Research Impact: Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has adopted our research. They thanked the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) for allowing them to "adapt portions of their resource guide for Wisconsin". Here is an example where they use our work:

Developmental Scales Developmental scales include information about typical speech and language development; the student’s skills are compared to the expected age of acquisition of skills (see ASHA’s Typical Speech and Language Development-resource for parents). Crowe and McLeod 2020 norms can be used to highlight sounds the student has mastered and has not mastered in consideration of a Speech or Language Impairment. See also Wisconsin Articulation Speech Development Infographic. (p. 8) (also see pp. 4-5)

Recent research (Hustad et al. 2020; McLeod et al. 2015; McLeod 2020) acknowledges that intelligibility varies by context (e.g., familiarity of listeners, word or discourse level, amount of background noise) and therefore intelligibility ratings must be interpreted with caution given the these variables. It is beneficial to obtain more than one sample in more than one context and to consider intelligibility within the context of other assessment activities conducted when considering a Speech or Language Impairment. (pp. 9-10, also see p. 11).

Here are the links that reference our work:

• https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-assessment-speech-sound-prod.pdf
• https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-sound-development-chart.pdf
• https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-articulation-infographic.pdf
  

https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-sound-development-chart.pdf

https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/sped/pdf/sl-articulation-infographic.pdf

 

 

Here are the papers that they are citing: 

Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155–2169. https://doi.org/doi:10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168 

McLeod, S. (2020). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Cross-linguistic use, validity, and reliability. Speech, Language and Hearing, 23(1), 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2020.1718837 

McLeod, S., Crowe, K., & Shahaeian, A. (2015). Intelligibility in Context Scale: Normative and validation data for English-speaking preschoolers. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 46(3), 266–276. https://doi.org/10.1044/2015_LSHSS-14-0120

Which speech sound norms are used in US public schools?

I have just had the opportunity to read a preprint copy of the following manuscript that will be published in Seminars in Speech and Language soon: 

Farquharson, K., & Stevenson, K. L. (2021). Which speech sound norms are used in US public schools? A retrospective survey analysis. Seminars in Speech and Language. 

Here is the abstract: 

Speech sound acquisition normative data are widely and heavily used in the United States (US) to determine eligibility for services. Normative studies differ in the age and geographic location of participants, which can limit applicability across the US. In 2016, we queried school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in the US using a web-based survey, to determine which speech sound norms are used. All 9 regions from the US census were represented. The Iowa-Nebraska norms were most commonly reported. However, many SLPs were unable to name the source of the data that they used. Over 60% of the sample indicated that they referred to one source of normative data. Results of a logistic regression indicated that region of the US predicted if SLPs used one or multiple sources. Specifically, SLPs in the West North Central region of the US (which includes Iowa and Nebraska) were more likely to use only one source of data, the Iowa-Nebraska norms. We recommend that speech sound norms are less heavily relied upon for eligibility decisions, particularly due to the substantial variations in culture and dialect throughout the various regions of the US. 

The opening paragraph shows the impact of our recent review paper about children's speech acquisition:

In 2018, the McLeod and Crowe article on speech sound acquisition “broke the internet”1. Although the article did not include new data, it did include an important reexamination of how speech sounds are acquired. This raised many questions for practicing clinicians regarding the age at which they should consider treating certain sounds. As a part of that broad discussion, it became evident that clinicians may be placing too much clinical weight on speech sound normative data for making eligibility decisions, and that speech sound normative data was being used for diagnostic purposes2. In the past three years, there has been substantial discussion regarding the use of speech sound normative data (henceforth: speech sound norms), particularly in school-based settings...

I look forward to the continued "substantial discussion regarding the use of speech sound normative data" once this paper is published. 

McLeod, S., & Crowe, K. (2018). Children’s consonant acquisition in 27 languages: A cross-linguistic review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27(4), 1546–1571. https://doi.org/10.1044/2018_AJSLP-17-0100 

Crowe, K., & McLeod, S. (2020). Children's English consonant acquisition in the United States: A review. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 29(4), 2155–2169. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00168