Special issue on Speech Sound Disorders in International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders

Over the past few years in my role on the Child Speech Committee of IALP I have initiated a discussion about terminology surrounding "speech sound disorders". This has resulted in a special issue on speech sound disorders that will soon be published in International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. Here are the papers that have already been published in early view:

• Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese‐speaking children - Ben Phạm & Sharynne McLeod - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12992 
• Speech sound disorder or DLD (phonology)? Towards a consensus agreement on terminology - Helen Stringer, Joanne Cleland, Yvonne Wren, Rachel Rees, Pam Williams - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12989
• How differences in anatomy and physiology and other aetiology affect the way we label and describe speech in individuals with cleft lip and palate - Valerie J. Pereira &  Debbie Sell - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1460-6984.12946
  

Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children

The following manuscript has been accepted for publication in a special issue regarding terminology for children with speech sound disorder that was initiated by Prof Yvonne Wren as chair of the Child Speech Committee of the International Association of Logopedics and Phoniatrics. 

Phạm, B. & McLeod, S. (2023, accepted November). Considerations of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders. 

Here is the abstract: 

Background. The dialect spoken by children influences diagnostic decision-making regarding identification and severity of speech sound disorder. 

Aims. The primary objective was to review papers that examined the influence of dialect on the identification of speech sound disorder in Vietnamese-speaking children. 

Methods: Five studies of monolingual and multilingual Vietnamese-speaking children living in Vietnam and Australia were reviewed to examine the influence of dialect on assessment and analysis children’s speech. The main Vietnamese dialects (Standard, Northern, Central, Southern) differ in the production of consonants, vowels, and tones. 

Main Contribution. Most speech assessments define correct production using the standard dialect of a language. Insights from recent studies of Vietnamese provide recommendations for also considering dialect in diagnostic decision-making. Firstly, we recommend adding column(s) to the assessment score sheet that includes the dialectal variants spoken by adults in the child’s family or community. Secondly, calculate accuracy of production twice, based on the standard form and dialectal form. Thirdly, report percentage of consonants correct – standard (PCC-S) and percentage of consonants correct – dialect (PCC-D). 

Conclusions. Diagnostic decision-making is influenced by dialectal variation in children’s speech, so speech and language therapists (SLTs) need to compare standard and dialectal productions when undertaking assessments, analysis, and diagnostic decision-making.

Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech sound disorder in Fijian children

Congratulations Holly McAlister on the publiscation of "Effect of dialect on identification and severity of speech sound disorder in Fijian children" from your honours thesis

The eprint link for 50 free copies is: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/65ZQUTEVTTGKUNBRTEU9/full?target=10.1080/2050571X.2022.2052506 

 

Visit by Professors Jan Edwards and Marios Fourakis

Over the past 3 days, Professor Jan Edwards and Professor Marios Fourakis, have visited Charles Sturt University. They were visiting from the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (USA).

Professor Edwards’ research aims to better understand the interactions between phonological and lexical development in young children.  Currently, she is examining the interactions among vocabulary growth and phonological knowledge (speech production, speech perception, and higher-level knowledge) in children who speak mainstream and non-mainstream dialects of English as well as children with normal hearing and children with cochlear implants. 

Professor Fourakis has collaborated with Professor Larry Shriberg in the development of the classification system for paediatric speech sound disorders termed the Speech Disorders Classification System (SDCS). He also undertakes research into speech perception and production by people with cochlear implants.

Professor Jan Edwards, Professor Sharynne McLeod, and Professor Marios Fourakis

On Monday 25th February, Professor Edwards gave the following presentation at the School of Teacher Education Brown Bag Seminar Series in Bathurst, and was simultaneously video-conferenced to people in Dubbo, Wagga and Albury.

Title: Dialect mismatch and its implications for academic achievement

Abstract: The single most important problem in public education in the United States today is the “achievement gap”: the well-documented observation that children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families perform less well academically than children from middle-SES families. Many children from low-SES families speak a non-standard dialect of English (e.g., African American English or AAE), while the language of instruction is Mainstream American English.  Dialect mismatch is an often-ignored factor that may contribute to the achievement gap.  This talk will discuss two studies related to dialect mismatch. Study 1 examines the impact of dialect mismatch on the awareness and comprehension of MAE by 105 4- to 7-year-old AAE-speaking children from low-SES families.  Study 2 describes a pilot intervention program to ameliorate dialect mismatch. Children from two pre-kindergarten classrooms participated in this program: one classroom received a focused curriculum that highlighted differences between “home” and “school” talk, while the other classroom received a control intervention that focused on mindfulness.  Children in the experimental group, but not the control group, improved significantly on measures of MAE comprehension and phonological awareness after the intervention program. [Funded by NIH grant 02932 to Jan Edwards and a Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery grant to Mark Seidenberg]

Kangaroos (including a joey in the pouch) welcoming Jan and Marios to Bathurst