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

Background: The dialect spoken by children influences diagnostic decision-making regarding the identification and severity of speech sound disorder (SSD). Aims: The primary objective was to review papers that examined the influence of dialect on the identification of SSD in Vietnamese-speaking children. Methods & Procedures: Five studies of mono- and multilingual Vietnamese-speaking children living in Vietnam and Australia were reviewed to examine the influence of dialect on the 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. First, 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. Second, we calculate the accuracy of production twice, based on the standard form and dialectal form. Third, we report the percentage of consonants correct—standard (PCC-S) and percentage of consonants correct—dialect (PCC-D). Conclusions & Implications: Diagnostic decision-making is influenced by dialectal variation in children's speech, so speech and language therapists need to compare standard and dialectal productions when undertaking assessments, analysis and diagnostic decision-making. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on the subject Most speech assessments use the standard form of a dialect as the correct production. The standard dialect is used for diagnosis of SSD and identification of intervention targets. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge This paper examines five research studies of Vietnamese to identify ways to consider dialect in speech and language therapy assessment and analysis. Vietnamese provides a complex environment for this examination since there are numerous Vietnamese dialects and they differ according to consonants, vowels and tones. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Speech and language therapists are encouraged to add column(s) to their assessment score sheet that includes the dialectal variants spoken by adults and to report the PCC-S and PCC-D.