This preliminary investigation of stuttering development and maturation of speech motor processes recorded the electromyographic activity of the orofacial muscles of nine children who stuttered. Results suggest that the emergence of tremor-like instabilities in the speech motor processes of stuttering children may coincide with aspects of general…

Discussion of how functional neuroimaging has been applied to the study of speech production first reviews neuroimaging methods and limitations, then describes two approaches to study of the relevant speech areas: comparison across different language production tasks and comparison of effects of different stimuli within a single task. Examples…

Comparison of the production of repetitive speech during conversations in 30 people with either fragile X syndrome, autistic disorder, or mental retardation not caused by fragile X found repetitive speech more prevalent among those with fragile X. Results support the hypothesis that such speech dysfluency reflects the effects of physiological…

Discussion of speech sampling in the assessment of children with phonological disorders focuses on the use of nonlinear phonological analysis, a method whereby multiple aspects or levels of a child's phonological system are examined. Principles and suggestions offer general guidance for adequate sample elicitation. (Contains references.)…

Short-term changes in vowel fundamental frequency immediately preceding and following voiceless obstruents were examined in 30 4-year-olds, 8-year-olds, and 21-year-olds. Results suggest that fundamental frequency offset is simply an acoustic consequence of producing a voiceless obstruent preceded by a vowel since there were minimal age-related…

Three children with developmental apraxia of speech (DAS) identified syllables in words, judged intrasyllabic sound positions, and constructed syllable shapes within monosyllabic frames. Results suggest that DAS children demonstrate an apparent breakdown in the ability to perceive "syllableness" and to access and compare syllable…

Clause, syllable, and response latency characteristics of conversational utterances were assessed in 14 boys who stuttered and 14 normally fluent boys. Findings suggest that changes in the number of clausal constituents that must be constructed, stored, or coordinated within an utterance may influence the likelihood of speech errors and, hence,…

A time-out from speaking contingency was evaluated in the treatment of stuttering in three school-age children. A red light time-out signal appeared for five seconds when the child stuttered. Two of the children responded to time-out with clear reductions in stuttering. Listeners did not detect any differences between the perceptually stutter-free…

Two studies with nine children with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) were conducted. Study 1, focusing on longitudinal changes in speaking rate, found markedly slower speaking rates for five subjects. Study 2, examining possible causes of slowed speaking rate, found that both reduced articulatory speed and increased pausing may contribute…

This study evaluated an experimental articulation testing instrument for differentiating child speakers (N=21, ages 5:0 to 6:6) of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) with atypical and typical phonologies. Significant group differences were observed, suggesting that the measure can differentiate typical and atypical development in this…

This 14-year prospective, longitudinal study of children with (n=114) and without (n=128) speech and/or language impairments found (1) high rates of continued communication difficulties; (2) considerable stability in language performance over time; and (3) better long-term outcomes for those with initial speech impairments than for those with…

Seventeen children (ages 6-11) with developmental apraxia of speech were administered tests of identification and discrimination of resynthesized and synthesized monosyllabic words differing in place of articulation of the initial voiced stop consonants and intensity of the third formant. Results indicated no phonetic processing deficit in…

This study used grammaticality judgments to measure the sensitivity of four school-age children with severe speech and physical impairments (SSPI) to different morphological errors. Results indicated that the SSPI children and control groups made similar judgments. Participants with SSPI had greater difficulty detecting tense-marking errors…

In the first of 2 studies, 7 subjects with severe mental retardation (ages 6-20) using augmentative communication produced untaught symbol combinations resembling those of young speaking language learners. The second study found that modeled combinations did not resemble the subjects' productions, suggesting the augmented communicators used…