Speech development: Toddlers don't mind getting it wrong

A recent study has found that toddlers do not compensate for an artificial alteration in a vowel they hear themselves producing. This raises questions about how young children learn speech sounds. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Approaches for speech development

This paper discusses three approaches to speech development in hearing-impaired children: auditory-verbal, association phoneme unit method, and multi-sensory.

Speech and the hearing-impaired child: evaluation and revision of the CID Speech Skills Worksheet

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current use of the Central Institute for the Deaf’s Speech Skills Worksheet by teacher of the deaf and speech-language pathologists, review the current literature on speech development in hearing-impaired children, and apply the findings to develop a more comprehensive Speech Skills Worksheet.

Phonetic Aspects of Speech Communication

Nadeina set out to develop methods of speech development in Russian as a mother tongue, focusing on improving diction, training in voice quality control, intonation control, the removal of dialect, and speech etiquette. She began with training in the receptive skills of language, i.e. reading and listening, since the interpretation of someone else's language plays an important role in language production. Her studies of students' reading speed of students showed that it varies between 40 and 120 words per minute, which is normally considered very slow. She discovered a strong correlation between speed of reading and speaking skills: the slower a person reads the worse is their ability to speak and has designed exercises to improve reading skills. Nadeina also believes that listening to other people's speech is very important, both to analyse its content and in some cases as an example, so listening skills need to be developed. Many people have poor pronunciation habits acquired as children. On the basis of speech samples from young Russians (male and female, aged 17-22), Nadeina analysed the commonest speech faults - nasalisation, hesitation and hemming at the end of sense-groups, etc. Using a group of twenty listeners, she looked for a correlation between how voice quality is perceived and certain voice quality parameters, e.g. pitch range, tremulousness, fluency, whispering, harshness, sonority, tension and audible breath. She found that the less non-linguistic segment variations in speech appeared, the more attractive the speech was rated. The results are included in a textbook aimed at helping people to improve their oral skills and to communicate ideas to an audience. She believes this will assist Russian officials in their attempts to communicate their ideas to different social spheres, and also foreigners learning Russian.

Speech features of the domain of the word in heterosexual twins during the second yeard of life

Speech is the major function, emergence and which development radically changes all course of formation of the identity of the child already in the early childhood. If language and speech development in solitary born children is investigated today quite well, at twin children this process practically is not studied. Our research was carried out for the purpose of studying of an originality of mastering by speech by heterosexual children of pair of twins within communicative and pragmatist approach (T.N. Ushakov,G. V. Chirkina). Application of this approach to the analysis of process of communication at twin children allowed us to allocate those peculiar receptions and means of communication which they functionally develop in a situation of pair of twins, as allows them to show the phenomena of the speech which are not meeting at solitary born contemporaries. In this work results of supervision and research of pair of heterosexual twins of the second year of the life, carried out by a technique developed by us under the scientific guide of G. V. Chirkina

[Speech pamphlets.

Reprinted from various periodicals.

Kielellinen erityisvaikeus : oirekuva ja familiaalisuus potilasasiakirjojen perusteella

Goals. Specific language impairment (SLI) has a negative impact on child s speech and language development and interaction. Disorder may be associated with a wide range of comorbid problems. In clinical speech therapy it is important to see the child as a whole so that the rehabilitation can be targeted properly. The aim of this study was to describe the linguistic-cognitive and comorbid symptoms of children with SLI at the age of five, as well as to provide an overwiew of the developmental disorders in the families. The study is part of a larger research project, which will examine paths of development and quality of life of children with SLI as young adults. Methods. The data consisted of patient documents of 100 5-year old children, who were examined in Lastenlinna mainly at 1998. Majority of the subjects were boys, and children s primary diagnosis was either F80.1 or F80.2, which was most common, or both. The diagnosis and the information about the linguistic-cognitive status and comorbid symptoms were collected from reports of medical doctors and experts of other fields, as well as mentions related to familiality. Linguistic-cognitive symptoms were divided into subclasses of speech motor functions, prosessing of language, comprehension of language and use of language. Comorbid symptoms were divided into subclasses of interaction, activity and attention, emotional and behavior problems and neurologic problems. Statistical analyses were based mainly on Pearson s Chi Square test. Results and conclusions. Problems in language processing and speech motor functions were most common of the linguistic-cognitive symptoms. Most of the children had symptoms from two or three symptom classes, and it seemed that girls had more symptoms than boys. Usually children did not have any comorbid symptoms, or had them from one or three symptom classes. Of the comorbid symptoms the most prevalent ones were problems in activity and attention and neurological symptoms, which consisted mostly of motoric and visuomotoric symptoms. The most common of the comorbid diagnoses was F82, specific developmental disorder of motor function. According to literature children with SLI may have problems in mental health, but the results of this study did not confirm that. Children with diagnosis F80.2 had more linguistic-cognitive and comorbid symptoms than children with diagnosis F80.1. The cluster analyses based on all the symtoms revealed four subgroups of the subjects. Of the subjects 85 percent had a positive family history of developmental disorders, and the most prevalent problem in the families was delayed speech development. This study outlined the symptom profile of children with SLI and laid a foundation for the future longitudinal study. The results suggested that there are differences between linguistic-cognitive symptoms of boys and girls, which is important to notice especially when assessing and diagnosing children with SLI.

Os modos de vida na cidade: Belterra, um estudo de caso na Amazônia brasileira

O objetivo desta tese é analisar os modos de vida na cidade de Belterra. Foram analisados dois períodos de tempo (1934-1945 / 1995-2011) da vida social do lugar, para identificar como a ação do capital, com base no apoio estatal, se deslocou para a Amazônia Brasileira, se apropriou de grandes porções do território, destruiu ou desorganizou os modos de vida preexistentes em nome das exigências do mercado internacional. No primeiro período, buscou-se identificar como ocorreu o processo de ressocialização do migrante em uma cidade-empresa da Companhia Ford Industrial do Brasil, baseada na criação de uma hierarquia sociofuncional do sistema fordista de produção e uma restrição da convivência dos americanos em relação aos brasileiros. No segundo período, analisamos a presença da soja na cidade e em seu entorno. O rural e o urbano estão contidos na cidade, simultaneamente, como práticas socioculturais que não se fazem pela oposição. A ligação entre os dois períodos encontra-se nas mudanças dos modos de vida preexistentes, no uso predatório da natureza e na enunciação de estereótipos pelos de fora contra a população do lugar sob o abrigo da fala do desenvolvimento. As técnicas usadas foram a observação de campo, as entrevistas, as conversas informais, o levantamento bibliográfico, documental e fotográfico. Permitindo a construção de mapas que resumem estes movimentos. Pudemos realizar entrevistas com perguntas semi-estruturadas para tratar dos dois períodos de tempo considerados em nossa pesquisa. Desse modo, observamos que na cidade praticada, onde se realiza a mediação entre o lugar e a totalidade-mundo, os híbridos presentes na vida cotidiana e o contexto de sua realização nos informam sobre a Amazônia e, em particular, da presença étnica (quilombola e indígena), do rural e do urbano na cidade, uma vez que a vida naquele espaço subnacional não se realiza pelas oposições criadas pelo pensamento abstrato.

Temple Grandin fonds, 1974-2006 (non-inclusive)

Temple Grandin was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 29,1947 to Richard Grandin and Eustacia Cutler. She was diagnosed with autism at age 2. She suffered from delayed speech development and did not begin to speak until the age of 4. Temple’s mother defied the doctors and kept her out of institutions. Temple was given speech therapy as well as an intensive education. Her high school science teacher and her aunt on a ranch in Arizona inspired Temple to continue her studies and pursue a career as a scientist and livestock equipment designer.She graduated from Hampshire Country School (a boarding school for gifted children) in Ridge, New Hampshire in 1966, and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College in 1970. In 1975, she received a master’s degree in animal science from Arizona State University and then a doctoral degree in animal science from the University of Illinois in 1989. She is currently a professor at Colorado State University. Dr. Grandin is one of the world’s leaders in the design of livestock handling facilities. She has done extensive work in design of handling facilities for animals and has developed animal welfare guidelines for the meat industries. Dr. Grandin is a past member of the board of directors of the Autism Society of America. She lectures to parents and teachers throughout the U.S. on her experiences with autism. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers and verbal thinkers. Some of Temple Grandin’s books include: Animals Make Us Human, Animals in Translation, The Way I See It, The Autistic Brain, and Different…Not Less. In 2010, a movie entitled “Temple Grandin” starring Clare Danes was released. The movie was based on Grandin’s own writings. Temple Grandin is an expert on animal behavior, a bestselling author, and an autism activist. In 2010, she was listed in the “Heroes” category in the “Time” list of the world’s 100 most influential people. She has received numerous awards including an honorary doctorate from McGill, the University of Illinois and Duke University. Temple Granin is a philosophical leader of both the animal welfare and autism advocacy movements. sources: http://www.templegrandin.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin

Effective interventions: 25 years outside the mainstream

25 years ago when the Durham conferences were in full swing, I presented results of investigations on language and behaviour in autism. I tentatively proposed that early language in autism might tell us about the cognitive skills of people with ASD and the behaviour might lead to greater understanding of which brain systems might be affected. In this presentation, I will update these topics and present a summary of other work I have been involved with in attempting to improve the lives of people with autism and their families. Data on three people with autism at the early stages of speech development showed an unusual pattern of learning colour and number names early. One possibility was that this skill represented a sign of weak central coherence – they only attended to one dimension. Colleagues of mine were equally puzzled so we tried to find out if my results could be replicated – they were not (see Schafer, Williams & Smith, 2014). Instead we found this pattern was also seen in Down Syndrome, but that early vocabulary in autism was associated with low Colorado Meaningfulness at least in comprehension. The Colorado Meaningfulness of a word is a measure of how many words can be associated with it and often involve extensive use of context. Our data suggest that the number of contexts in which a particular word can appear has a role in determining vocabulary in ASD which is consistent with the weak central coherence theory of autism. In the course of this work I also came across a group of young people with autism who appeared to have a written vocabulary but not a spoken one. It seems possible that print might be a medium of communication when speech is not. Repetitive behaviour in autism remains a mystery. We can use functional analysis to determine why the behaviour occurs, but a worryingly large percentage of behaviours are described as being internally driven or sensory reinforced. What does that mean in terms of brain activity – could it be system analogous to epilepsy, where brain activity becomes inappropriately synchronised? At the moment I cannot claim to have solved this problem, but if sensation is a driver then sensory interventions should make a difference. Data from a recent study will be presented to suggest that for some individuals this is the case. Social behaviour remains the key however, and it remains to be seen whether it is possible for social behaviour to be aided. One route that has potential is direct teaching of skills through drama and working with others who do not have social difficulties of the same type. The picture is complicated by changes in social skills with age and experience, but the failure of people with ASD to interact when in settings of social contact is little researched.

Examining potential barriers to early intervention access in Australian hearing impaired children

Early intervention for children with hearing loss involves assistance in oral speech development, optimal use of hearing devices and fostering a holistic partnership between allied health and the children's families. Adequate access to early intervention has been shown to be vital in the positive development of long term language and social outcomes. However, there has been limited research to identify the factors which may influence access. This study aimed to explore whether access to early intervention by children with hearing loss is affected by: geographical location, socio-economic status and ethnic-minority family status.

Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi: anomalias físicas, manifestações clínicas e avaliação auditiva

INTRODUÇÃO: A Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi foi descrita pela primeira vez em 1963, após a observação dos traços físicos semelhantes apresentados por sete crianças com retardo mental, baixa estatura, polegares grandes e largos e anomalias faciais. Mais tarde, novas publicações definiram outras características dessa síndrome, a qual incide em 1 a cada 300.000 nascidos e apresenta etiologia incerta. Sintomas otorrinolaringológicos e fonoaudiológicos são freqüentes, daí a importância de melhor conhecimento dessa síndrome por esses especialistas. RELATO DE CASO: Apresentamos as principais manifestações clínicas, traços físicos e as avaliações auditivas de cinco crianças portadoras da Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi, em atendimento na Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu (UNESP). Para as avaliações auditivas foram realizados exames de audiometria tonal, imitanciometria e potenciais evocados do tronco encefálico (BERA). As principais características observadas foram: retardo mental, baixa estatura, polegares largos, pirâmide nasal alta, palato ogival, má oclusão dentária, atraso no desenvolvimento neuropsicomotor e de linguagem. DISCUSSÃO: Os traços físicos característicos dos portadores dessa síndrome facilitam o diagnóstico, e muitos deles são responsáveis por sintomas otorrinolaringológicos e fonoaudiológicos, como infeções de vias aéreas superiores, obstrução nasal, otites médias, hipertrofia adenoamigdaliana, surdez condutiva, hipotonia perioral e disfagia. O importante comprometimento cognitivo é responsável pelo atraso no desenvolvimento da linguagem e pelo baixo rendimento escolar. CONCLUSÕES: Frente às várias manifestações otorrinolaringológicas e fonoaudiológicas apresentadas pelas crianças portadoras da Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi, torna-se necessário que esses especialistas conheçam melhor essa síndrome para que possam fazer o diagnóstico precoce e orientar o tratamento dessas crianças.

Secreção na orelha média em lactentes ocorrência, recorrência e aspectos relacionados

Objective: The present study aimed at evaluating the occurrence and recurrence of middle ear effusion and possible associated factors in the first two years of life of 190 newborns and infants, participants in the interdisciplinary prevention, detection, and intervention program at the Clínica de Educação para Saúde of Universidade do Sagrado Coração. Methods: Newborns and infants were monthly submitted to anamneses, otoscopy, behavioral hearing assessment using sound instruments and pure tones (pediatric audiometry) and tympanometry. Results: The results revealed that 68.4% of infants presented one or more episodes of middle ear effusion during their two first years, with more recurrence among males. Peak occurrence was between four and 12 months of age and, the earlier the first episode, the higher the probability of recurrence. Greatest incidence was during May and August. It was found that, of the variables investigated, the period of exclusive breastfeeding actuated as a protector factor. With respect of risk factors, it was observed that passive smoking, gastro-esophageal reflux and respiratory allergy were related with the recurrences of effusion. Conclusion: Findings revealed the importance of periodic auditory follow-up for infants during their first two years of life, considered to be the critical period of auditory system maturation, during which sensory deprivation can be responsible for damage to the development of speech, language and other auditory abilities. © 2007 Sociedad Chilena de Pediatría.

Desenvolvimento da oralidade em crianças de três a quatro anos: descrevendo jogos e brincadeiras que produzem novas formas de comportamento

The goal for this communication is the speech development in children three to four years, and how games and child's plays can help them in the process. For this, we have set three specific goals. They are: select games and activities that serve as a means of furthering the development of speech; elect three activities, making sure at what point is the extra step to the outbreak of the sign/symbol and identify at what time of play the child uses more talk and no change in psychological structure. These games have been applied to children from three to four years in order to identify and record their actions and speeches during activities. Acquiring the ability to speak, the kids will be able to communicate socially and develop new forms of behavior. From young children already expresses themselves through babbling and even crying, because do not have a conventional language yet. From the social relationship, the child tends to become familiar with the language, and gradually learn how to use it, expressing her feelings and desires. When the development of language and thought intersect, transform the course of action of the child who begins to have control of your action. Such its importance in society, the language became the basis of childhood education and is the duty of teachers and educators to appropriate the necessary encouragement to the child to develop or improve her language