W2: Lecture 5 - Assessment of Childrens Speech Flashcards
Chapter 8
What is the role of intelligibility in assessing a child’s speech?
Intelligibility provides insight into the severity of a child’s speech difficulties and how well they are understood by others.
How does speech production contribute to a comprehensive speech assessment?
Speech production assesses the child’s ability to produce consonants, vowels, prosody, and more, helping identify specific areas of speech difficulty.
What are the key elements to consider when assessing speech production?
Consonants, consonant clusters, vowels, diphthongs, polysyllables, prosody, and tones (if appropriate).
What methods can be used to evaluate a child’s speech production?
Single word tests, connected speech analysis, stimulability testing, and assessment of inconsistency/variability.
Why is it important to assess a child’s oral structure and function during a speech assessment?
It helps identify any physical or functional issues that may affect speech production, such as problems with the tongue or palate.
How does speech perception factor into a speech assessment?
Assessing speech perception helps determine if the child can accurately hear and differentiate between speech sounds, which is crucial for speech development.
What is the significance of assessing a child’s hearing in relation to their speech development?
Hearing issues can directly impact speech development, so it’s important to ensure the child’s hearing is functioning properly.
What role does phonological processing play in a speech assessment?
Phonological processing abilities affect how a child processes and uses speech sounds, which is important for speech and language development.
Why are literacy skills included as part of a comprehensive speech assessment?
Literacy skills are linked to phonological awareness, and difficulties in speech can also affect reading and writing abilities.
How do psychosocial aspects impact a child’s speech and communication abilities?
Psychosocial factors, such as confidence, anxiety, or social interactions, can affect the child’s willingness and ability to communicate
Why is it important to assess a child’s participation in educational and social contexts?
It provides insight into how speech difficulties affect the child’s ability to interact and communicate in real-world situations like school and social settings.
How are language, voice, and fluency integrated into a speech assessment?
These areas are essential components of communication, and assessing them ensures a full understanding of the child’s speech and overall communication abilities.
What is the definition of intelligibility in speech assessment?
Intelligibility refers to how well a listener understands a speaker.
What are the three main ways to assess intelligibility?
Rating scales, single-word measures, and connected speech measures.
What is the Intelligibility in Context Scale, and why should it be used?
The Intelligibility in Context Scale is a tool to assess intelligibility across different contexts, and it is recommended for a comprehensive evaluation of how well a speaker is understood by others.
How does acceptability differ from intelligibility in speech assessment?
Acceptability refers to whether a speaker’s message aligns with what is considered acceptable by the child’s linguistic community (i.e. thier class mates) while intelligibility refers to how well the message is understood.
What factors influence the acceptability of a speaker’s message within a linguistic community?
Acceptability is influenced by cultural norms, linguistic expectations, and the community’s standards for how speech should sound.
How does comprehensibility differ from intelligibility in communication?
Comprehensibility includes whether a message can be understood through other means, such as environmental cues, gestures, or orthographic cues, while intelligibility focuses solely on speech understanding
What are some non-speech means that can contribute to comprehensibility?
Non-speech means include environmental cues, gestures, and orthographic cues like the first letter of words.
Why might environmental cues, gestures, or orthographic cues (e.g., the first letter of words) be important for assessing comprehensibility?
These cues can help convey meaning when speech alone is not clear, providing additional context for understanding the message.
How can single-word measures help assess a child’s intelligibility?
Single-word measures focus on the clarity of individual words, providing insight into how easily each word is understood.
Why is it important to assess connected speech when evaluating a child’s intelligibility?
Connected speech assessment helps evaluate how well the child is understood in natural, conversational contexts, reflecting more realistic communication.
Why is the assessment of consonant production a fundamental part of evaluating children’s speech?
Consonant production is the most common and essential aspect of speech assessment, as it provides key insights into a child’s speech development and potential issues.
What are consonant clusters, and why are they challenging for children to master?
Consonant clusters are two or more consonants produced together in the same syllable position. They are challenging because they require complex coordination of sounds, and their acquisition can extend into the school years.
At what age does the acquisition of consonant clusters typically begin, and when is mastery expected?
Acquisition begins around age 2, but full mastery of consonant clusters can take until the school years.
Why might cluster reduction in consonant clusters lead to high unintelligibility in children with Speech Sound Disorders (SSD)?
Cluster reduction simplifies clusters by omitting sounds, making speech harder to understand and increasing unintelligibility.
How can mastering consonant clusters improve the production of individual consonants during intervention?
Mastering clusters can improve individual consonant production, making speech therapy more efficient and effective.
Why is the assessment of vowels and diphthongs important in children with conditions like Speech Sound Disorders (SSD) or Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS)?
Vowel production difficulties can significantly affect intelligibility, especially in children with SSD, CAS, or other speech-related conditions.
What challenges exist when assessing vowel production in children across different dialects?
Vowel sounds vary across dialects, so assessments must consider the child’s specific language and dialect to ensure accuracy.
Why is it beneficial to assess a child’s ability to produce polysyllabic words in a speech assessment?
Polysyllabic words reveal more complex speech and language skills, such as phonotactics, prosody, and phonological processing, which simpler words might not show.
What speech elements can be evaluated by assessing polysyllabic words that may not be revealed by monosyllabic or disyllabic words?
Polysyllabic words help assess timing, stress, and overall speech coordination, which might not be apparent in shorter words.
How may syllables are in Polysyllabic words?
3 or more syllables
What are the key aspects of prosody, and how can an SLP assess them during speech testing?
Key aspects of prosody include stress, rhythm, and intonation. An SLP can assess them through informal listening during speech or using formal tools like checklists and prosody profiles.
What formal tools are available to assess prosody in children, and what do they evaluate?
Tools like the Prosody-Voice Profile and PEPS-C assess stress, rhythm, phrasing, and voice characteristics like pitch and loudness, as well as comprehension and production of prosody.
Why is assessing the perception and production of tones important for speakers of tonal languages, but not relevant for monolingual English speakers?
In tonal languages, tone changes meaning, so it’s crucial to assess. English, being non-tonal, doesn’t rely on tone for meaning, making tone assessment unnecessary.
What are the four main methods used to assess children’s speech production?
- Single-word testing
- connected speech testing
- stimulability testing
- inconsistency/variability testing.
Why is single-word testing commonly used in assessing children with suspected Speech Sound Disorders (SSD)?
It is time-efficient and allows for a comprehensive sampling and analysis of a child’s consonant and vowel repertoire.
How does single-word testing work in speech assessments?
Children are shown a series of pictures or objects to elicit single-word productions, which are then analyzed for speech sounds.
What types of speech elements are typically sampled in most articulation tests?
- Singleton consonants in word-initial
- word-final positions, usually in monosyllabic words.
Can you give an example of how articulation tests sample consonants across three word positions?
- Word-initial /p/ = “pig,”
- within-word /p/ = “happy,”
- word-final /p/ = “cup.”
