Purpose: This study explores the role of overt and covert contrasts in speech perception by children with speech sound disorder (SSD). Method: Three groups of preschool-aged children (typically developing speech and language [TD], SSD with /s/~/?/ contrast [SSD-contrast], and SSD with /s/~/?/ collapse [SSD-collapse]) completed an identification…

This study investigated the effects of a scaffolded-language intervention using cloze procedures, semantically contingent expansions, contrastive word pairs, and direct models on speech abilities in two preschoolers with speech and language impairment speaking African American English. Effects of the lexical and phonological characteristics (i.e.,…

Purpose: To develop a system for numerically quantifying a speaker's phonetic accuracy through transcription-based measures. With a focus on normal and disordered speech in children, the authors describe a system for differentially weighting speech sound errors on the basis of various levels of phonetic accuracy using a Weighted Speech Sound…

Listeners' identification of young children's productions of minimally contrastive words and predictive relationships between accurately identified words and intelligibility scores obtained from a 100-word spontaneous speech sample were determined for 36 children with typically developing speech (TDS) and 36 children with speech sound disorders…

Purpose: To examine the relationship between phonological processing skills prior to kindergarten entry and reading skills at the end of 1st grade, in children with speech sound disorders (SSD). Method: The participants were 17 children with SSD and poor phonological processing skills (SSD-low PP), 16 children with SSD and good phonological…

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of phonological neighborhood density on the speech reaction time (SRT) and errors of children who do and do not stutter during a picture-naming task. Participants were nine 3-5-year-old children who stutter (CWS) matched in age and gender to nine children who do not stutter (CWNS). Initial…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the longitudinal predictive relationships among variables that may contribute to poor phonological awareness skills in preschool-age children with speech-sound disorders. Method: Forty-seven children with speech-sound disorders were assessed during the spring of their prekindergarten year and again…