TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of consonant deletion in typically developing children aged 3 to 7 years
AU - James, Deborah G. H.
AU - van Doorn, Jan
AU - McLeod, Sharynne
AU - Easterman, Arnold
N1 - Imported on 12 Apr 2017 - DigiTool details were: Journal title (773t) = International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. ISSNs: 1754-9507;
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Children with and without speech, language and/or literacy impairment, delete consonants when they name pictures to elicit single words. Consonant deletion seems to be more frequent in long words (words of three or more syllables) than in short words (words of one or two syllables). However, it may be missed in long words because they are not routinely assessed and, even if they are, there is little normative data about them. The study aims were (1) to determine if a relationship exists between consonant deletion and the number of syllables in words, (2) delimit variation in the numbers of children using it, its frequency of occurrence and the words it affects and (3) to discuss the application of these data to clinical practice. The participants were 283 typically developing children, aged 3;0 to 7;11 years, speaking Australian English with proven normal language, cognition and hearing. They named pictures, yielding 166 selected words that were varied for syllable number, stress and shape and repeatedly sampled all consonants and vowels of Australian English. Almost all participants (95%) used consonant deletion. Whilst a relationship existed between consonant deletion frequency and the number of syllables in words, the syllable effect was interpreted as a proxy of an interaction of segmental and prosodic features that included two or more syllables, sonorant sounds, non-final weak syllables, within-word consonant sequences and/or anterior-posterior articulatory movements. Clinically, two or three deletions of consonants across the affected words may indicate typical behaviour for children up to the age of 7;11 years but variations outside these tolerances may mark impairment. These results are further evidence to include long words in routine speech assessment.
AB - Children with and without speech, language and/or literacy impairment, delete consonants when they name pictures to elicit single words. Consonant deletion seems to be more frequent in long words (words of three or more syllables) than in short words (words of one or two syllables). However, it may be missed in long words because they are not routinely assessed and, even if they are, there is little normative data about them. The study aims were (1) to determine if a relationship exists between consonant deletion and the number of syllables in words, (2) delimit variation in the numbers of children using it, its frequency of occurrence and the words it affects and (3) to discuss the application of these data to clinical practice. The participants were 283 typically developing children, aged 3;0 to 7;11 years, speaking Australian English with proven normal language, cognition and hearing. They named pictures, yielding 166 selected words that were varied for syllable number, stress and shape and repeatedly sampled all consonants and vowels of Australian English. Almost all participants (95%) used consonant deletion. Whilst a relationship existed between consonant deletion frequency and the number of syllables in words, the syllable effect was interpreted as a proxy of an interaction of segmental and prosodic features that included two or more syllables, sonorant sounds, non-final weak syllables, within-word consonant sequences and/or anterior-posterior articulatory movements. Clinically, two or three deletions of consonants across the affected words may indicate typical behaviour for children up to the age of 7;11 years but variations outside these tolerances may mark impairment. These results are further evidence to include long words in routine speech assessment.
KW - Open access version available
KW - Assessment
KW - Polysyllabic words
KW - Speech
KW - Typical development
U2 - 10.1080/17549500701849789
DO - 10.1080/17549500701849789
M3 - Article
SN - 1754-9507
VL - 10
SP - 179
EP - 192
JO - International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
JF - International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology
IS - 3
ER -