Purpose: Earlier work has established developmental benchmarks for intelligibility and articulation rate, but the intersection of these two variables, especially within individual children, has received limited attention. This study examines the interaction between intelligibility and speaking rate in typically developing children between the ages…

Purpose: Conversational entrainment is the tendency for individuals to modify their behavior to more closely converge with the behavior of their communication partner and is an important aspect of successful interaction. Evidence of entrainment in adults is robust, yet research regarding its development in children is sparse. Here, we investigate…

In the period between sole use of single words and majority use of multiword utterances, children draw from their existing productive capability and conversational input to facilitate the eventual outcome of majority use of multiword utterances. During this period, children use word combinations that are not yet mature multiword utterances, termed…

Examined association between speech rate and memory span in children from kindergarten to sixth grade. Found that speech rate for word triples shared variance with memory span independent of speech rate for single words. Speech rate for word triples was largely redundant with age in explaining additional variation in memory span when effects of…

Compared speaking rates, digit span, and speech timing in profoundly deaf 8- and 9-year-olds with cochlear implants and normal-hearing children. Found that deaf children displayed longer sentence durations and pauses during recall and shorter digit spans than normal-hearing children. Articulation rates strongly correlated with immediate memory…

Analysis of the conversations of 6 children (mean age 11 years) with semantic-pragmatic disorder found they were more likely to produce initiating utterances (rather than acknowledging or responding utterances) with both familiar and unfamiliar partners than other children of similar age or ability. Subjects did not produce more utterances or…

A study of four children with deafness who had cochlear implants investigated the use of negative intraoral air pressure in articulation, from both the physiological and phonological perspectives. The study showed that the children used speech-production strategies that were different from hearing children and that deviant speech behaviors should…

A study of 16 children (ages 4 and 7 years) and 8 young adults used an "Optotrak" system to study patterning and stability of speech movements in developing speech motor systems. Results indicate that nonlinear and nonuniform changes occur in components of the speech motor system during development. (Author/CR)

Examines predictors of accent transfer from L1 to L2 in a group whose acquisition of English as a second language had begun at ages ranging from 6 to 15 plus. Discusses effects of age on L2 acquisition, adding that the only other strong factor was whether L2 was used in the home. (Author/MES)

This study assesses whether third graders verbalize gender differences in dominance in mixed- and same-sex interactions, using data from tape-recordings of 43 pairs of white children (14 female and 12 male same-sex dyads and 17 different-sex dyads) playing checkers in same- or mixed-sex conditions. Children develop gender-differentiated speech…

This case study describes a selective mute Mexican American boy, who, at initial referral, had never spoken to peers or teachers at school. Treatment procedures employed shaping and reinforcement of speech in therapy sessions. Sessions involved the psychologist alone, the classroom teacher and psychologist, the boy's best friend and the…