{"title":"Dysfluency in primary progressive aphasia: Temporal speech parameters.","authors":"Lorraine Baqué, María-Jesús Machuca","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2378345","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2378345","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Analysing spontaneous speech in individuals experiencing fluency difficulties holds potential for diagnosing speech and language disorders, including Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Dysfluency in the spontaneous speech of patients with PPA has mostly been described in terms of abnormal pausing behaviour, but the temporal features related to speech have drawn little attention. This study compares speech-related fluency parameters in the three main variants of PPA and in typical speech. Forty-three adults participated in this research, thirteen with the logopenic variant of PPA (lvPPA), ten with the non-fluent variant (nfvPPA), nine with the semantic variant (svPPA), and eleven who were healthy age-matched adults. Participants' fluency was assessed through a picture description task from which 42 parameters were computed including syllable duration, speaking pace, the duration of speech chunks (i.e. interpausal units, IPU), and the number of linguistic units per IPU and per second. The results showed that each PPA variant exhibited abnormal speech characteristics reflecting various underlying factors, from motor speech deficits to higher-level issues. Out of the 42 parameters considered, 37 proved useful for characterising dysfluency in the three main PPA variants and 35 in distinguishing among them. Therefore, taking into account not only pausing behaviour but also temporal speech parameters can provide a fuller understanding of dysfluency in PPA. However, no single parameter by itself sufficed to distinguish one PPA group from the other two, further evidence that dysfluency is not dichotomous but rather multidimensional, and that complementary multiparametric analyses are needed.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"440-473"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141894750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Léonor Piron, Andrea A N MacLeod, Christelle Maillart
{"title":"The utility of parent's and teacher's concerns for the screening of speech sound disorders: A study on French-speaking preschool children.","authors":"Léonor Piron, Andrea A N MacLeod, Christelle Maillart","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2446818","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2446818","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Speech sound disorders (SSD) are associated with difficulties in communication, social participation, literacy, and learning. An early identification process is therefore necessary. Our study was aimed at determining the utility and accuracy of parent's and teacher's concerns in screening for SSD. We also aimed to determine whether the accuracy of parent's and teacher's concern varied according to kindergarten grades. For this study, 215 French-speaking preschool children were recruited from preschools. Eighty children were classified as SSD and 135 were classified as Typically Developing (TD). Children were assessed by a standardised single-word speech sound test. Parents and teachers expressed their level of concern about each child's speech development by answering 'no', 'a little' or 'yes' to the same question about their concern. Parents' and teachers' concerns were also gathered in a variable called 'joint concern' to investigate the utility and accuracy of their combined concern. Analyses included tetrachoric correlations, logistic regressions, Kruskal-Wallis tests, and sensibility/specificity analyses. Analyses were employed across all children and within age groups. Results showed positive and significant correlations between the SSD-TD classification, parent's concern, teacher's concern and joint concern. Parents' and teachers' concerns both showed fair specificity rates (85.2% and 88.1%, respectively) but remained under 80% on sensitivity. The joint concern was the most sensitive measure of all (87.3%) but showed a low specificity rate (76.3%). In conclusion, parents' and teachers' concerns both emerged as useful measures for screening for SSD. The combination of their concern revealed how parents and teachers are complementary for SSD screening.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"330-351"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142957568","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Irena Yanushevskaya, Niamh O'Donnell, Saoirse O'Regan
{"title":"Cepstral Peak Prominence in normophonic Irish-English speaking adults: The effect of gender, age, speech task segmental composition, recording conditions and CPP extraction method.","authors":"Irena Yanushevskaya, Niamh O'Donnell, Saoirse O'Regan","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2428177","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2428177","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper reports Cepstral Peak Prominence (CPP) values for normophonic English-speaking adults living in Ireland. A hundred vocally healthy adults (50 females, 50 males) aged 18-55 were audio recorded producing a series of speech tasks (sustained vowels, connected speech). Fifty-eight speakers in the 18-24 age group were recorded twice: remotely, using their mobile phones and onsite, in controlled recording setup. Forty-two speakers in the 25-55 age group were recorded only remotely, using their mobile phones. CPP values were extracted automatically, with and without voice activity detection (VAD), using a Praat plug-in. Linear mixed effect model analyses were conducted to establish the effect of speaker gender, age, speech task and recording conditions on CPP values. The results suggest strong significant effect of speech task. Sustained vowel [a] was found to have the highest CPP. In other speech tasks CPP values were found to decrease as the number of voiceless obstruents in them increases. We found moderate significant effect of gender: in sustained vowels only CPP<sub>[Male]</sub> > CPP<sub>[Female]</sub>. No effect of age was found. Recording condition had significant, but rather small effect, and its direction was different for CPP<sub>noVAD</sub> (Onsite < Remote) and CPP<sub>VAD</sub> (Onsite > Remote). CPP<sub>VAD</sub> values are higher than CPP<sub>noVAD</sub> ones regardless of the speaker gender. The choice of CPP extraction method affects mainly the speech tasks containing voiceless obstruents (CPP<sub>VAD</sub> > CPP<sub>noVAD</sub>). The findings reported here contribute to the growing body of knowledge about normative CPP values and may serve as a reference in clinical voice assessment.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"474-503"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142688504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Phonological and speech motor abilities in children with childhood apraxia of speech.","authors":"Dora Knežević, Ben Maassen","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2446825","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2446825","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a motor speech disorder in which the precision and consistency of speech sounds are impaired due to deficits in motor planning and programming. The literature on CAS suggests that the clinical features of CAS cannot be limited to one level of speech processing and that a more comprehensive understanding of how all levels involved in speech production are part of a complex system is needed. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between phonological and speech motor abilities in children with CAS and to determine the extent to which speech motor performance accounts for phonological processing in children with CAS. Croatian children with CAS (<i>n</i> = 30) and typically developing children (<i>n</i> = 28) aged 5-7 years participated in this study. Behavioural measures representing different aspects of the speech production chain were created taking into account the inevitable overlap of linguistic and motor processes underlying each task. The results showed that children with CAS performed significantly worse on all measured tasks. Spearman correlation analysis revealed positive relationships between the speech motor tasks and the expressive and receptive phonological processing tasks. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that both receptive phonological processing and speech motor performance contribute significantly to expressive phonological processing in children with CAS, with monosyllabic MRR emerging as a significant predictor. These results emphasise the interconnectedness of phonological and speech motor skills in CAS and provide valuable insights for assessment and intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"311-329"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142957564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Amy Glaspey, Andrea A N MacLeod, Pyper Trumble, Megan Andersen
{"title":"Dynamic assessment, more than a diagnostic tool? Uses for goals, teaching moments, and procedural issues during intervention of speech sound disorder.","authors":"Amy Glaspey, Andrea A N MacLeod, Pyper Trumble, Megan Andersen","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2431926","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2431926","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dynamic assessment is typically used for diagnostic and baseline purposes; however, the current study explored expanding the use of dynamic assessment as a curriculum-based measure to additionally capture teaching moments and observe intervention elements during treatment of speech sound disorder (NCT06075303). Teaching moments occur when an SLT presents an antecedent, the child produces a behaviour, and the SLT responds with a consequence related to accuracy; yet, little is known about the characteristics of these elements that are the most essential for improving treatment outcomes. To address this gap, we used the Glaspey Dynamic Assessment of Phonology's scoring system to establish the goal, code teaching moments, describe procedural issues, and evaluate children's skill development. The participants included two English-speaking boys, ages three and six, with speech sound disorder. A modified cycles approach was administered by an SLT and a student clinician with two blocks of targets (minimally and moderately adaptable). Results indicated that coding with dynamic assessment was successfully used for tracking changes within the teaching moments and provided a more complete perspective of treatment efficacy when combined with outcome measures, yet more research is needed to establish goals with dynamic assessment. Both children demonstrated progress in a short period of time, though Participant 1 made more significant gains, which may be attributed to many elements including treatment intensity, target selection, clinician variables, or client variables. Overall, this preliminary research supports that dynamic assessment may lead to dynamic intervention, thus bridging assessment and treatment practices.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"352-373"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142774095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Caitlin R Hurley, Sharynne McLeod, Robert P Anthonappa
{"title":"Extraction of primary maxillary incisors and children's speech production: A case series.","authors":"Caitlin R Hurley, Sharynne McLeod, Robert P Anthonappa","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2355481","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2355481","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dental caries (tooth decay) is a disease with a significant global burden. Management may necessitate the extraction of teeth to restore oral health. The association between dental extractions and children's speech is unclear, with clinical implications for speech-language pathologists and dentists. This case series describes a prospective study reporting the impact of primary maxillary incisor teeth extraction on speech sound accuracy for three children (C1 aged 5;6 (years; months), C2 aged 4;6, C3 aged 3;10). Their speech was assessed using the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP) and the Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) before (T1) and 1 month after dental treatment (T2). Speech analysis included the percentage of consonants correct (PCC) and error-type analyses. Caregiver and child perception of the child's oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were assessed pre- and post-operatively using a modified Scale of Oral Health Outcomes for 5-year-old children (SOHO-5). At T1, all three children scored >1 standard deviation below the mean on normative data in the DEAP. There was no clinically significant change in PCC for any child (C1 T1: 89.6%, T2: 90.6%, C2 T1: 78.0%, T2: 75.9%, C3 T1: 56.1%, T2: 63.1%). OHRQoL measures were improved for C1 by the carergiver report and remained stable for C2 and C3 and all child reports. Speech sound difficulties were present before dental treatment in all participants and extraction of primary maxillary incisors did not significantly impact speech production. Dental extractions appear to be independent from speech production in this case series of preschool children.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"427-439"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141155391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Foreword to the first part of the special issue 'Selected papers from ICPLA 2023: Clinical phonetics and related fields'.","authors":"Thomas Kaltenbacher, Lisa Bartha-Doering","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2025.2471606","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2025.2471606","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":"39 4-5","pages":"309-310"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144303414","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Child speech developmental norms in Greek monolinguals: whole word and consonant accuracy.","authors":"Eleftheria Geronikou, Elena Babatsouli","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2329975","DOIUrl":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2329975","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Child phonological development in standard Greek is aptly represented by both single-case and cross-sectional studies. While some quantitative measures exist, such as the 75% criterion in the acquisition of singletons and clusters, reported norms require replication to fine-tune existing indicators, inform non-existent ones, and better reflect children's typical developmental speech in contemporary Greece. Our cross-sectional study addresses this gap, in terms of consonant inventory acquisition, and percentage accuracy of words, singletons, clusters, and cluster reductions. <i>Phonological Assessment for Greek (PAel)</i> procedures facilitated data elicitation from 254 Greek-speaking participants, aged 2;0-7;0, equally represented for gender. Our study comprehensively informs quantitative norms on whole word accuracy (WWA), percentage of consonants correct (PCC), PCC variation across the different age groups of children, and the WWA-PCC correlation along the developmental path in this cross-sectional study. A schematic representation models children's normative PCC-WWA profiles, facilitating the determination of phonological disorder in Greek with direct clinical application on diagnosis and intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"392-411"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140337436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Speech and language skills in a case of Watson syndrome.","authors":"Tom Van Boxel-Woolf, Kathleen M McCarthy","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2025.2472051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2025.2472051","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Watson syndrome is a rare genetic condition partly characterised by developmental delays and learning difficulties. A profile of speech and language skills associated with this developmental syndrome is yet to be described in the literature. In order to address this gap, this study presents the case of an 18-year-old man with Watson syndrome and reports both standardised and naturalistic assessments of speech, language, oro-motor skills, and semantic and phonemic fluency. Analyses included norm-referencing, discrepancy comparison, phonological process analysis, and acoustic analyses of voice and conversational fluency. The participant's semantic fluency approximated to the 84<sup>th</sup> percentile and the vocabulary, voice, and receptive language measures were within standard normative range. In contrast, expressive language difficulties and articulatory difficulties associated with impaired oro-motor skills were apparent. Specific tongue-motor difficulty impeded oral diadochokinesis, with gliding, stopping, and cluster reduction among the phonological processes observed to mitigate oro-motor difficulties. Language scores were lowest on tasks of working memory, syntax, and pragmatics, however neither syntax nor pragmatics presented increased difficulty in naturalistic conversation, indicating an influence of reduced working memory on language performance. The absence of explicit cognitive or communicative difficulty suggests specific speech and language difficulties. To conclude, the findings are discussed from both clinical and theoretical perspectives. Watson syndrome and the aetiology of communication difficulties are suggested as directions for future research, to validate these findings and diversify understanding of inclusive communication approaches.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"1-24"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143617803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managing interactional breakdowns with children with ASD: Therapists' practices when directives face challenges in therapeutic interactions.","authors":"Xiaoxin Ma, Wen Ma, Shuai Zhang","doi":"10.1080/02699206.2024.2448700","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2024.2448700","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Effective interventions to promote language competence, cognitive abilities and integrate these skills into daily activities for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often involve providing guidance and training through specific tasks, typically delivered by speech and language therapists through directive interactions. However, engaging children with ASD in such activities is not straightforward and often fraught with challenges. Yet we know very little about how practitioners cope when the interaction breaks down, for example, due to misunderstandings or failures to engage. This study employs a conversation analytic approach to uncover therapists' intricate practices for managing breakdowns in therapeutic interactions. Over 200 hours of naturally occurring interactions between seven Mandarin-speaking children and their therapists were recorded and analysed. Using Conversation Analysis, we identified and analysed 1062 directive turns issued by therapists and subsequent responses of the children. The findings are in three aspects: 1) A crucial and effective premise for increasing engagement and improving the quality of therapeutic interactions lies in recognising, ascribing and utilising the specific interactive modes of children with ASD, including their repeated utterances and prosodic resources. 2) Therapists' strategies are successful when they flexibly address and adapt the format of directives through tailored verbal iteration and embodied solicitation. 3) The importance of timing underscores the increased opportunities to positively influence turn-taking in children with ASD. It is proposed that practitioners can enhance their understanding of children with ASD by incorporating the profiling of interaction into their assessments and interventions, adapting ways to align with the unique patterns of children with ASD.</p>","PeriodicalId":49219,"journal":{"name":"Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics","volume":" ","pages":"1-28"},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2025-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143574234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}