Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare speech production at 12 months of age for children with hearing loss (HL) who were identified and received intervention before 6 months of age with those of children with normal hearing (NH). Method: The speech production of 10 children with NH was compared with that of 10 children with HL whose…

The article discusses a concept of speech instruction based on the definition of speech as oral communication. The goal of speech instruction is the development of spoken language abilities for both production and perception. Six specific skill areas and three levels of learning are identified as fundamental to the development of these abilities.…

Investigation into age-related differences in production of fricative-vowel syllables with 10 adults and 30 children (ages 3, 5, and 7) found that age-related differences in vocal-tract geometry didn't explain age-related differences in vowel effects on fricative noise; children master intersyllabic gestural organization prior to intrasyllabic…

This study tested the hypothesis that there is a developmental shift in the perceptual weighting of acoustic parameters that results from experience with a native language. Comparison of 17 3-year olds and 16 adults found that age-related differences in auditory sensitivity did not fully account for age-related differences in perceptual weighting…

This study of 41 children (ages 7 and 8) studied the effects of low socioeconomic status (SES) and chronic otitis media (OM) on speech perception and phonemic awareness. Findings indicated the children with low SES did poorly on both kinds of tasks whether or not they had chronic OM. (CR)