Purpose: Potential biases in service provision for preschool children with specific language impairment (SLI) were explored. Method: In Study 1, children with SLI receiving treatment (SLI-T) and those with SLI not receiving treatment (SLI-NT) were compared on demographic characteristics and developmental abilities. Study 2 recruited children with…

The study described the consistency of articulation productions for frequently misarticulated phonemes among 2 1/2- to 5-year-old children. The Coarticulation Assessment in Meaningful Language was given to 360 children at six age levels. A four-way multivariate analysis of variance with repeated measures on the last two factors tested for main…

Five-year-old articulation-disordered children, some classified as substituters and some as syllable reducers, were compared with normal child and adult controls in their production of voicing contrasts. In every comparison the substituters' performances resembled that of the normal controls, as did the syllable reducers' use of voice onset time…

The study examined the extent to which generalization of correct phoneme production occured in various speaking environments and across word positions without direct training with three preschoolers with articulation disorders. Results indicated that generalization occurred in the two speaking environments without direct training. The extent to…

The speech of 1,048 children (two to four years old) was screened for the presence of velar and palatal forms of the phonological process of fronting. Sixty-seven children were identified as exihibiting the fronting process. Velar fronting occurred more frequently than palatal fronting. Incidence of fronting decreased with increasing age.…

Results demonstrated no significant differences among three sampling procedures (word test, nonsense test, and story-retell) for type and number of articulation errors in 30 normally developing four-year-olds. Boys made significantly more errors than girls. (Author/CL)

There were significant differences among the groups (articulation disordered five-year-olds) classified as syllable reducers or substituters and normal children on several imitative expressive language measures, with the syllable reducers making both deletion and substitution errors and the substituters making substitution errors for functors.…

The study reported differences in agreement among four experienced listeners who analyzed the articulation skills of 97 four- and five-year-old children. Place and manner of articulation revealed differences of agreement, whereas voicing and syllabic function contributed little to agreement or disagreement. (Author)

Results suggested that normally developing children learn to perceive approximant consonant contrasts prior to three years of age. However, some but not all articulation-delayed three-year-old children may still make errors in the perception of approximants. (Author/CL)

The article describes the Clinical Articulation Profile, an easily administered imitation task that measures the ability of the preschool child with articulation disorders to say sounds in isolation, in syllables, and in words. Scores on the profile are sensitive to minimal changes in articulation ability. (Author/CL)

The study was designed to explore whether learning a phoneme in a word-final position facilitated production of the same phoneme word medially or intervocalically in six 3 to 5 year olds with articulation disorders. A stimulus-response-reinforcement approach to treatment was used that elicited both imitative and spontaneous responses. Probe lists…

The phonological systems of 40 functional misarticulators, ages 40-80 months, were examined in terms of the nature and variation of phonetic inventories and phonotactic constraints. Evidence suggests that these properties of disordered systems represent delays in the normal acquisition process and are not otherwise deviant. (Author/JDD)

Six functionally misarticulating preschool children were taught to produce [r] and one other sound absent from their phonetic inventory. For 86 percent of the 28 monitored sounds, generalization was consistent with pretreatment stimulability skills; production of stimulable sounds tended to improve regardless of whether treatment target was a…

The study of children (ages 4 to 6 years) with articulation problems found that syntactic structure and word structure significantly affected the accuracy of articulation and the degree of word simplification, suggesting that structural complexity may contribute to overall hierarchical complexity, in turn causing children to simplify their speech.…

This study investigated the effect of the administration of frequent and infrequent probe lists on generalization with four articulation disordered children (ages 3:10 to 5:8). Results indicated that frequency of probe list administration did not produce any predictable effect on the extent of generalization or the occurrence of a practice effect.…