account of a young female with congenial aglossia. Because of the low incidence of this anatomical and physiological presentation, this narrative review includes a brief historical review of the disorder and a detailed description of: (1) reports in the literature of congenital hypoglossia and aglossia, (2) characteristics of speech in children with congenital aglossia below the age of 18 years, and (3) the medical history, speech acquisition, and course of intervention of a 5-year-old girl with congenital aglossia currently in speech treatment.

Proximate factors associated with speech intelligibility in children with cochlear implants: A preliminary study

The purpose of this descriptive pilot study was to examine possible relationships among speech intelligibility and structural characteristics of speech in children who use cochlear implants. The Beginners Intelligibility Test (BIT) was administered to 10 children with cochlear implants, and the intelligibility of the words in the sentences was judged by panels of naïve adult listeners. Additionally, several qualitative and quantitative measures of word omission, segment correctness, duration, and intonation variability were applied to the sentences used to assess intelligibility. Correlational analyses were conducted to determine if BIT scores and the other speech parameters were related. There was a significant correlation between BIT score and percent words omitted, but no other variables correlated significantly with BIT score. The correlation between intelligibility and word omission may be task-specific as well as reflective of memory limitations.

The Incidence of Phonological Competence on the Morpho-Syntax of Children With Specific Language Impairment: A Longitudinal Study

The aim of this dissertation is to describe the specific speech characteristics of children with specific language impairment (SLI) and relate them to difficulties with other language components, according to a developmental point of view. In accordance with Leonard's (1998) Surface Hypothesis, I describe the characteris tics of the phonological component of these children's speech and then establish the relationship between their phonological and morphosyntactic deficits. To achieve these objectives, two samples (at age 3;6 and 4;6) of language by five Spanish-Catalan children with SLI were compared with language samples from two control groups: (i) age controls and (ii) language-level controls meas ured by the Mean Length of Utterance in words (MLU-w). Each group was made up of five children. Data were then transcribed and coded according to the CHILDES project (MacWhinney (2000)). The results showed a delay in the phonetic-phonological component in SLI children at both points in time, especially with the easiest elements, such as CV, vowels, stops, and nasals, at 3 years of age and with elements of medium com plexity, such as CVC, CCV, nasals, and liquids, at 4 years of age. The most char acteristic errors these children made were weak syllabic omission at age 3 and cluster reduction and coda omission at age 4. Moreover, the results showed that the characteristic speech profile of children with SLI changed as they grew older, the differences between them and the MLU-w control group increased with age, and progress developed from word level to syllabic level and then to segmental level.

Acoustical Standards for Classroom Design Comparison of International Standards and Low Frequency Criteria

Many countries have acoustical standards or regulations for educational facility design and construction. They are based on speaking and hearing abilities of teachers and learners. Criteria are often stipulated for reverberation decay time, sound isolation and allowable background noise. The standards may use single number A-weighted overall level descriptors (dBA), or octave band spectrum criteria (NC, RC, NR, etc.). A-weighted overall level criteria control mid- to high frequencies better than lower frequencies. Very few, if any countries specify low frequency noise standards, although limitations are implicit in spectrum criteria curves, such as (North American) Noise Criteria (NC) or Room Criteria (RC) or (European) Noise Rating (NR). Many educators focus on mid- to high-frequency effects on speech intelligibility, but low frequency noise (LFN) may cause some (upward) masking of speech with reduction of intelligibility. In addition, LFN may affect student attitudes, behaviour, performance and/or fatigue. This paper compares acoustical criteria from several countries with respect to spectrum. Frequency spans or reverberation, sound isolation and background noise are contrasted with hearing and speech characteristics of children and adult learners. Principal findings of some LFN research by others are introduced, such as annoyance, speech intelligibility and fatigue. Tabular comparisons of acoustical criteria and graphic charts of representative criteria will be presented. General recommendations are made, based on findings inferred from review and comparison of standards.

Analysis of Speech Characteristics in Children With Velocardiofacial Syndrome (VCFS) and Children With Phenotypic Overlap Without VCFS

Abstract Objective: To address two questions of theoretical importance regarding the profile and course of communication impairment associated with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS): (1) do speech characteristics of children with VCFS differ from a group of children with some of the phenotypic characteristics of VCFS who do not have the syndrome, and (2) do younger children with VCFS demonstrate speech patterns that differ from older children with VCFS? Design: Prospective, cross-sectional study comparing two groups of children at two age levels. Patients: Thirteen children with VCFS and eight children with some of the phenotypic features of VCFS who did not have the syndrome. Children ranged in age from 3 to 10 years. Main Outcome Measure: (1) Broad phonetic transcription of speech yielding measures of number of consonant types, Percent Consonant Correct, and percentage of glottal stops used; and (2) composite ratings of velopharyngeal function made from perceptual, aerodynamic, and endoscopic evaluations...

Stuttering and Phonological Disorders in Children: Examination of the Covert Repair Hypothesis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the Covert Repair Hypothesis (CRH; Postma & Kolk, 1993), a theory designed to account for the occurrence of speech disfluencies in adults who stutter, can also account for selected speech characteristics of children who stutter and demonstrate disordered phonology. Subjects were 9 boys who stutter and exhibit normal phonology (S + NP; mean age = 61.33 months; SD = 10.16 months) and 9 boys who stutter and exhibit disordered phonology (S + DP; mean age = 59.11 months; SD = 9.37 months). Selected aspects of each child's speech fluency and phonology were analyzed on the basis of an audio/videotaped picture-naming task and a 30-min conversational interaction with his mother. Results indicated that S + NP and S + DP children are generally comparable in terms of their basic speech disfluency, nonsystematic speech error, and self-repair behaviors. CRH predictions that utterances produced with faster articulatory speaking rates or shorter response time latencies are more likely to contain speech errors or speech disfluencies were not supported. CRH predictions regarding the co-occurrence of speech disfluencies and speech errors were supported for nonsystematic ("slip-of-the-tongue"), but not for systematic (phonological process/rule-bases), speech errors. Furthermore, neither S + NP nor S + DP subjects repaired their systematic speech errors during conversational speech, suggesting that systematic deviations from adult forms may not represent true "errors, " at least for some children exhibiting phonological processes. Findings suggest that speech disfluencies may not represent by-products of self-repairs of systematic speech errors produced during conversational speech, but that self-repairs of nonsystematic speech errors may be related to children's production of speech disfluencies.