Phonological Analysis of Child Speech

1. Phonological Analysis of Child Speech Relational Analysis

2. Model of Speech Disorders • A speech disorder can be phonetic (articulatory), phonemic (phonologic), or both • The broader term “speech disorder” encompasses all of these

3. Nature of Assessment • Phonological analysis includes the identification, description, and classification of sound differences in a child’s speech that signal meaning differences • 3 key concepts in phonological analysis (Grunwell, 1997): • System • Structure • Stability

4. System • Includes a set (or inventory) of different sounds produced by the child • Adequate sound systems are symmetrical • Sounds are contrastive in place, voice, and manner and function to signal differences in meaning • Sounds function contrastively in all word positions (I, M, F)

5. Structure • Refers to the rules and organization of the sound system • Specifies the distribution and combination of sounds in a language • Example: [] cannot occur # ___ [pl, bl, kl, gl] are permissable clusters, but not *[tl, dl]

6. Stability • Refers to the predictability of the speaker’s systemic and structural patterns (or organization) of their sound system • The inventory of sounds (SYSTEM) and the rules that govern the distribution and combination of sounds (STRUCTURE) provide the organization and therefore predictability of a “phonology”

7. Relational Analysis • Child’s speech compared to adult speech in a one-to-one comparison • Differences between the two productions can be described in terms of SODA, phonological processes, PVM error patterns • Only describes error sounds, therefore, often called an ERROR ANALYSIS

8. Independent Analysis • Child’s speech is described as a unique, independent, self-contained sound system • NO comparisons made between child:adult systems • Describes what the child DOES rather than what the child does NOT do (as in error/relational analysis)

9. Issues in Completing a Phonological Analysis of Child Speech • Type and length of sample • Sound inventory ~ pattern test • Elicited single word ~ conversational • 50 words ~ > 300 words • Phonetic transcription • Must complete whole-word transcription • Severity of disorder • Mild-moderate: relational analysis of sound inventory or pattern test may be sufficient • Severe-profound: independent + relational analyses with larger samples (150-200 words)

10. Two Frameworks for Phonological Analysis • Relational Analysis • SODA • Distinctive feature analysis • Phonological process analysis • PVM analysis • Independent + Relational Analyses • PPK • Systemic phonological analysis of child speech (SPACS)

11. Phonological Process Analysis • Number of commercial tests available • Dunn (1982): APP identified most patterns • Non-standardized phonological process analyses • Dunn (1982): non-standardized analysis was better than APP

12. List of Common Phonological Processes • Common to many commercial tests, but not tied to any one published test • Listed according to syllable structure (deletion) processes and sound simplification (substitution and assimilation) processes

13. Considerations in completing non-standardized phonological process analysis • Choose the process that BEST describes error pattern • Ex: [o] for [so] could be either BACKING or PALATALIZATION; PAL provides more precise description of what child is doing than broader label of BA • In general, each process only changes one aspect of PLACE, VOICE, or MANNER • Process ordering (Edwards, 1992)

14. Process Ordering • Sequential application of processes when one sound error involves more than one phonological process (PDI) • “unraveling” of child’s error productions relative to adult target • Example: /f/ adult target s apicalization t stopping d prevocalic voicing [d] child’s pronunciation

15. Steps in completing a non-standardized phonological process analysis • Complete whole-word transcription of speech • Transcribe target word according to AT • Apply appropriate phonological processes in sequential manner until all aspects of sound change are accounted • Summarize results (Summary Sheet) • Select appropriate tx goals

16. Summary Sheet • Organize/summarize results • Frequency of occurrence of each process • Process limitation/application • Developmental information on processes

17. Select tx targets • 3 perspectives • Intelligibility perspective • most frequently occurring process(es) • Developmental perspective • Select earliest process(es) that should have been suppressed • Combination

18. Advantages/Disadvantages of Phonological Process Analysis • Advantage • Describes error patterns • Terms are “user friendly” • Disadvantage • Time needed to complete analysis • Selection of tx targets from summary sheet

19. Place-Voice-Manner Analysis • Describes error patterns in terms of 3 broad categories of consonant production (P-V-M) • Similar to phonological process analysis • Analysis is completed on PVM Analysis Form

20. Steps in completing a PVM analysis • Complete whole-word transcriptions • Use black/red markers to color code • Mark each consonant with appropriate color in appropriate box on PVM form • List phonetic inventory • Summarize error patterns according to PVM • Select tx targets

21. Advantages/Disadvantages of PVM Analysis Advantages • Relatively simple and quick to complete • Visual representation of error patterns • Selection of treatment targets is easier • Form useful to communicate with parents and others • Form useful to compare pre/post test results Disadvantage • does not identify assimilation errors