Background: In recent years, there has been increased identification of disfluencies in individuals with autism, but limited examination of disfluencies in the school-age range of this population. We currently lack information about whether the disfluencies of children with autism represent concomitant stuttering, normal disfluency, excessive…

Previous studies indicate that at least some aspects of audiovisual speech perception are impaired in children with specific language impairment (SLI). However, whether audiovisual processing difficulties are also present in older children with a history of this disorder is unknown. By combining electrophysiological and behavioral measures, we…

The role of the school speech-language pathologist (SLP) has recently evolved to reflect national trends of educational reform. In an era of accountability for all student learning, Response to Intervention (RTI) has become the predominant vehicle for providing preventative, intensified instruction to students at risk. School SLPs in Indiana have…

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…

Purpose: To determine how increased vocal loudness and reduced speech rate affect listeners' cognitive-perceptual processing of hypokinetic dysarthric speech associated with Parkinson's disease. Method: Fifty-one healthy listener participants completed a speech perception experiment. Listeners repeated phrases produced by 5 individuals…

Clinical Question: When assessing speech sound production of bilingual Mandarin- English speaking children, are standardized measures or informal assessment procedures better for determining whether the child has a speech sound disorder or speech sound difference? Method: Systematic Review Study Sources: Google Scholar, American…

Purpose: Speech acoustic characteristics of children with cerebral palsy (CP) were examined with a multiple speech subsystems approach; speech intelligibility was evaluated using a prediction model in which acoustic measures were selected to represent three speech subsystems. Method: Nine acoustic variables reflecting different subsystems, and…

Purpose: In this study, a new algorithm for automated determination of speech rate (SR) in dysarthric speech is evaluated. We investigated how reliably the algorithm calculates the SR of dysarthric speech samples when compared with calculation performed by speech-language pathologists. Method: The new algorithm was trained and tested using Dutch…

Purpose: Perceptual learning paradigms involving written feedback appear to be a viable clinical tool to reduce the intelligibility burden of dysarthria. The underlying theoretical assumption is that pairing the degraded acoustics with the intended lexical targets facilitates a remapping of existing mental representations in the lexicon. This…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document, validate, and corroborate effect size (ES) for single­-subject design in treatment of children with functional phonological disorders; to evaluate potential child-­specific contributing variables relative to ES; and to establish benchmarks for interpretation of ES for the population. Method: Data…

Purpose: Following recent attempts to quantify articulatory impairment in speech, the present study evaluates the usefulness of a novel measure of motor stability to characterize dysarthria. Method: The study included 8 speakers with ataxic dysarthria (AD), 16 speakers with hypokinetic dysarthria (HD) as a result of Parkinson's disease, and…

Purpose: The primary aim of the investigation was to identify deficits in spatiotemporal coupling between tongue regions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The relations between disease-related changes in tongue movement patterns and speech intelligibility were also determined. Methods: The authors recorded word productions from 11…

Purpose: A review of the salient characteristics of motor speech disorders and common assessment protocols revealed the need for a novel reading passage tailored specifically to differentiate between and among the dysarthrias (DYSs) and apraxia of speech (AOS). Method: "The Caterpillar" passage was designed to provide a contemporary, easily read,…

Purpose: The aim of the present report was to explore whether vowel metrics, demonstrated to distinguish dysarthric and healthy speech in a companion article (Lansford & Liss, 2014), are able to predict human perceptual performance. Method: Vowel metrics derived from vowels embedded in phrases produced by 45 speakers with dysarthria were…

Alignment refers to the interactive use of similar words to accomplish a linguistic and cognitive "common ground" in conversations. Alignment is thought to be unconscious, relying on priming mechanisms. This occurs uniquely in conversational contexts and has been shown in choices of words, grammatical constructions, and even indirect…